Riding on a train!

This is the first time I have ever been on a train! Its a blast! I was expecting it too be much more bumpy and sickening but we are doing great!

When we walked into the train station I couldn't believe how many people were jam packed into such a small space. The halls were very congested and we were a little afraid of being separated but everything went fine! The train is much faster than I expected it to be. Everything is rushing by so fast and normally I would be a little motion sickness but I am too excited to be motion sick!!

Even the transportation on this trip is fun! Even if I am a nerd I am loving every minute of it!! Before we got on the train we were able to stop at a grocery store!! This is a very big deal to us because we have been eating tons and tons of meat so it was great to stop and grab some fruit and candy! All of us have been craving peanut butter and luckily the grocery store had some!! We are going to have a peanut butter party tonight and I wouldn't be surprised if we all just ate it plain!!

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The small Potola palace

Today we went to the small potola palace. It was gorgeous. We walked up 400 steps of stairs and man are we tired!! Half way up the palace levels there were small little stores or what our tour guide Riley would call a "shopportunity". We love shopportunities!!!
When we got to the top of the palace we were able to see a part of the Great Wall that we hike yesterday. It was cool!

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Touring the imperial summer palace

We visited the imperial summer palace today. It was awesome!! We saw where the emperor lived along with his concubines. The palace was pretty big but I thought his room would be larger than it was.
Emilie and I took pictures with a little boy dressed as the emperor on a throne. He was adorable and loved having his picture taken! We walked around the palace for a while then listened to a group of musicians playing in the courtyard. They were really good. They had awesome authentic outfits. They played us several songs that we later found out symbolized the four seasons.

Walking around the palace really opened my eyes. I loved reading and hearing about the historical facts in the palace. What an incredible scenic experience.

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Paper cutting

Today we were fortunate enough to go to a beautiful paper art gallery run by a large family in chengde. The gallery displayed hundreds of intricately cut paper designs. Some were very bright colored and some solid. More mature designs but all were absolutely gorgeous.
We learned that the women of the families usually take part in paper cutting because they are much more patient then the men. Nice!
We watched one woman cut a pretty butterfly and she showed us a few of her past designs. The were unreal. She let us try cutting easy little butterflys and even those were difficult. I bought three paper designs from the gallery and I can't wait to show everyone at home how beautiful they are!

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I just climbed the Great Wall of China!

Wow. That is all I can say. We are sitting at the bottom of the great wall. Our hike was nothing like I thought it would be. The rough terrian was never flat. It felt as if we were always climbing up. At a few points on the wall we had to scale it. We were climbing the bricks and pulling ourselves up with no harnessess. It was insane. But so awesome! The hike lasted for 7 hours and at the end there was a huge banner saying "one is not a hero until he (OR SHE) climbs the great wall". We were so excited and we got to sign and take pictures with the banner. That was a once in a lifetime experience and just looking out at mountain after mountain was unbelievably unreal.

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Riding in the rickshaws!!

Hello everybody!

Today we visited smaller towns and shopped, toured through a locals home, and learned how to write in calligraphy. It was incredible. After our calligraphy lesson with a brilliant artist, we walked out off his house and saw a line of rickshaws (a carriage attached to a bicycle). There are about 20 people in our discovery travel group so many rickshaws were lined down the street! We all climbed in rickshaws and raced through the streets. The rickshaw driver driving Emilie and I was crazy! As we drove through the narrow streets many people stopped and waved or tried to speak english to us! We felt like we were in a parade. I have been very suprised by how many people here have not seen caucasian people before. When we visited the touristy areas many people would come up and ask to take pictures with us!
When we visited the Olympic Bird's nest, there was a big line of people wanting to take pictures with Emilie and I! Not gonna lie... We loved it!!!
Today we just went dragon boat racing and my team won! That was an adventure! We are on the bus right now driving to the countryside to eat a mongolian dinner in a yurt (large tent) and then camp outside! Tomorrow we will be hiking the Great Wall! This is such an unbelivable experience!!

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Cooking with. a Famous Chef

Hello!
This is the most incredible experience that I have ever had. Yesterday for example, we were able to go and buy fruits and food at a local market. I had never even heard of or seen half of the food there. It was so cool!! After purchasing the foods we went to a really exotic and fancy restaurant in Beijing. The chef at the restaurant has won tons of awards and medals. He is a very big deal in China. He is even frequently on tv! Meeting him was awesome but to top the morning off we got a private cooking lesson with him! We made dumplings which were surprisingly easy to make. I think that the home made ravioli we make every year for christmas definitely helped!!

After making dumplings we helped slice chicken and watched one of the chefs flip hot spicy chicken in a pan! It was awesome. We were also dressed in chef outfits, aprons, and chef hats from the chef! He signed them and let us keep it all! What a morning I can't wait to see what is in store for us for the rest of the day!!!!

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