You Can Stand Under My Umbrerra

Yesterday happened to be my first day off here in Beijing, and I decided long before I got here that the time that I have off is not going to be wasted sitting in my apartment and recuperating from the countless days of work that led up to the day off. And, I have to say my first day in China was everything that I had always hoped (and more). There is so much to tell, so I will just give you a brief synopsis of how my day went...

First, we went to the forbidden City, which was the original kingdom of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.







About thirty steps through the gate my sandal began to fall apart.

We saw some amazing sites...

My shoe completely came apart...

I took a picture of a Chinese woman taking picture of the funny Americans...

I found the Holy Grail, a frozen bottle of water (nothing in this city is served cold and it was 1,000,000 degrees outside.)

I took a picture of a random Chinaman...

I kissed Mao...

I saw Tieneman Square...


We went to a neighborhood called Houhai (or Old City). It is a collection of restaurants and bars surrounding a huge lake in the middle of the city.

I saw Chef at a Tea House...

We sat back and had a few beers...

And a few laughs...

(he is sweeping the street)

And some roast duck pizza...

A bird s*it on Dave's head...

And we ended the night enjoying a beautiful China sunset...