Beijing is all dressed up

Garden of "Harmony and Glory" in Tian'Anmen Square

Hubie in Tian'Anmen Square

Well friends, here we are in Beijing and we're overwhelmed by the size of the place.

Beijing is modern and huge!! 20 million people - nearly ten times the size of Jamaica.

Our travel agent, Juliet Moss-Solomon made excellent arrangements - Cartan Tours greeted us at the airport, whisked us off to the Marco Polo Parkside, about 10 minutes drive to the Stadium. Our welcome kit included a cell phone with our tour reps numbers keyed in - important in a city where English is not widely spoken.

It is a bit of a homecoming for Hubie -- mother was born here and his father was sent back here at age six to be raised in the Chinese way by his grandfather. We visited Tianamen Square and the Mao Zedong Memorial, and were struck by the resemblance of Hubie's late Dad, Ralph Chin, to Chairman Mao!

It poured at the Square and getting a taxi back was not easy - we ended up in rush-hour traffic, great for us because we could see the beautiful gardens and flowers. Beijing is certainly all dressed up.

I forgot my umbrella in the taxi, and would you believe the hotel security was able to radio the post at the exit and personally went there to retrieve my little 10 yuan umbrella (about J$100)! We have found everyone to be kind and courteous and our tour reps took us for - you guessed it - authentic Peking duck - delicious!

Our tickets are for all the major athletic events so we start attending on Saturday evening.