We started off the day going to the Temple of Heaven - the VAST grounds of a temple right inside the city.

.. is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in southeastern urban Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It is regarded as a Taoist temple, although Chinese Heaven worship, especially by the reigning monarch of the day, pre-dates Taoism. www.wikipedia.org

We were told to get there by about 6:30am in order to see the temple "wake up" - it was to be filled with people practicing taichi, however we instead found it crawling with Chinese tourists...

Inside the temple's grounds, one of the first areas we found was a large, manicured forest. There wee some people practicing taichi between the trees, but it was hard to find them - and they kept yelling. Not a scream - more like calling out looking for someone, but it wasn't a name. It was more of a "OOIIII.......OOOOIIII....AAAAA" - we managed to catch someone in the act of yelling - she was just leaning against a fence stretching, yelling out for no apparent reason.

Within the temple grounds there were tonnes of cool sights, including the main Temple and a very lovely rose garden.

After the Temple of Heaven we tried to go to the Forbidden City, but the throngs of people kept us out. It was insane! The walkways to the front gates were so filled with people that you couldn't walk - all you could do was shuffle with your shoulders in contact with your neighbours the entire way...the stairs going up from the subway resembled a river of salmon during spawning season. In the end, we decided to try leaving the Forbidden City, but it was easier said then done - just trying to get out and find a taxi forced a walk of about 2.5 km. Our feet hurt so much, we decided that we wanted to go to get a massage. Following the recommendation of our guide book, we went to try out Bodhi -  but don't believe their website! There is no longer any location in the Choayang district - the entire block that held the place has been demolished! It was very disheartening :( So, in the end, after another 1.5 Km we got to Dragonfly - another spa where the full-body massage was very welcome :)

We finished off the day by watching Painted Skin - a new chinese action-thriller based on a story of a fox-spirit. It was pretty good and if it actually comes to North America, I recommend it!

Over all, things have been going really well - we're exhausted from all the walking, but it's been good. We have a very nice, inexpensive, breakfast restaurant by the hotel and that helps!

So we finally got around to posting up a place for photos - you can get there at http://www.muah.ca/gallery2 or by clicking "Photos" in the left menu.

So....China...wow it's been hectic! On our first day here, we didn't do too much - we arrived early afternoon, so we spent the day getting ourselves checked in and sorted out.

Day 2 - Oct 1

The next day, we left pretty early to spend the day at the Beijing Amusement Park! The park was pretty small small, but it had a pretty neat 2-story carousel. What was really neat about it, was that unlike western amusement parks where the majority of vendors sold sweet treats, here the majority of vendors were selling meat on a stick (skewers with lamb, chicken or squid). It was awesome. Xiaopu, however, wasn't very aggressive when trying to buy food, so we kept getting bumped in line when she was doing the buying.

Oh yeah, we also learned there won't be any fireworks :( It turns out that there are only special events for the national holiday every 5 years - so no fireworks for us.

When we left the park, we tried to find the Red Theatre to pick up our tickets for a show in the evening, but our streetwise checks were poor (not quite natural 1's, but pretty damn close) and we missed the place entirely even though it was right under our noses. We ended up walking to Qianmen Dajie - a long, pedestrian-only street full of newly cnstructed and not-yet-leased buildings that are reminiscient of ancient chinese architecture. What was remarkable, was that although there were almost no shops (a pharmacy and a restaurant were all we noticed) the street was full of people! This was also wher we saw our first "Volunteer Information Tent". These small tents, we learned, are littered throughout the city, manned by volunteers helping tourists to Beijing. Off Qianmen Dajie, though, was a small side streed just JAMMED with people. There were numerous silk and clothing stores, as well as a few curio shops. After a bowl of painfully spicy beef noodles, we went looking for a cab. It was almost impossible to find an empty cab - so many people!

We headed home via a massage parlour to get a foot massage (lots of walking today) ... the place was called "Massage by Blind Masseurs" - I enjoyed mysef, but Pu found the massage painful :( We stopped by a bakery on the way home - Weiduomei. This bakery is like a chinese Timmy's - they are everywhere! Sometimes more than one on the same block! The pastries, however, are more expensive than the pastries back in Canada.

That evening, for dinner, we were going to visit the restaraunt at the top floor of our hotel, but it *seemed* closed...the lights were off, but the door was open...The stairs up to the restaurant were eerily dark....However, being a brave soul, I ventured up the stairs - only to trigger the motion alarms complete with sirens and lights :P After bolting back down the flight of stairs, we agreed to go down to the lobby, admit our transgression and ask the front-desk to turn off the alarm so as to stop disturbing the residents at the top of the building....a suitably embarassing way to start our trip.

I'll post more a little later - for now, though, it's time for breakfast :)

We've arrived in Beijing, and I do believe our trip here was the smoothest trip through customs I have ever had. We had no line up at the airport in Toronto, and everything went smoothly, our baggage was transfered without a hitch in New York, and here in Beijing - again - not a question or a hiccup. If only it could always be this smooth!

Pu and I are going to take some time out of this week to hookup a place to put our photos from the wedding, but in the meantime, here's a teaser to keep you hooked ;) Thanks for taking the photo Sadisha!

I'm not sure what Sheila's doing - but she sure seems to be doing it with gusto!

So we have survived the wedding! It was such a blast - thank you so much to everyone that was able to come share our special day together - it was so great to see you all! We're finishing packing up for our honeymoon (we really should have packed sooner :P) so this is a short post.

We'll post information for photos here, as soon as we finalize where we're putting them all. Thanks again!

This past weekend we had our bachelor/bachelorette parties - I can't speak for Pu (I'm sure she'll post for herself) but it was a blast! We were going to go golfing, but the weather encouraged us to change our minds, so we went bowling instead.

Stuff we learned:

• Scott is both an incredibly fast and incredibly slow bowler
• Andy is impressed by big chips
• Ryan is Scott's best conscience ;)

Much beer was ingested, and many laughs were had by all. Thanks, guys, for the great time - it gave me some great memories :)