The end

Finally, the last one. The bathroom sinks were not typical! The bare butt was typical. Hey, Ma, no diapers! And, a trip to China is not complete without a photo of the infamous "squat" toilet.

Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace

The emperor went to the Temple of Heaven to pray four times a year. Now, the outer grounds of the Temple are a park where everyone goes to play games, dance, sing, and have fun. Pat is dancing with a group. The art work was fantastic everywhere. The picture of Pat and me is at the Temple of Heaven. The photo of some of our group is at the Summer Palace. You can see the color of the sky. The pagoda building in the background is also on the grounds. Everyone who lived in the Forbidden City moved to the Summer Palace from May to September. It was only 10 miles from the Forbidden City, but it was on a lake and would have seemed much cooler.

transportation

Traffic wasn't too bad in Xi'an. Lots of buses, but not too many cars. Beijing streets were crowded with cars and buses. Both cities had many bicycles including three wheeled ones often used like a truck. Nearly all of the bikes were old and in very poor condition - Henry said new ones were often stolen, so it was by choice that people ride junk. I never saw anyone riding a rickshaw except at touristy places for tourists, and those were modern ones - a bike, not a person pulling you.

Forbidden City

Again, I had not read enough about this before I got there. I had seen pictures of the huge courtyard-type area, but I thought most of it would be gardens. There are gardens, but we walked for a couple of hours in the inner city and went in only a few of the hundreds of buildings before we got to the gardens. A lot of the buildings are being restored. The outer area was not forbidden - anyone could go there. The inner part was just for the emperor, his associates, and military. The big slab of marble came in one piece from 50 miles away. Transporters dug wells every 150 yards to get water to help float/slide the marble toward the city! The emperor was carried up by men using the steps; the carved portion was never touched.

The Great Wall

It had rained all the previous day and that morning. As we got to the Wall the rain stopped, gradually the clouds cleared, and the sun came out. Like it was meant to be! You can see that the area is very mountainous, and the Wall was built along the ridge. Ordinarily, the view of the valley is obscured by smog. Note the worn steps, which made the footing more dangerous, and the gondola for those too wimpy to walk to the top. I wanted to take more pictures, especially from the top, but we were already past time to head back, so I didn't. In the center of the first picture, you can see the area where we started and the wall going up the far side of the mountain.

Ming Dynasty Tombs

The Ming Dynasty Tombs were the last place we went on our tour. Visitors actually just go to the grounds; all but two of the tombs are closed to the public. The red building is the entrance to the Spirit Way, a walkway guarded by 24 statues of animals and officers. It was the only place we went that was not crowded - notice the absence of people in the photos. It was beautiful and peaceful, and we all enjoyed walking there.

Beijing Olympics

Olympic stuff is everywhere in Beijing. I remember how excited Salt Lake City was. The opening ceremonies will be in a huge new stadium called the "birdsnest." We went past it several times, but always on a freeway at dusk or during rain, so the pictures were not very good. The signs, "One World One Dream" are everywhere, even on the Wall. I am standing in front of the Olympic countdown clock on Tiananmen Square.

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square is huge! I'm standing in front of Mao's tomb. We didn't go in. The tall pillar structure is like our Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The large building is their legislative-type building. Everything on the square is either a museum or a government building. All tour groups had a flag - ours was blue - and many wore hats. We didn't, but we did have a name tag. It was awesome to be there - so much history. Nearly everyone there was a tourist, including the Chinese guy with the victory sign.

Xi'an

These are pictures from Xi'an at the wall surrounding the old city. The area around the moat is all park now. I'm up on the wall with a guard tower behind me. You can see some of the tall buildings near the moat and the tunnel leading from outside into the old city.

China terra cotta warriors

I'll do the pictures a few at a time. These are from the terra cotta warriors, which were found in 1975. The same emperor who finished the Great Wall had the warriors built to protect him after he died. Scientists believe about 3 percent of the site has been excavated.
I thought the sign was funny - way in and way out. Beijing got it correct with entrance and exit, but not in Xi'an.

Mom

China

Hello!
I got home late Tuesday evening - exhausted and still not quite believing all that I'd seen and done in the past week. I think you could tell from the emails I sent.
China really didn't look like I expected. I think I pictured the China of 30 years ago with everyone wearing dark blue and riding bikes. Not so. Everyone wore very western clothing. Xi'an and Beijing are both very modern. Building was going on everywhere. The roads were new. Business appears to be thriving. I know there's another side to it, but I didn't see it. Preparation for the Olympics was going on and we could tell that the Chinese people are very anxious to have everything nice for that. The streets were very clean. It was spring, and flowers (petunias most common) and trees were blooming everywhere.
Street vendors were also everywhere and very aggressive. Of course, I was only at the touristy places, but they were even on the Wall, not just at the base of it. Traffic was terrible in Beijing, cars and buses, mostly, with many bicycles and people. Our guide said there are far fewer bikes now than 20 years ago. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, so we needed to be very careful crossing streets.
The weather was beautiful, except for one day, when it rained hard. The day following the rain we went to the Wall. Normally, the views of the mountains and valleys are hidden by smog, but because of the rain, we were able to see far off into the distance. Our guide laughingly said we must have all prayed to Chairman Mao the night before!
I kept a trip notebook. My original intent was just to write down where I went. I ended up writing more than that, but I did not include descriptions of the places I went. If you want to know more, look back at the entries April put on the blog a month ago, or look them up elsewhere. I was not consistent in how I wrote, nothing is dated, and I was always tired when I wrote so some things are rambly and don't completely make sense. I still decided not to edit what I'd written and just leave it for you to figure out what I meant, if you choose to read it at all.
I'll get some pictures posted in a day or two. Love, Mom
(Everytime I tried to type after the last word, what I typed became part of the bold and I think part of the link. I hope the notebook gets posted)

