You Had WHAT for Lunch?

Would you eat this? I'll bet the restroom floors smell like noodles. This was found in a large, professionally done, hardbound menu at a very nice restaurant in Beijing. When we saw it, we laughed and laughed. We were at the restaurant with Tim and Leslie Pelton, and Todd and Sherae Forsyth. 

Drum Tower and Bell Tower in Beijing

We met up with two LDS Charities volunteer couples--the Ashtons and the Sheffields--who are based in Beijing. They work on various projects with Chinese NGOs to do various humanitarian projects in China. We see them once a week, but wanted to spend more time with them, so we met up to tour the famous Bell Tower and Drum Tower in the heart of Beijing. The tower square is located directly north, in a straight line from the Forbidden City, and at one time was included within the Forbidden City. They were built in 1272 AD, so their relatively "recent" creations.

Drum Tower, used to tell time in ancient times. 

Bell Tower, used to tell time in ancient times.

Drums at top of drum tower

Various time-keeping devices--many of them based on the burning of incense sticks.

Time-keeping devices.

More time-keeping devices.

More time-keeping devices.

Time-keeping by using water. As the water flows from one tank to the other, and finally into a barrel, it raises a stick on which is found the markings to keep time. 

Laraine with Ted Ashton (maroon jacket), Terry Sheffield and Rick Sheffield (blue sweatshirt)

Across the courtyard at the bell tower, this caption is found. 

The bell is struck by a giant wooden "fish"

The Great Wall was . . . well . . . Great!

Our university (China Foreign Affairs University) hired a couple of buses and took us on an excursion to the Great Wall at Badaling (There are countless locations from which to see the wall). The Great Wall is only about 90 minutes from our apartment and the trip was wonderful. However, everything seemed to go wrong on the way there, including a sudden gastro-intestinal need to find a restroom in the middle of Beijing at an early morning hour when everything was closed. Our bus driver kindly found a hotel and I ran in, took care of business, then ran back out to the awaiting buses. Both buses waited for me. I was quite embarrassed and thought to myself, "The way things are going, I'll probably get to the Great Wall and accidentally lean against -- making it fall down."

Measuring the wall is tricky because there are off-shoots, natural "wall-like" barriers, etc. Altogether, it measures more than 13,000 miles and is considered one of the greatest architectural feats in the world's history.

Looking up at the wall as it winds around the mountainside. 

The Chinese flag proudly waves over the area. Great wall in the distance.

Laraine walks the great wall with our university colleagues and dear friends--Mike and Ruth Ann Martin, from South Africa. 

Walking the wall 

The view back towards Beijing from the Great Wall. 

Every once in a while there is a beacon tower from which ancient warriors signaled relayed messages to others along the wall via smoke during the day or fire at night

Approaching a signal tower

Two comrades enjoy the wall's history together

 

We've gotten to know the Martins very well. They teach us so much about South African culture, and we've found that we frequently have to struggle to understand their English, as it differs from our "real" English. Of course, we have a constant "battle" about which is the "real" English.