Hey,

So yesterday I went to Tiananmen Square. I thought it was going to be a square that was filled with different things to do and see, but I guess you go for the history. We didn't go with a tour guide though, so I didn't know much about the history except for a few breif details about the revolts that went on there. Well, we didn't stay long. In fact, the crowd of people that we had to get through and the line that we waited on lasted longer than our actual visit. After that we were going to go to The Forbidden City, but we decided against it since the crowd for that was also insane. It's a Holiday weekend here so there are even more people than usual. Instead, we ate lunch and explored the city a little. Today, we are going to take a cab to a shopping area that is more for souveneirs rather than mall shopping. Their street shops are much cheaper than America but their Mall shops are much more expensive. They have an H&M here, but it's about 2X more expensive, so I steered clear. At night here, everything kind of shuts down, which I didn't expect. You can take a taxi to bar streets, but right now with the crowd, it's near impossible to get one without waiting a long time. We've been having hotel parties instead, which are equally fun.  I found a restaurant here that is my new favorite place to eat in China. It's a Hot Pot, but the variety of stuff they have to cook, is better than what I saw in Chengdu. Oh yea, the other day we heard a terrifying story about some Chinese people's eating decisions. It was a story about eating a "3-Sound Bird". What this is: You take an alive baby bird (that doesn't have any feathers yet) and you drop it in boiling oil to cook it [when it screams, that's sound 1], than you pick it up with your chopsticks [it screams again, sound 2], finally you put it in your mouth [final scream, sound 3]. Isn't that something! Anyway, off to eat lunch and journey around Beijing.

Much Love,

Tara