3 Days In Beijing

We just spent 3 days in Beijing. Monday morning we boarded the high speed train in Shanghai and 5 hours later arrived in Beijing. Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven. Unfortunately, our tour guide was not keen on my idea of going to the Hard Rock Cafe, so we ended up back at the hotel by 5 pm.
Tuesday morning we headed to the Lama Temple before our journey to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. After hiking on the wall for awhile we headed back to the city and drove past the Olympic site. We finished with dinner at Qu Lin for Peking duck.
Wednesday we hit the ground running. We went to Tiannenman Square and the Forbidden City then finished at the Summer Palace. That evening we flew back into Shanghai. Needless to say we were exhausted but glad to have visited Beijing.

Sights is Shanghai

So today I started my first of four healthy Chinese cooking classes. We made three different dishes. Tofu salad, a noodles and ground pork dish, and vegetarian spring rolls. The way the class works is you do all the prep work and cook during class, have a tasting, then pack up the rest to take home. So needless to say, I needed lunch after class. While walking down a pedestrian street to a cafe this was hanging outside one of the restaurants along with several other dried meats.

Chinese New Year Fireworks

The Chinese really know how to party. Fireworks went on for days. Finally on the 5th night I felt like I was in a war zone. Here is a little picture of what we were experiencing at midnight.