Hint hint, he is VERY interested in the game of Mahjong. How awesome is this? Public ping pong. These guys were all amazing, Forrest Gump style. Except they didn't have a digital ball put in afterwards. I would have been tempted to jump in for a game, but then I would have had to deal with getting boo'ed at in Chinese.
So the parks there are filled with exercise equipment, but not the regular treadmill and such, they are all strength training exercises with challenges and such.
We weren't scared to try them out.
Remember this from the presidential fitness award in middle school? Turns out the rest of the world knows about it too. Justin is surprisingly flexible.
After getting our workout we got on a bus tour to go to the Great Wall. THE Great Wall it is. This things is massive and just amazing. Not to mention super long. We all took our turns posing in various archways.
And pretending to be stupid tourists. Ahem, I said "pretending."
It was super windy there, we weren't complaining though because it was a pretty tough hike.
Do you see how steep the stairs are? I wasn't kidding when I said "hike." Even though it's paved, the stairs are certainly not even, and most definitely not up to wheelchair code. But the amazing part was just looking at each of the bricks and thinking that it was carved individually to be placed there among 465 billion other bricks.
Here's a look at a very small section. They didn't even try to take short cuts. The Wall weaves in and out on the ridge of the mountains and double-backs on itself many times, they really wanted to keep those Mongolians out.
All the stones were gorgeous.
All along the way there are little towers too for extra lookouts.
We had a snack of Oreos along the way (I must take advantage of all pictures in which I look better than Shannon). Sorry, babe.
Here we all are.
My handsome hubs.
Can you guess what these doors lead to? Why Starbucks of course. But you pay the piper by going in man. I think I paid like $8 for a hot chocolate.
And when, oh when, do you not take advantage when someone offers you a ride on a camel.
Yuan is getting a little too cozy.
Justin likes the humps.
We drove past the place where they had the Olympics. See the Birds Nest in the background? I loved the bubble building though. I can't remember what they called that one, but it was the swimming pools where Michael Phelps got his 10 Gold Medals.
Here's a shot of out fantastic hotel room. We had no idea what to expect when we left as far as hotel rooms, but for the most part, we did pretty well.
We also did very well in regards to the massage area. This was the following day we spend relaxing and shopping in this little side street in Beijing.
I think this is the best massage I've ever had in my life. And massages here were dirt cheap.
Shannon and Yuan tried "cupping," but after seeing their backs, I chickened out. Basically they take a small glass, like a shot glass that has alcohol rubbed in it, they light it on fire and place it on your back super fast, then the lack of oxygen sucks your skin into the glass and supposedly gets rid of toxins in your body. They said it actually felt pretty good, but later it was a little itchy.
Just part of the cuteness of the alleyway we were in. It's amazing how all that cement work makes you appreciate gardens and greenery.
It seemed like everywhere we went had little Koi ponds. I just like the contrast of the cement with the brightness of the fish.
Here's the aftermath of the cupping. Yuan and Shannon looked like little ladybugs for a week or so.
So you know how people wear shirts with french words or Japanese characters on them, or get tatoos that mean "happiness" or something, but they don't speak the language? This is what happens when you do that in China. Since there are a million tour groups everywhere, they always have some sort of matching apparel, whether it be a hat or scarf, or even a sweatshirt.
(If you can't read the bottom line, it says "We love to do the wild thing.") It made our day to see old ladies wearing this. I only wish I could find a sweatshirt here that says the same thing. After our shopping around we went to the Tablet Museum. There were all these amazing buildings filled with huge Tablets that are all these ancient scripts.
If you didn't want to lose a book, they would make these huge stone tablets with engravings on them and then take paper to the engravings and rub chalk or whatever to make a tracing and get a quick copy of a book. They were quite amazing.
This a is just a random picture of a couple of construction workers that we were walking behind. Construction workers have to cart around all their tools to and from work everyday, but they don't have the massive Ford trucks that construction workers have here. They take them on the subways, and throw them over their backs. Talk about trying to minimize your load. I loved the simplicity of their tools.
The end! I think I can make the rest fit in a Part 3, so come back again soon!
