The Great Wall of China

I love this photo. It makes it seem like we are the only people walking The Great Wall. Our guide recommended this part of the wall because it is less crowded and more scenic. The views were breathtaking and the Wall was so impressive.

Chase and I are posing in front of one of the watchtowers. Below is the Toboggan ride. We actually had the chance to ride from the top of the Great Wall to be the bottom of the mountain. It was awesome! Chase loved it. And I know it seems like I am holding up the show, but that's just because Bre is taking the photo at the very end of the slide. She couldn't just stop in the middle and shoot the photo or I would have run into her. There was a guy talking on his cell phone on the way down who was slowing people down.

Ming Tombs - Beijing

These photos were taken at the tomb of the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The first two emperors had their homes/tombs at different cities, but the third emperor was the first one who called Beijing his home. In this beautiful mountain setting, there are 13 different tombs for emperors of the Ming Dynasty. They have only opened one of the tombs (the 13th emperor). This is actually a funny story. They knew that opening the tomb would cause destruction of some of the artifacts so they decided to open the 13th emperor's tomb as a trial. Well, most of the textiles and silks were destroyed over time. Years later, during a cultural revolution in China, most of the remainder of the jewels, silks, etc. were burned or stolen. Because of this, China has not opened another tomb since. Some of the artifacts still remain.

This was a gold crown from the 13th tomb.

Hair pins and earrings

Leaving the tomb site, the men had to step over this threshold with their left foot first and women had to step over with our right foot. If you didn't do this you apparently are still living in the underworld.

Overall, I think I liked Chinese food more than Japanese food. The funny thing is, the most authentic Chinese food I can think of from back home, that compares to Beijing food, comes from Panda Express. Seriously.

Temple of Heaven - Beijing

The Temple of Heaven was so beautiful. It was built for the emperor/empress to pray to the gods for a good harvest. It was built in the early 1400s. The architecture is so cool. There are no nails and everything is made of wood.

This is our guide from Beijing, Jason, with Chase. Jason was a really nice guy and he was very smart and knowledgeable about Chinese history.

In case you haven't noticed. Chase loves to run. He runs everywhere. He is a bundle of energy. The area surrounding the temple is beautiful. It is a huge park where hundreds of people gather to dance, exercise, play card games, and just relax. I loved this place.

Pandas, Summer Palace - Beijing

We had to deal with a bit of rain on the first couple of days, but that didn't dampen our spirits. This was the Summer Palace. It was built as a summer retreat for the emperor and overlooks a huge lake. The lake is filled with freshwater oysters that produce freshwater pearls. We had the chance to go to a pearl factory afterwards where I bought Bre some pearl earrings with pearls that were gathered from this lake.

Chase was so popular that random tourists always wanted pictures. This woman was modeling all around the summer palace but they made sure to stop and get pictures with Chase.

This was one of our Beijing guides, Eppy (I have no idea how to spell that). She was so nice and sweet and she loved Chase. I think she tried to get a picture with Chase smiling about 100 times. She finally succeeded at the Pearl Factory and I think Chase even liked her a little bit by the end.

The Bird's Nest, home to the ceremonies/competition of the Olympic Games in 2008. Chase was born on the day of the opening ceremonies-08/08/08-which is considered incredibly lucky. Our tour guy said that almost everyone that had a kid born on that day in China named their kid "Olympic". I remember watching the opening ceremonies in the hospital that night after Chase was born.

This meal was a traditional Mongolian Hot Pot. They pour boiling water into this pot in front of you. You pick up paper thin raw meat, vegetables, etc. and drop it into the water with your chopsticks (not exactly sanitary by US standards, but when in Rome...). You then wait only a few short seconds and then remove the meat/veggies with your chopsticks, dip it into a delicious sesame dressing, and bon appetit. You can see Chase's chicken mcnuggets and fries in the corner. He wasn't always adventurous with the Chinese cousine.

This was a snack shack alley near our hotel. They sold everything from scorpions to snakes to bugs on a stick. We were amazed at how many booths lined this street. There was some stuff that actually looked appetizing, including fruit dipped in liquid sugar and then cooled. I decided to pass on snake on a stick. And yes, those are starfish below. Yum.

Tiananmen Square, Imperial Palace - Beijing

Here we are in Tiananmen Square. Our guides had never even heard about the protests/massacres of 1989 and all of the information on this had been blocked or removed from Google.

Posing in front of the picture of Mao and one of the Red Army guards. I don't think you are supposed to turn your back to Mao, but what do I know? Chase is protected in his waterproof stroller cover.

The Imperial Palaces/Forbidden City. What an impressive area! This area served as the home of Chinese emperors and their families for over 500 years. It is the largest surviving palace complex in the world and covers over 170 acres. It consists of 980 buildings and the main area is surrounded by a moat.

This would be the perfect photo if Bre wasn't inexplicably cupping my left breast.

Below was one of our favorite meals in a small restaurant in the heart of Beijing. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Much to our surprise, Chase actually loved this meal. He ate bite after bite of beef strips with rice and mushrooms. We couldn't believe it. It was the only Chinese meal he ate the entire trip.

Drum Tower, Rickshaw, Acrobat Show - Beijing

The drum tower! After a lofty hike, we watched a traditional ceremony where drums were beat to signify the top of the hour.

Rickshaw ride!

This was truly one of the highlights of the trip. We went to a Chinese acrobat show. We watched people do some amazing tumbling, body distortion, juggling, and dancing. At the end, they brought out this giant sphere of death. Before long, 5 motorcycles were driving inside! It was absolutely insane. We were holding our breath the entire time. Chase LOVED the show and sat through the entire hour without any problems. He did get a little scared at some of the scary costumes, but otherwise, he was enthralled.

Below is a chef preparing our traditional Peking Duck dinner. The duck was pretty good by itself. You are supposed to combine it with some sliced veggies and sauce and eat it in a small pancake, but after trying this, we weren't huge fans.