National Holiday in Beijing

I have never been surrounded by so many people.  During the week when the Chinese are off of school and work to celebrate the birth of the People's Republic of China and the Communist Party, it seemed as though I joined the rest of China by hopping on a train and heading to Beijing.  I left Nanjing last Saturday with my friend James, rode a 10-hour overnight train, and then started a non-stop week around the nation's capital. It was great to see my uncle Steve, if for only a few hours.  I also got to spend a lot of time with Wen Xun, one of my closest friends from my mission in Paris.  The highlight of the week was without a doubt scaling the Great Wall.  We went to a section that even a lot of Chinese don't know about that is about 2 1/2 hours outside of Beijing.  I was amazed that the Chinese even felt that a wall was necessary!  The terrain was so mountainous that adding a wall was just adding insult to injury.  I mean, if an army can get over all of those mountains, they deserve to win any battle.  In this slideshow you will see some pictures that will hopefully show how massive, ancient, and great that wall really is.

I am actually going back to Beijing in two weeks with my study abroad group and we will spend more time around Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Olympic village, etc... So this week was just a chance to see some of the sights we will not get to see later on and an opportunity to try to experience how the Beijing people really live. It was a great week and after a somewhat miserable train ride home last night sitting in an upright chair for 12 hours, I'm excited for my own bed!

This next slideshow is a compilation of pictures that I took around Beijing (Tianmen Square, Beihai Park, a modern art exhibit called 798, Lama Temple, and other random things).