Beijing Fever

Originally uploaded by amigodavido

China is humongous, Tiananmen Square is the size of 90 football fields and the Forbidden City is bigger and than any castle I have ever seen. The gates become progressively bigger and more magnificent as you move through the palace. Another site that we saw was the Temple of Heaven, the most famous pagoda in China. I learned that the original burnt down a hundred years ago and because of a shortage of timber it was rebuilt using pine from the great state of Oregon. This is a funny obscure fact that all Oregonians should be proud of.

I hit up the Donghuamen Night market just like Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel and I put my stomach to the test. I ate Sea Snake, Dog, and Fried Scorpions. The dog was gross, the sea snake was squishy, and the scorpions were crunchy. Yumm. Hopefully, I don't get sick, but I found that the remedy isn't Pepto Bismol, rather it is a bit of alcohol. In biblical times they drank wine that had an alcohol strength of a beer, so I have been trying various beers to prevent stomach aches. Today I tried, Yanjing - somewhat of a weak wheat beer that was cool and refreshing. I don't know if this really works, but I figure it should kill some things and be tasty at the same time.

Unfortunately, today was a rather rough day. Christina came down with a cold and is currently asleep...she went to bed at about 8:30pm. Hopefully she gets better soon because we do the Great Wall tomorrow. Also, I think I burnt-out the motor in my Super 8 camera. It stopped working in the Forbidden City. I don't know what to do. The short that I am working on won't be shelved because my ideas will still fly. I will simply have to get creative!

Until tomorrow! Peace from China!

~David