18 hrs on a plane does strange things to people;
That's it. I've had it. Not with china. Not with Beijing. Certainly not with alana or carol. I've had it with whining, entitled, racist, people from north America! Ugh. Now before you hit me with "you made racist comments about the sales people..." That was in jest and it was only towards the clerks. There are 2 kinds of people I hate, people who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the DUTCH! No really, you come to china, there are one and a half BILLION people, and you expect them to speak French?????? You expect them to cater to your every whim???? BITE ME! Oh yes, people that know me were probably expecting this to happen, now I'm having a rant! If anyone is just a little SENSITIVE about what I'm about to say, turn off your computers and go water your grass or something. I am really getting sick of a certain kind of American and quebecer that just goes around shooting their mouths off without THINKING. I have one thing to say to all these people, MAKE SURE YOUR BRAIN IS ENGAGED BEFORE PUTTING YOUR MOUTH IN GEAR. YOU ARE ACTING LIKE A-HOLES! Comments I have heard on this trip, "these people are dirty..." "cant the signs be in French..." "cant we eat anything that doesn't taste Chinese..." "don't these people have rules..." And the kicker "why cant we eat at McDonald's?" that last one I wanted to slap but my daughter was watching. Yes, I miss home too. But I have not met ONE insensitive or unfriendly person that comes from here. Maybe its the fact that I have a baby with me. The Chinese LOVE babies. If we stop for any amount of time, we are immediately surrounded by giggling and cooing Chinese people. They are SO friendly! If they know any amount of English, they will share it with you and if you respond with a NI HAO or XIE XIE they are absolutely charmed. Today we visited the Forbidden City and Tienamen(sp?) Square. This was one of the bronze lions protecting the entrance to the emperor's throne.

People wanted to take their pictures with us standing next to them! Real rock star stuff! So funny! I'm really glad Carol brought those Canadian Post Cards. We would just give them away to the kids who would stop to look at Alana. The forbidden city was just ... I don't know what to say. Awe inspiring, magnificent, humbling, impressive etc. There is a reason why it is called a "city". It covers 40000 hectares and is completely surrounded by a moat. The main gates are about 50 meters thick! The roof tops, and there are many, are all covered with fire glazed tile.

I think our guide said something like 9 thousand 9 hundred and ninety nine rooms! If you are going to sequester yourself from the rest of humanity, you need that many rooms to do it. And you need your 72 concubines too! There are alleys and streets and parks and all paved with hand laid stone and marble. What a heritage Alana has!

Tienamen is just adjacent to the Forbidden City but there was not much to see there. It is just an open square with streets and buildings around it. Even though it was the site of the tradgedy of the 80's, it is still used as a location for peaceful demonstrations. This is the New China after all and alot has changed. We took it easy this afternoon as my girls were a little tired. We got back to our room and Alana wouldn't go down so Carol picked her up and she immediately started snorring on top of Mom. Sweetness.

And tonight, I am about to find out if this city lives up to it's old name sake. PEIKING DUCK! Later Peeps!