We made several trips to Beijing from Zixu's home town. Tianaman square is in Beijing, the Forbidden City is there, the Beijing Zoo, innumerable temples, and way more than we could probably visit in a year.
Zixu was exhausted -- he had just finished finals, run for Student Body President at his university (and won), planned this trip for us and his friends, taken us sightseeing all over, and taken part in his sister's wedding. The day after his friends left, he finally had a doctor take care of a painful ingrown toenail, and that was it -- he didn't have much energy left. We got to know his home town very well (next post). But after a few days, he did take us to Beijing again, one last time....
First, we had to catch a bus, and with luck, find a seat, for the 45 minute drive into Beijing.
We passed endless high rise apartments, literally miles of them.
And finally got off in Beijing. An interesting mix of buildings, mostly quite modern, but often enough we walked or drove past ancient buildings. Don't even know what this one is -- it looks like a gate although to what we don't know -- and whatever it was, it is certainly not there anymore.
Often enough WE were the tourist attaction, and were asked to be in a photo -- as here, on our way to the Silk Market.
No city (apparently) can consider itself modern if they don't have a McDonalds there. But, unlike America, most stores were at the base of apartment buildings.
Just an interesting building we walked past. We did a lot of walking. Cars just weren't practical when traffic was so heavy, and there was public transportation.
But Zixu's toe was still causing considerable pain, so he had us take a rickshaw part of the way. Now they are pulled by electric bikes. It was scary -- there wasn't room for all of us in one of these, and we were separated from Zixu. We knew if this driver didn't follow Zixu's instructions, we would be lost and in trouble -- not speaking the language is a big problem. But, fortunately, nothing went wrong, and we had a nice ride through the crowded streets.
We had seen a number of Bhuddist temples, so we asked if Zixu would take us to a Taoist monastary. This one in the middle of Beijing was a functioning monastary -- we were asked to be respectful. The red lining the walkway are thousands of prayers purchased by people wishing for blessings and tied to "fences" placed
there for that purpose.
There were many rooms filled with figures depicting various purposes for their angels and demons --departments of parental obligation, rivers and streams, punishment, worship -- 76 different departments -- all represented by a room full of life-sized figures like this one <--- .
Just as there had been endless apartment buildings, so there were endless other high rises -- we assume in the most modern places they were office buildings. Amazing amazing city.
Although we passed the Silk Market, a well known tourist trap market where we got to pit our bargaining skills against the experts (we got
better, but were no match for them), this day we went to a different market, a market focused on traditional crafts --
marvelous beautiful or unusual things. What a treat to be here and buy a few keepsakes of our trip. Zixu bought a magnificent huge original painting of the Great Wall.
Finally it was time to head home. Into the crowded but very efficient subways. We did stop for a break when we got off the subway, and purchased some delicious deserts before getting
in line for the 30 minute wait for a bus with seats and a 45 minute ride back to Miyun.
It was a lovely day!
glass artists, and the masons who built the cathedral, and some of the planning and 
symbolism that went into building it. Even though I've been in a few huge European cathedrals which dwarfed this one, St. John's was still magnificent! 
We also visited an IMAX theater and saw some nauseatingly up close and super cool extreme sports. And finally a visit to a nice warm, lush greenhouse. Smaller than I wished, but still VERY nice on a cold winter's day! 
