Space Goddess

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had planned to blog from China; however, because of some mysterious reason, I was unable to connect to this website. So, because I am a travel advisor, selling journeys on Earth and into Space, I now will offer a few comments I made in emails to friends about our recent journey to this amazing country: 

What a whirlwind few days! Went to the Forbidden City (where Emperor, concubines, and eunuchs lived but was “forbidden” to commoners), Tiananmen Square, a traditional hutong (house built around a courtyard and passed down through the generations, did site inspections at the St. Regis and Ritz Carlton, climbed the Great Wall (originally Chinese called it the Long Wall—actually several walls blended together when China unified in 221 BC), ate at a country-style Chinese restaurant (so delicious!!!), visited the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic venue, the Temple of Heaven, and a shopping area. We’ve been served wonderful meals—most of them have been “non” Chinese until today. The first day we had one mediocre Chinese meal and then all sorts of gourmet cuisine, French, Italian. Finally today we had both a Chinese lunch and dinner. Both were outstanding! Beijing is very modern, very clean, and, unfortunately very polluted. People have traded bicycles for cars. Also, lots of factories and coal-generated heat. Tomorrow we fly to Xi’an to see the Terra Cotta warriors, the largest mosque in China, a new excavation area, a new museum, and end up at the Shangri-La Hotel. Then off to Chongqing to board the riverboat for our brief few day Yangzi River cruise.Written on November 11, 2008