Beijing was incredible! We stayed with a wonderful family the Sudermans who always had amazing meals for us. They have a two storey apartment and a friendly dog named Shira. We went out every day - rain or shine or smog. I had fun figuring out the Beijing subway which was crowded but clean and very fast. We ate in lots of different restaurants and I enjoyed the rice, the noodles, and especially the Beijing duck. We went to the Noodle Loft where Kathi showed me how they made the hand-stretched noodles. Every day we took our local bus number 467 to the subway. Ikea was fun to visit especially since everybody takes turns sleeping on the furniture. Rod wears this mask when he goes jogging on smoggy days. Lucky for me there was a piano so I could practice.
We took a trip to 'Uncle Tom's Cabin in the country where we had lots of fun hiking, climbing trees, and playing games. I saw some really cool paintings on the way home.
There are so many things to do in Beijing like visit the Olympic Park where we saw the Bird's Nest and the Cube. We also went to the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas but it bothered me to see people feeding the animals. The Aquarium was much cleaner and had lots of colourful animals in it.
Shopping was a lot of fun at the Panjiayuan Market. We saw lots of antiques and I bought a Hobbit book and some coloured rocks. I learned to haggle to get a good deal. There were lots of Mao books and statues as well as some fake Terracotta Warriors. Kathi took us on a tour of the Hutongs which is the old part of Beijing. The streets were narrow and quiet with lots of alleys and doorways. We saw lots of lakes in Beijing and bought some gifts at the Qianmen Avenue Market. I never stopped looking for good Chinese books for Mrs. Gilmour, my favourite librarian.
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