The Forbidden City- Beijing

We went to the Forbidden City while we were in Beijing. For those of you that like Mulan, this is the place where the emperor lives in the movie (and used to live a long time ago for real)!

Big lion guarding the gate to the forbidden city...and Angela.

If you look really close, you can see Mulan up on that roof lighting fireworks!

This is me.

Me on my way up to see the emperor (but not really because China doesn't have an emperor anymore).

Trying to touch the great stone dragon.

One of those might be Shan-Yu on that roof.

The great stone...turtle/dragon?

...and the bird!

It was crowded. We went on the national holiday.

All of us! The boys didn't go with us because they have been to China before and already saw it.

A pot that was really important I guess. Everyone was taking pictures of it so I did too!

...and the awkward photo award goes to Jess and the creepy stone figure!

Do you see why I stand out? I'm tall, white, light colored hair and I dress in funky colors.

This is a picture of me and Angela taking a picture.

This picture explains the next picture.

I thought it looked like a water slide...

Rar. For some reason, they like to mix dragons with other animals. I think this one is an drog (dragon/dog).

This explains the next picture. Wow! I've never seen so much English in China before!

This explains the next picture.

This part was like a maze. We literally couldn't find our way out...even with the map.

This is made of gold!

If I knew what this was, I would tell you.

Me taking over the Chinese water well.

Me and Jbiggs.

A really big stone carving.

The moat that goes around the city. This shows you how big it was! You can't even see the end!

The Great Wall- Beijing

So, this one time I went to China...oh yeah, and I saw the Great Wall. It was SO cool! This was probably my favorite site that we've visited so far!

Driving up to get on the Great Wall.

A random camel at the base of the Great Wall. I got yelled at for taking this picture. oops.

It was really steep! Notice the scary stone bird.

Josh inside a tower pretending to be a ninja.

View from one of the towers.

Me!

I think these locks were for people that had died. I would tell you for sure, but I couldn't read the Chinese signs that they have around them.

I know I look like I'm in a photo studio, but I'm actually on the Great Wall.

We went on the national holiday so it was a little crowded. Yes, I climbed these steep stairs while pushing my way through the crowd. It made for an interesting experience.

"If you have or brain disease, please ascend the great wall according to your capability." If I don't understand what this means, does that mean I have a brain disease? Can I still ascend the Great Wall?

Okay, I took this picture to show how steep it was but the picture doesn't do it justice! So, next time you're in China, climb the Great Wall and you'll know.

Me on the Great Wall/pretending to take a picture so I can catch my breath.

The entrance to the Great Wall.

Angela climbing behind me. Some of these stairs were as tall as our hips.

Me.

This little kid had his hair cut into a smiley face on the back of his head. haha! I wish I could have taken the picture faster to show you.

Jade Factory-Beijing

As part of our tour, we went to the jade factory. It was really cool! We saw people carving the jade into these awesome figures. For those of you that don't know much about jade, you're not alone. I didn't know much about it before I went here. It is a certain kind of stone that is considered the imperial gem of China. Buying jade for someone would be like buying diamonds in the United States.

This is a family ball. It has a ball inside of a ball inside of a ball inside of a ball. You can reach in and touch the inner balls. It's so cool because it was all carved out of one stone! The different layers of balls represent the generations of the family. It has a dragon and a phoenix on it and it symbolizes everlasting love.

This is a cool dragon carved out of jade.

Natalie loved the Buddha jade statue. If you rub his belly, you'll have good luck!

More cool jade statues.

A sign that I found. OK! I'll put my trash in the basket!

A note on the bathroom stall. Hello, my friend. haha!