JOLIE HOPPE

Well, I am back. After a jam-packed Spring Break with a week in a country that most Westerners have never been to, returning just in time for Midterms week, I am EXHAUSTED! But it was well worth it. The trip was absolutely AMAZING! We had such a great time!!!

We left on Saturday. The flight was long (as most 14 hours flights ten to be) and we even flew over then North Pole! But we finally got there Sunday night! We checked into our hotel, walked around Tiananmen Square, and went to bed!

Me, Brian and Megan on the plane!

Monday we went to the Emporer's Summer Palace. It definitely didn't feel like summer; It was so cold! The lake there was even frozen over!

Me at the Summer Palace!

After the Summer Palace we went to Tiananmen Square and into the Forbidden City. It was so neat!! It was so amazing to think that we--as foreigners-- were able to go into a place that for so many years even the Chinese people were not even able to go into...

Our whole group in the Square.

Me in the Forbidden City!

That night we went to a Peking Duck dinner and Opera Show!

Me trying Jellyfish!

The next day, Tuesday, was my favorite day of the whole trip. It was still cold but gradually warming up. We started off going to a jade factory then to the GREAT WALL!!!! It was absolutely amazing, definitely the highlight of the whole trip.

There were two ways to climb, the "easy" way or the hard way.... They're both relatively difficult, but we figured, we're only in China once, so up the hard we went. It was steep and snowy and slippery, but one of the most amazing things I've ever seen or done!!!!

A bunch of us on the Great Wall!!

After the Great Wall, we went to a Cloisonne factory for lunch and more shopping then to the Ming Tombs, where 13 emporers from the Ming dynasty are buried.

Fish anyone?

Only three of the tombs have been opened and much of the what is inside has been destroyed due to preservation problems and the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution (Mao said: "To create new, you must destory the old")....
That night we were on our own so we explored Beijing and interacted with the locals.

Back at the hotel, we went bowling at the bowling alley in the basement...

The next day we went to the Temple of Heaven which was like a big Central Park with a Temple attached! Every morning, people come to do their morning exercises, it was so neat! We even got to participate in some of them!

After the Temple, we went to a Pearl Factory, lunch and to a Buddhist and a Daoist Temple. After the temples, we went to a dinner show, then to a Kung Fu show!!

Megan and I and some of the Kung Fu kids!

The next day we went to the Buddhist Academy,

then walked through the hutongs (or local neighborhoods), and flew to Xi'an, checked into our BEAUTIFL hotel there and explored some of the city.

The next day we went to a few museums about the history of Xi'an and to a Terracotta factory

Me as a Terracotta Soldier!

Where we tried Xi'ans famous noodles

then got to see the Terracotta Soldiers!!!

6,000 of them, all guarding the emporers tomb from the Huns. (Though maybe they should've been guarding it from Mao...)

That night we went to a Tang Dynasty Dinner Theatre. The food and show were really good. It kindof reminded me of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in the old classic, "The King And I"

Our last day in Xi'an we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda where we climbed all seven stories to the top!

Then we went to some more museums and an Islamic Mosque and a big market where we got to shop and barter!

After the market, we flew back to Beijing where we had a delicious dinner of McDonalds

Then more bowling!!

I won =)

The next morning it was up and then to the airport for our 13 hour flight back to the States....

All in all it was an amazing trip. I really just wish it could've been longer; a week is not enough! Maybe next year =)

Now its back to recovering from jetlag and midterms....feel free to comment!!