Heading to Beijing

Since blogspot was blocked in China, Arti is going to issue post-trip reports on his travels in China!

First, the really awful flight to Beijing through Detroit and then Tokyo...left at 3 am Wednesday morning and arrived at 10 pm Thursday night local time in Beijing, having lost 24 hours at the date line. Here is the big plane waiting to leave Detroit:


His first day in Beijing was a busy one! First, he visited the Forbidden City in the rain...


then it was off to Tian An Men Square, where he saw the Tian An Men Gate and Mao's mausoleum


The next day, he headed out of Beijing to see original (unimproved) sections of the Great Wall in the blistering heat.


He visited a rug factory where silk rugs are hand knotted


and walked around the site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics


At the Summer Palace, he took a ride across the lake on a dragon boat


And visited the Temple of Heaven on one of the few mornings with blue skies instead of thick haze.