Big, Big Beijing

We had a wonderful time today touring around Beijing. Everything in Beijing is big, really, really big. Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven, where the Emperor of China would go to pray for the harvest each year. It's well over 700 acres of manicured gardens and tremendous buildings. We were struck by the many parallels to Old Testament practices and longed to tell everyone, "This is really where these religious practices come from..."



We hit the "Pearl Market" before lunch and saw how they are made. They sacrificed an oyster right before our eyes and he yielded up about 20 pearls. We bought a few things for Eden.

Tienamen Square was after lunch--essentially a very big, flat, area that holds roughly a million people. At times today we thought there were likely a million people there already--it was VERY crowded all day wherever we went. Next to the Square there was a big countdown clock to the Olympics, to be held next year in Beijing. They are renovating everything to get ready for it.

Then the Forbidden City this afternoon--home to the Emperors from about 1400 AD until the last Emperor in 1911 (FYI, go rent the Steven Spielberg movie, as it is pretty accurate). The Forbidden City was very, very, very big. It went on in all directions as far as the eye could see. We entered the first walled courtyard, then the next, then the next, then the next. There was a palace for dressing. There was another one for practicing ceremonies. There was another one for the actual ceremonies. There was another one for the Empress.

There was a giant library, and across from it a factory for making books for the library. There were gardens and storehouses and courtyards. The Emperor was always afraid of being assassinated, so there were no trees in most of the Forbidden City, and to keep people guessing, he had 27 bedrooms and shifted nightly from one to the other so no one knew exactly where he was sleeping. Creepy, huh?

At the back of the City there was a very nice garden with 300 year old trees. Everything here seems either very old, or very new. Either it was built 600 years ago, or last week. Nothing is like, 20 years old.

Oh, did I mention it was crowded? Anyway, in the ultimate ode to Fung Shui, just out the back door to the Forbidden City the Emperor had a hill constructed (because, apparently, there was supposed to be a hill there, and since there wasn't one, then of course one had to be built). It was all very interesting, very ornate and very big. And did I mention the crowds? By the end of the day, having traveled through the Ming Dynasty and back again, Keri and I were really "Ming-ed out". So we collapsed in the hotel room for a few hours, then went out to eat with friends at a nearby Chinese restaurant.

Tomorrow we're going to see the Great Wall. If today is any indication, it will likely be quite large. We're also going to see a very traditional (old) village and see how folks live in the countryside. The guide tells us we'll be able to go into some homes, meet residents and talk to them--I think we're more excited about that portion of the trip so far than anything else.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers. Oh, yeah, we are still adopting Eden next Monday, lest we get too caught up in the tourist stuff. There were so many cute children running around the city today and each little smile reminded us of the reason we came here. Looking forward to the next few days...