After we landed in Calgary from Beijing, Cami met us at the airport and we went up to the chapel, where the Stake Presidency set her apart for her mission. Cami, Cyd, and Dave then left on a flight to SLC to go to the MTC the next day. Have a wonderful mission in the Ukraine. See you in 18 months.

 

Our five-star hotel. Thank goodness for the western breakfasts we had each morning.

These lions are outside almost every door or entrance, as they denote Good Luck. 

Another cutie petutie. They are sure cute when they are small and very beloved, expecially if they are boy. Girls are often killed or left on the arphanage doorstep, as only one child per family is allowed.

These are people worshipping Buddah, by burning incense outside the Buddist Temple. they set the incense on fire and hold it between their hands, kneel, bow repeatly, and pray to Buddah, asking him for "Good Luck".
One of the lBuddist Monks. These monks are Llamas. The famous Dalie Llama came from this temple.
 

These are typical markets, or neighborhood shops. Lots of vege's, eggs, fruit and seeds, legumes

By the way, babies don't wear diapers. Their clothes just have a big slit from front to back and they just squat and pee/poo anywhere.
 

Our ride in a rickshaw, or pedicab as they call them.
We toured through an older section of Beijing, called a Houtong (sp?). People have lived in these areas for generations, and the following pics are someof sites we saw on this tour.


 

Chinese acrobats!! Wow these guys blew off our socks!! They were amazing.!!

 

These pics are from the Summer Palace. This was a palace built by one of the Empresses using billions of dollars of tax payers money and it's unbelievable. It extends as far as the eye can see clear across the lake, including the lake, and the palaces you can see on the other side of the lake.


 

Chinese fast food....if you get hungry, you can buy a yam from this fellow, fresh baked in this barrel on the backof his bike, for 10 yeun, or so. Yum!! 

More of the same.. Traffic was crazy, I don'tthink there are any traffic laws in China. And the pedistrians are at the bottom of the totem pole as far as right of way.

 

Interesting scenes from Beijing. The old mixed in with the new. Everyone rode these old rusty bikes everywhere.
Truck loads of cabbage on the street was a commonn sight, it was bought up and sold by the end of the day. A staple in their diet.
Also the giant leeks were sold on the street and brought home for dinner
 

Here are David and Linda Salmon, eating at one of the many Chinese Restaurants. the food was interesting - hmm- not at all like we are used to when we go out for Chinese. Most of the time we had to guess what we were eating. The soups were the worst - watery and tastless for the most part. By the end of the trip, McDonalds was looking pretty good.


 

More Great Wall Pics. This first one is of Sessa Stephen and it shows the steepness at places