The first couple stops on our trip

This first picture is of our group having lunch at the Beijing Airport, which is a massive and spotlessly clean facility.  We are eating the ever-populat Chinese noodle dish.  There were seven different flavors so we ordered one of each and shared - delicious!

 This is me with Flat Stinger near the Gate Tower at the south entrance to the wall around the city of Xi'an (pronounced She-an).  When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), captured Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng admonished him that he should 'built high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor,' so that he could fortify the city and unify the other states. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang dynasty (618 -907), creating the modern Xian City Wall. It's the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well as being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.  Our group was able to take a bicycle tour of the wall, which is about 9 miles in circumference.  It gave us a real glimpse into the city life of Xi'an, a city of 6 million people.

 On the wall at Xi'an

 Asleep on the job on the wall at Xi'an

 This is called Hot Pot lunch.  The stainless-steele pots on the table sit atop burners that boil the water at your table.  You then take some of each vegetbale and different meats, and even eggs, and put them in the water to boil briefly.  In the meantime, you go make a sauce of your own creation.  When you get back to your table, your food has boiled and you use chopsticks to pull it out of the pot and dip it in your sauce, which cools it down so you can eat it.  We loved it!