Day 2 Continued - The Long Hot Day...

You know, Chinese architecture is pretty magnificent looking compared to what we are used to. This is a picture of Grace, Mom and Dad at the bottom of the cavernous glass filled entrance way of the Bank of China. I took this picture just before the armed guards tackled me out of the bank for taking pictures and breaking security protocols. - "Hey, I'm a customer..."













Did I say it was a long hot day? Today was the muggiest day I have ever felt outside of a sauna. It was 38 degrees Celsius at one point! I haven't seen blue sky since being here because of the fog - or smog - lets call it "fmog". Here we are huddled under a tree for "shade". I don't know why because it was just as hot in the shade as it was out of it. My dad needed rest. "My poor old out of shape need a rest for every step grandfather to be Dad". What am I saying? I share the same genes - somebody kill me now...






This is my friend Jai and his "web friend" Li-Ching. He decided to kill two birds with one stone: Stalk me and the girl he met on the web with one throw. No, he went on his holidays and wanted to meet us in China and hangout. It was nice of Jai to take Grace and I out to an authentic Chinese Opera.

(note to self: bring earplugs next time because the ringing doesn't stop till the fat lady stops singing...)








OK, I lied there are no fat people in China - just me. You know a sales lady at a market called me a "Smiling Buddha..." Yah, I'm in shock too! I'm still smiling on the outside but definitely crying on the inside - now where was that dumpling place we were going to snack at?

This is a picture of the opera we were at. It has been playing in Beijing for hundreds of years. It is called "Stealing the Magic Herb". In short it is a typical story of husband and wife goes to a party, wife gets drunk and turns into a snake, husband goes into shock and coma, wife needs a magic herb to heal husband, she must battle mountain gods to claim herb, she defeats the magical creatures, becomes human and saves husband. Basically a typical day here in China. Nothing out of the ordinary.

In the scene below it is another story called "Picking Up a Jade Bracelet". In short this is an extraordinary story of a young girl who picks up a Jade bracelet... "Riviting!"