Beijing Day 5 - The Olympic Stadium aka Bird's Nest and the Water Cube

Creepy as it was walking in a perfect setup for a zombie apocalypse movie, the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube were really stunning.

The attention to detail is great. The lights were mini bird's nests. 

 And here's a series of Kim being a fool trying to Isshinryu kick # 7 in front of the Bird's Nest.

Lookin' like a fool but who cares? I'm a laowai!

Girls will be girls, as shown by Julia, Lindsay, and I modeling our Longchamp's.

We weren't sure if they were railings or potential seats so Yazzy Baby and Sarah attempted it.

Funny or non-sensical English shirts are always entertaining. I'm sure the same could be said of Chinese shirts that non-Chinese people seem to really enjoy wearing without knowing the message. I have no problem with it unless it says something rather inappropriate or if the person doesn't know that. 

This seems to be uploading some of the photos out of order. Well we tried to run in front of these or at least pose like we were running a couple of times. We felt silly but hey why not take small liberties in a foreign country. Never know when you next get to make a fool of yourself.

Beijing Day 4 - Temple of Heaven

I feel FABULOUS

Even with all of the people the temple was fairly relaxing and calm.

Maybe I don't know enough about Buddhism but the pushy crowd just to see the inside didn't not seem worth the effort.

This area around the Temple of Heaven was massive. 

I punch dragons in the face

In the gardens/grounds around the Temple of Heaven were expansive, beautiful, and tranquil. At the same time it was full of energy near the entrances at any rate with the elderly dancing in huge groups either with partners or in a form of choreography that we attempted to mimic. Unfortunately because I was concerned about my camera's battery life I was unable to capture these honestly precious moments. 

The Nine Dragon Juniper that kind of looked like a bunch of dragons making their curvy ways up the tree towards the sky.

Various artifacts within the Echo Wall area.

After exploring almost all of the Temple of Heaven we went on a crazy spending spree at the nearby Pearl Market. I found myself some beautiful white/classic pearls as well as earrings for Jesica and myself. A good number of my gifts came from this market. It was amazing but also fairly expensive, which I later discovered.

Beijing Day 3 - The Summer Palace

We decided to throw in together to get a tour guide for this amazing site. We were accompanied by our British friends from the Great Wall so that really helped to offset the cost (200/20 kuai for 2 hrs)

Empress Dowager Cixi's massive temple where she actively prayed and gave offerings to a many armed buddha?/statue.

 We weren't allowed to take photos inside or of the statue.

One of many long hallways that we traversed. They were completely decorated in histories, myths, and legends. 

Supposedly the lake resembles a peach. I think it looked more like a radish.

This side section was really interesting but we weren't allowed to go over to it. Apparently the dark building in the center was made of copper.

The windows had been pillaged but were eventually recovered/returned to the glee of China. 

I always wanted to get a better look at some of the decorations on the spine of the roofs. 

This is the building/throne room that Empress Dowager Cixi held most of her diplomatic matters if I recall correctly.

This is some crazy goat, dragon, horse, deer, bull or something combination. It's a mythical creature and I think it's supposed to bring good luck.

When we got to be level with the lake we discovered we could take boats onto the lake. 

You just have to power them with your own leg power. 

Also they didn't have boats for 8. D: Had to go 3 and 5.

The marble ship for which the funds were ironically taken from the Navy. 

Rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby!