A TRIP TO THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

WE just had the best trip to Beijing China. We stayed for six days and it was action packed. Here you see Mom wearing her new gardening hat purchased at the great wall of China. We took the Seilbahn up to the top. Doug, Douglas and Rebecca walked to the top amidst a throng of Chinese sight seer's. What a marvel and thrill to see this great wonder!

We had the best time in Beijing. I was impressed with the city, very huge, most modern and spotlessly clean. Everyone was friendly and extremely helpful. We rode on the most modern subway, even beats the German one in Munich, and an older man offered me his seat. He must have thought I was older. People were friendly everywhere.

There were great complexes of high rise apartments. There are 15 million permanent residents of Beijing with a few million more transients.

I could not believe the traffic. There was Stau everywhere. I did not see a single stop sign and there were red lights at the major crossings. Yet there seemed to be a harmonics of flow. Everyone seemed to understand the rules, pedestrians walking in front of cars, weird bicycles calmly crossing from the right to left in front of cars, cars making a right turn from the left lane in a four lane road. I held on for "dear life" and thought we would kill at least fifty pedestrians but it never happened.

I watched the flow of traffic from our hotel room and it was like watching the flow of blood in a capillary. The red cells lining up, white cells and macrophages slipping in there and it just seemed to work. Until our friend got side swiped by a large tour bus and that was a real scene.

All in all we were very impressed by this great city and its people. Watch your back USA.