We had a big day yesterday, so I really slept well. We left the hotel and headed toward the subway system. I was amazed at how clean and easy it was to navigate. There was no room to even think about getting a seat on a Saturday, seems to be very popular, we couldn't even get on one train because it was so packed. There was a series of video screens on the side of the wall so you could watch a commercial and some art, we thought that was pretty cool. We got off at Tianamen Square, again there were a lot of people there, having to go through security to get into the square, then off to the Forbidden City. Both sites were massive and the Forbidden City was very ornate, it took us three hours just to walk from one end to the other. The gardens were our favorite part, there were trees that were still standing that you could tell they had been there for centuries. I was surprised at the fact that people wanted to take their pictures the westerners, I didn't expect that in Beijing. We joked that we were celebrities! Then we finally successfuly hailed a taxi, it was crazy, we had to barter down our fair, but for less than $20 all 5 of us were on our way to the hotel, just in time to meet our other CSC co-horts. This group seems like it is going to be really fun. Our NGO representatives took us to a fantastic dinner to a place that specialized in stews, but they had all sorts of salads, pork, rice covered meatballs, sweet potatoe fried bread, everything was delicious! Bummer, I thought I was going to lose weight on this trip! Here is a picture of the whole crew at dinner, off to Shijiazhuang today, excited to get to know our city and its people!
Sara
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