Beijing Week 1

Hi- It's Tanya. Scott is busy working today and I am enjoying the nice air conditioned hotel room. We left South Africa on Saturday and arrived in Beijing Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening we signed up for a tour from the hotel to the Great Wall (the section closest to Beijing). We were very fortunate to join a group of really nice Americans on the tour who had just come from doing some volunteer work in Mongolia. The day started off with a long hike to the top of this section of the wall. As you can see in the photo, the visibility was poor.

We've been making lots of Chinese friends. It's funny because they really want to be in pictures with us.

On Monday we went on our own to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. Once again we did a lot of walking. It is really humid here and the pollution is really bad. It feels as though the entire city is under contruction. All the tourist areas are being worked on and new stadiums are being built for the Olympics (our hotel is next to the new Bird's Nest stadium and Aquatic area).

Above is the new CCTV building- soon to be one of the most famous building in the world. It has two towers at a angle and will be joined at the top by a triangular piece that is mirrored at the bottom.

Tuesday we went with Scott's friend Reg to the Temple of Heaven. The last couple days Scott has been busy and I have been participating in activities organized by the conference. We will wite again soon!