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