So the parks there are filled with exercise equipment, but not the regular treadmill and such, they are all strength training exercises with challenges and such.
We weren't scared to try them out.
Remember this from the presidential fitness award in middle school? Turns out the rest of the world knows about it too. Justin is surprisingly flexible.
After getting our workout we got on a bus tour to go to the Great Wall. THE Great Wall it is. This things is massive and just amazing. Not to mention super long. We all took our turns posing in various archways.
And pretending to be stupid tourists. Ahem, I said "pretending."
It was super windy there, we weren't complaining though because it was a pretty tough hike.
Do you see how steep the stairs are? I wasn't kidding when I said "hike." Even though it's paved, the stairs are certainly not even, and most definitely not up to wheelchair code. But the amazing part was just looking at each of the bricks and thinking that it was carved individually to be placed there among 465 billion other bricks.
Here's a look at a very small section. They didn't even try to take short cuts. The Wall weaves in and out on the ridge of the mountains and double-backs on itself many times, they really wanted to keep those Mongolians out.
All the stones were gorgeous.
All along the way there are little towers too for extra lookouts.
We had a snack of Oreos along the way (I must take advantage of all pictures in which I look better than Shannon). Sorry, babe.
Here we all are.
My handsome hubs.
Can you guess what these doors lead to? Why Starbucks of course. But you pay the piper by going in man. I think I paid like $8 for a hot chocolate.
And when, oh when, do you not take advantage when someone offers you a ride on a camel.
Yuan is getting a little too cozy.
Justin likes the humps.
We drove past the place where they had the Olympics. See the Birds Nest in the background? I loved the bubble building though. I can't remember what they called that one, but it was the swimming pools where Michael Phelps got his 10 Gold Medals.
Here's a shot of out fantastic hotel room. We had no idea what to expect when we left as far as hotel rooms, but for the most part, we did pretty well.
We also did very well in regards to the massage area. This was the following day we spend relaxing and shopping in this little side street in Beijing.
I think this is the best massage I've ever had in my life. And massages here were dirt cheap.
Shannon and Yuan tried "cupping," but after seeing their backs, I chickened out. Basically they take a small glass, like a shot glass that has alcohol rubbed in it, they light it on fire and place it on your back super fast, then the lack of oxygen sucks your skin into the glass and supposedly gets rid of toxins in your body. They said it actually felt pretty good, but later it was a little itchy.
Just part of the cuteness of the alleyway we were in. It's amazing how all that cement work makes you appreciate gardens and greenery.
It seemed like everywhere we went had little Koi ponds. I just like the contrast of the cement with the brightness of the fish.
Here's the aftermath of the cupping. Yuan and Shannon looked like little ladybugs for a week or so.
So you know how people wear shirts with french words or Japanese characters on them, or get tatoos that mean "happiness" or something, but they don't speak the language? This is what happens when you do that in China. Since there are a million tour groups everywhere, they always have some sort of matching apparel, whether it be a hat or scarf, or even a sweatshirt.
(If you can't read the bottom line, it says "We love to do the wild thing.") It made our day to see old ladies wearing this. I only wish I could find a sweatshirt here that says the same thing. After our shopping around we went to the Tablet Museum. There were all these amazing buildings filled with huge Tablets that are all these ancient scripts.
If you didn't want to lose a book, they would make these huge stone tablets with engravings on them and then take paper to the engravings and rub chalk or whatever to make a tracing and get a quick copy of a book. They were quite amazing.
This a is just a random picture of a couple of construction workers that we were walking behind. Construction workers have to cart around all their tools to and from work everyday, but they don't have the massive Ford trucks that construction workers have here. They take them on the subways, and throw them over their backs. Talk about trying to minimize your load. I loved the simplicity of their tools.
The end! I think I can make the rest fit in a Part 3, so come back again soon!
Why pigeons in a box of course. Just what I was hoping to squeeze in my carry-on. We didn't ask if it was for food or pleasure. 
This is an army tree I saw while hiking up to a Buddhist Temple. Wouldn't it be cool to have one of these in your yard?
This is from the top of the Buddhist Temple Hill looking back at the Forbidden City. See? Miles and miles? I told you so.
And the happy Buddha.