Netherlands to... China!

I typed this on Friday but couldn't post it because turns out China blocks blogspot (yay rights!). Then, today I remembered that I set up an email address from Uganda that lets me email in my posts. Not sure if this will work but it's worth a try (somebody email me and let me know if you're reading this?). Without further ado, a seriously subpar entry:

Ok. So apparently I'm not so good at getting my final trip entry done. Things always seem to speed up, and reflecting so soon is overwhelming. The end of the bike trip in Europe was fantastic though. The last two days were definitely the hardest, with headwinds and monotonous landscapes for the majority of both days. We still found ways to entertain ourselves though and have fun. And, of course, we also managed to eat really well! We got all 11 towns, and biked the whole 260kms, which means that after we mail off our stamp sheet I'll get a certificate. I'm gonna frame that baby!

Anyways, after 2 days in Charlotte doing nothing but sleeping late and then napping in the sun by the pool, I'm in China! Yeah… it's a rough life. We landed last night at 11pm, were at the hotel around 1, and had to wake up at 7. As a result, it is 9:30 and I'm already in bed. My body is beyond confused about what time it is.

Today was fantastic though. We wasted no time jumping right into it. First thing we did was go to Tiananmen Square which, unfortunately, was closed off today because it is the 90^th anniversary of the founding of the Communist party in China. We got to see it from across the street though, and watch them set up for some kind of ceremony they were having later in the day.

There was a huge police/military presence everywhere we went today. They kept randomly stopping people (not Westerns though) and doing full searches of their bags. I'm talking FULL. Like, opening each container, smelling liquids, etc. It honestly seemed to be more for the intimidation affect than actual security, but I'm guessing that was the point. And it works! I would not have wanted to attract the attention of any of them.

Next was the Forbidden City, which, true to any description, is HUGE. Before you even really get into it there are 4 or 5 gates, each with giant courtyards in between them where there are military barracks and souvenir booths. The palace itself is absolutely beautiful, full of old relics and extravagant decorations. All of the rooms (or at least all the ones we saw) have different names and since there are 9,999 rooms, they obviously had to get a little creative. One of my favorite parts was just reading all of the names.

Ok. This is a very incomplete description of the day, but I am exhausted and need to get some sleep so I'll try to catch you up on my observations another day. This is going to be a great 3 weeks!!