Nancy's Journal

Better Watch Out!!! (Part 2)

Rumor has it there's a NARB loose on the American continent. I have confirmed, however, that it's been asleep for nearly 11 hours now somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Be forewarned: exclamation-point-filled phone calls are likely to follow it wherever it goes for the next several days.

Better Watch Out!!!

Hallie learned to ride her bike last week. Still with training wheels of course, but she is already going to have them taken up a little. It was a bitter sweet moment to see my little girl doing such a big girl thing!!

A Fun Weekend

Ryan, April, Ian, and Molly came up to Norfolk this weekend. Here are a few pictures of the fun we had. The kids played in the fountains at the Botanical Gardens and we rode the Paddle Wheel Ferry across the Elizabeth River and got to see the draw bridge go up. What fun cousins. Too bad Henkka has been told he can't go near his cousins!!!!! Maybe we will just have to go see him!!!!

By luck, we also got to see the International Azalea Festival Parade. Hallie loved waving at the princesses and was sad when we left.

Jazz Fan Confusion

A cartoon on the front page of the HJ today illustrates Utah's inability to deal with the Jazz.

It shows a guy in a suit with a paper bag over his head. The caption:

UTAH CONFESSIONS

"I prayed for the Jazz to get homecourt advantage."

Go Jazz!

Why I Love Saturdays

The Worst Best Book I Ever Read

Like most members of the family, I'm a big reader--meaning I try (and often fail) to get through a book about once a week. One of the realities of this habit is that I am constantly running out of books to read, so I am frequently seeking book recommendations from ya'll, as well as from friends and neighbors. For the most part, this had led me to several good reads. I try to pass along the favor by offering my own suggestions. With my most recent book, I'm not sure if I should.

At the gentle prodding of our devoted home teacher, and against my better judgment, I started reading a novel about a ginormous shark (or, more accurately, a Megalodon) a few days ago.

Wow. Big time.

This book has it all--flesh munching, science, blood, romance, guts, action, gore, technology, bone crunching, sinister antagonists and heroic protagonists. More or less every living thing in the Pacific Ocean--human and nonhuman alike--gets swallowed whole in a two week period.

Last night, after staying up until about 1:30am to finish reading MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror, I can say that while I am almost certainly dumber than I was before reading it, I'm also happier and feel like a more complete person. Although I have been going through a bit of mass-market paperback hysteria for the past few months (O.S. Card, lame Grisham novels...a goal I once set), I typically try to find high quality reading. Therefore, I am grateful for MEG as it has, with its nonstop exploitation, awakened me to my senses.

I shall return to literature.

Birthday

We have had a crazy weekend. We had two extra kids Saturday through Sunday while their Mom had a cute baby girl. They played in the mud, decorated cookies, hopped in pillow cases (thanks to April), and stayed up all night giggling. Hallie also turned 3 today. She has been excited for weeks. She got a new swimming suit and some fun stuff from others. She also received lots of phone calls from friends and family.

Jazz

The point is this, folks: you all know that deep down you're still cheering for the Jazz, no matter how hard you try to cover it up and act like you're ambivalent. Like Ryan alluded to in his reference to Pascal, you're getting no benefit from their victories but suffering all the costs of their losses.
I will give all of you until 1 minute before tip-off time tomorrow night against San Antonio to declare your loyalty or be forever known as a fair-weathered fan. Please vote accordingly.

Accumulated thoughts

I was walking past Starbucks the other day. The music playing inside was the theme from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." A little part of me died.

Autocross in the rain is possibly the most fun you can have in a car. For maximum entertainment, make sure the traction control is off. Please note: if you are going sideways, the speedometer tends to be unreliable.

Dilemma: is believing in the Jazz worth the risk? If you believe and they lose the pain is that much worse. But if you don't believe and they do win, the victory is not as sweet. Being able to say "I told you so" is hardly comforting when they lose. Is this the same as Pascal's wager? Or do the actual probabilities matter?

Gardens

Here are some pictures of the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. We are all amazed at the beatiful trees and bushes that bloom all year long here!!! Not to mention...the airplanes. We love watching them take off and land.