Summer Palace- Beijing

While we were in Beijing, we went to the Summer Palace. This is where the emperor's wife would spend the summers. It was huge! She had a huge palace and a huge man made lake. The whole palace was over 300 acres.

Me in front of the entrance to the squatters.

One of the shops in the grounds of the Summer Palace.

The queen's boat made of marble that looks over part of the lake.

Me in front of the boat and part of the lake. Note: this part of the lake that you can see is only a small portion of the lake.

The queen's palace on the hill looking over the lake.

Another portion of her palace.

Natalie, me and Jessica on the boat ride to the other side of the lake.

Another view of this huge man made lake.

Our tour guide

We found a Chinese band playing near this pavilion.

Yet another portion of the lake.

Me and the back of Josh's head on the bridge over part of the lake.

Me in front of the queen's palace.

Train Ride to Beijing

The best part about trains is the kids. This particular ride was really interesting. A little girl (Grace) and a little boy (Simon) were near us the whole time. Grace became very comfortable with me. She was with me the entire train ride. I was her personal recliner for the ride as well as her playmate.

She loved writing and having me write English words. At one point, she had 14 pieces of paper with English words written on them. She would bring them to me and have me read them over and over again.
She spent about half of the ride on my lap.

Me and Simon

Grace climbing up onto my lap.

Perfect picture of how I felt toward the end of the ride.

Me and Grace

Making funny faces

...and another one

I loved how I told her to make a funny face and she pulled her eyes back even though she is already Chinese. haha!

Grace at the end of the ride. As we were walking out of the train station, she ran up to me and held my hand as we walked out. When we finally walked through the gate to leave, I couldn't see her mom and I thought I would have to take her home with me. Then, her mom came running up and took her away. Grace, I will miss you and your crazy ways.

Our train station in Beijing

Shanghai at Night!

We went to the bund at night. It was really pretty! It is a bunch of buildings on a river.

Me in front of the bund.

That Chinese dude got in my picture.

Angela, Josh and I in front of the Bund.

All of the ships that drive by are lit up.

A Day in Shanghai With Josh

Our group decided to split up for the day. 4 of them went to a huge ferris wheel and Josh and I stayed and walked around Shanghai. Personally, I think I made the better choice. We were able to see a lot of sites and shop a little.

We were walking in the mall and we found an arcade. We chilled there for a little while.
Would you like to listen to old school or new school music?

Josh playing the DDR game with his new school music. He was really into it and by the end, he had an audience.

Me killing things with my HUGE gun.

Okay, this game was totally a guy game. The point is to hold the handles as long as possible. The machine slowly adds more electricity to the handles the longer you go. Josh did this once and his hands were numb. So what did he do? He did it again.

Me chillin with Sleepy and Dopey in front of a bar. NBD. I don't think Disney would approve of this...

This mall had 10 floors! Wow! That's a lot of shopping for us to do.

We also found the Shanghai Hershey's store. My first American chocolate in 2 months! It was awesome!

Elf anyone?

Josh got his hair cut. Nice hat, Josh. ;)

How many Chinese guys does it take to cut Josh's hair? Answer: 3. One to cut it and two to watch.

The finished product. Lookin good Joshy boy.

I'm a good friend so I brought Natalie back a candy bar. She almost cried because she was so excited.

Space Module-Shanghai

The Space Module...and Nathan.



Wait to go up to the top! We were all excited, especially Nathan.


Me waiting to go up.

It's 350 metres. Wow! What's a "metre?" A Space Module unit? Come to find out, it's the same thing as a meter.

Following in the footsteps of Al Gore. Great, my life is over.

From the top of the Space Module.

I am like a star shining brightly....

This deck was pretty cool. The bottom was just glass so you could see what you were walking over.

It's a long way down. 350 metres.

I have cute feet.

This is about as far as Josh would walk out on the glass. Wimp.

Angela and I at the top!

Natalie and I in front of some lights.

I love Jbiggs' cheeser face!

Me and the Coke bear. This one is for Grandma Bingham.

This one is for me! I love motorcycles and Jbiggs and Natalie and I have a new love for Coke (I never thought the day would come that I actually order Coke in a restaurant).