Beijing to Xian- Sunday

It is 11:30 pm and we are waiting for our luggage to be delivered. We arrived at the hotel in Xian about half an hour ago. The airplane ride lasted about two hours and the ride on the bus to the hotel lasted about an hour. Asian people are a little bit smaller and slimmer than American people so the seats tend to be smaller.

It has been a very busy day. We were asked to have our luggage outside of our room by 7am and then to eat breakfast.The breakfast buffet was fantastic with many selections. At 8:15 am, we gathered to board the buses for the day's tour. Bob reported that Pat White came through surgery okay and was recovering.

We started the day with a group prayer, as we have every day. We were not able to go to church because of the distance, so we had our devotions on the bus. Our bus was led by Tommy Jobe. We sang several songs and had a prayer.

As time goes on, we are more disappointed that we did not get to go to a Chinese church to worship. We read so much about Christianity and its growth in China.

Our first stop was the Forbidden City,the residence of emperors and their families. The place is enormous. Emperors and Empresses killed a lot of people for things like making too much noise or being in their area. Human life wasn't considered worth much. If they wanted to keep place that was being built, like their tomb, a secret, they killed all the workers as soon as the work was done. A person had no choice as to whether or not they worked on anything either. You were compelled. They followed Confusionism and were always striving for harmony. They killed a lot of people to try to achieve it. Our guide kept referring to them as kind but there was nothing kind about them that we heard.

The architecture of the buildings and arches is beautiful.They use lots of gold and bright colors Much of the design and artwork is based on their religious beliefs. Feng Shui, which is popular in the US, is based on religious beliefs and good luck. It is definately not Christian.

We ate another wonderful lunch then went to learn about oysters and pearls and how they make jewlery and grade the pearls. There was time for shopping afterwards.

The next stop was the Summer Palace. Part of the tour went through what they called the world's largest art museum. It was a long covered walkway and the artwork was on the beams. We rode a dragon boat on a very large man made lake. It is called a dragon boat because it is in the shape of a dragon. The trees, lake, rocks, gardens and art was all related to their religious practices. The gardens were lovely and peaceful, even with many crowds of people going through. China is very crowded all the time, like the malls at Christmas. People are all around us.
Everywhere we go there are the street vendors. They yell, "Hello"and follow you around trying to get you to buy something. "Only one dollar" is a common phrase. We are told this is the way many people in China earn their living, selling tourists. They sell things like postcards, watches, hats, umbrellas, t- shirts, tourist books and things like that.

We had another meal before getting on the airplane. We pray together before every meal to bless the food and the people. They fed us yet another meal on the airplane so we had 4 meals! We walked a lot today, probably a few miles or more, so maybe we won't gain quite as much weight.