It's hard to believe that we've made it all the way through China and didn't post once, I feel like time is speeding up. China was amazing, a bit of a shock at first but then it completely grew on me. We arrived in Beijing to a dust storm and pushy tourists that have no consideration to ones personal space. At first you feel taken back by it, but within a few hours I was just one of them, giving a little elbow when needed and joining in the game of queueing up at Mao's mausoleum. What an experience that was, seeing Mao Zedong's body - of course a little freaky - but being in the rat race to get in, was the true Beijing experience.
My favorite part of China would have to be the hotungs, small ally ways filled with fruit stands, steamed dumping shops, and anything you could possible imagine 'on a stick.' You can also find your tailor, your bike maintenance crew and probably the best rice, noodle or dim sum dish you've even had. These little side streets are where it all goes down in China, and they're everywhere. I've decided that in my next lifetime I want to come back as the lady that sells the kettle corn in the hotung near our hostel, such a big smile on her face as she passed out on-the-spot popped bags of goodness, what's not to love about that?
We made our way through the northeast China, but only scratched the surface of something much much more. Visiting the Great Wall on our last day gave us some perspective of what this country is about, showing grandeur and art with a massive stone wall that never provided much protection. China is huge and they want you to see them as dominating, but really, this country has a long way to go before they actually fulfill the image they're showing the world.

So perhaps you've heard... that the Chinese government censors internet traffic in and out of any computer within its borders. Their "off limits sites" include vehicles of dissident such as Facebook, YouTube and yup you guessed it, Blogger, the site which hosts our blog - so that's the reason for the radio silence.

Needless to say we're still here, still ok, and in fact doing very well. We're celebrating our last full day in China tomorrow with our first view and hike of China's actual Great Wall - a modern and man made (many many a man) wonder of this world we live on. We've been all over the east coast and can't wait to talk more about it, but until then... enjoy the recently posted pictures of our last weeks in Japan. That's one wonderful nation. Oyasuminasai... Sleep well.