He who has not climbed the great wall is not a true man - Mao Zedong

Great Wall of China - Check

I guess you could say I'm finally a man....according to Mao.

Our Trip to Beijing was amazing! We did basically as much as physically possible. My feet were even bruised by the time i got done with the trip.

Amy, Nick, and I waited in Dale and Aj's room with much anticipation for them to arrive. When they finally did arrive we jumped out ---------Soon after we thought we would break them in hard and start them out with a traditional hole in the wall Chinese restraint ...

Aj attempting "The Chopsticks" it may not look like he was succeeding but in fact he managed to eat like this- you go Aj!

Shopping, shopping, and more shopping!!!

If you know me you'll know I'm all about getting a bargain, and you will also know if i happen to get a great deal i cant help but buy A LOT! well i got a bargain which means i bought a ton! Having Dale, and Aj( Nick, and Amy's parents) was a blast! It was so refreshing

The Pearl Market... Where Much of my money now is.

Free foot massage... mandatory tip. That's OK it was worth ever penny of my $2.75!

The Summer Palace, 17 arches.

Forbidden city

Beijing has some of the neatest architecture.. i was taking back by all the buildings and how amazing the architecture is! this is the Birds Nest and the water cube, and behind that is a building that is supposed to be a dragon. I guess Beijing does have 17 million people so I'm sure they are pretty darn good at making huge buildings by now... makes sense

Yes That is a scorpion... and yes it was Delicious! Scorpion, Tarantula's, and Pecking duck are some of Beijing's delicacies.

The Temple of Heaven.

And then there was the Great Wall

Our group decided that we should hike the "not for the faint hearted" part of the wall as the lonely planet puts it. We woke up at 5 am and got back to the hostel around 7ish. there was hardly any body there, only a handful or tourist and lots of local farmers. Simitai (where we went) is an older part of the wall its from the Ming Dynasty. I'm really glad we didn't go to Baldaling, the restored part of the wall .... i mean i could have got a yummy Star Bucks on the wall but come one does anybody go to the great wall to get Star Bucks? Simitai was much more my kinda place!

This Is Michelle ( Amy and Emily's Friend) getting a Chinese massage... she had perfect circular hickeys all over her back the rest of the vacation it was hilarious!