Beijing

At the start and the end of our trip we had long layovers in Beijing. So on our first day of traveling, we visited 3 country capitals in one day: Ulaanbaatar, Beijing and Bangkok. Beijing is so different from Ulaanbaatar, even though they are only 2 hours apart by plane. It was clean, organized, very busy, and hot.


We visited Tiananmen Square, and saw this nice big portrait of Mao on the outer wall of the Forbidden City.


Here's clayt inside the Forbidden City. One of Clayt's first impressions of China: "Its too crowded."


Here I am at our hotel where we stayed at the end of our trip. It was a really nice place off the beaten path, affordable and eclectic. I was just happy to have a comfy bed with AC and hot water again!


Clayt is standing in front of the first McDonalds we have seen in 7 months. Mongolia has no western food chains, so while in Beijing and Thailand we enjoyed McDonalds and Dairy Queen. In fact, (sadly, I hate to admit it!) on our last day in China before returning to Mongolia we ate at McDonalds 3 times!!!


Here is a giant countdown clock for the Olympics. China is really pumped up about this, and olympics merchandise is sold all over. See the soldier in the corner guarding the clock so you can't get too close? We were thinking since our contracts will be finishing around that time next year, we might like to go see an event at the first olympic games ever held in China.