Xi'an

Naturally the photos are in reverse order! We took the overnight train to Xi'an. What an experience! Here is a picture from inside our compartment. We saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and rode bikes around the Xi'an city wall. Great Fun!

Around Town

A few more images from around Beijing. There is a park where the retired people go everyday to exercise, dance, sing and play games. Here is a pic of the dancing. Also a picture from inside the summer palace, us in the Olympic area with the bird's nest and water cube behind us and just a cute street near the Lama Temple (of course they kicked out the Dalai Lama years ago).

Great Wall of China

Next we went to the Great Wall. It was a great day with clear skies. The fall colors were just starting and it was very pretty. The wall is not straight as I had imagined, but dips and curves with the mountain. You can see a particularly steep part in one of the photos. We took a ski lift up to the wall and then rode some sort of luge, down. It was quite thrilling.

Old Beijing and Drum Tower

After the Forbidden City we explored the old section of Beijing and took a rickshaw ride. We also visited the bell tower. The building in the photo below is the drum tower, taken from the bell tower.

A few pictures from inside the Forbidden City. A long hallway, a crown of the emperess, us at a circular doorway (circle doorways lead to heaven, outside the 2nd gate, and a garden. You can see how overcast the sky seems. That is pollution.

Tianimen Square

A few images from Tianimen Square, the first stop on our 4 day visit to Beijing. The sky looks weird because of all the pollution. Our tour guide and driver were fantastic. We had a great time. Check back for more photos from China.

Gil's better (sort of)

Gil has recovered from his breathing problems. He got better after about a week of his medicines. Then we went to China for a week and he stayed with a friend. They took great care of him and he seemed to enjoy it. However, it is our belief that the Paxil is what is causing his other health issues and we have been weening him off it. Well, he finally had so little of it in his system that he became Cujo! He got quite aggressive and mean. These spells would last for a short time and then he'd be back to normal. We tried to convince his 'doctor' that a different pill might work better. We told her we'd like to try Zoloft, since its available in Japan, but she resisted. Now she has him on 1/3 of a Paxil per day. Now I can't even cut a pill into thirds, so she had to crush them and divide it into packets for me. 6 days as a trial. No more scary episodes though, so maybe it'll work for him. I'll keep you posted. Also look for photos from the trip to China in the near future.