Days 1-3- XXtra long flight, The Cloisonne Factory, and Great Wall

Our amazing journey starts........We left out at Chatt at 7:15, arrived in Atlanta by 7:35 (20 min flight). Flight from Atlanta to Tokyo was supposed to depart at 11:20am, but did not due to a maintenance problem with a fan bearing (just what you want to know as you are sitting on the plane waiting to travel 6900 miles!) Departed Atlanta at 1pm to Narita Tokyo, arriving at 3pm(their time- 14 hours later).  Departed there at 7:10pm and arrived in Beijing at 11:45pm, got to hotel at 1AM. In all a 30 hour excursion...

Woke up at 6:15 so that we could eat breakfast, exchange currency and eat breakfast. Breakfast was nice-pancakes, toast, omelet station, danishes, AND chinese breakfast cuisine (soups, dumplings, bean curd, and more).


We then headed to the the Closionne Factory, the home of anxient enamelware being made. Herbie our guide took us to several different parts of the factory where we saw the beautiful works of art. 1 small piece of art takes 30 different phases over weeks to complete. The working conditions were very poor, but the gift shop was amazing. Another interesting site was the bathroom. No seat or paper, luckily we were forewarned.

We then traveled 40 minutes to the Great Wall. The breathtaking views were overwhelming. The snow coverted terrain from the arctic blast last week was still evident. We rode a tram uo part of a mountain, and got out to walk. It was very steep, with many uneven stones covering the walkways. It was very windy and freezing cold, and  so thankful for some great outerwear and pocket hand/toe warmers.

It was finally lunch time and we went to the Dragon Land Superior Jade Gallery. It was a family style lunch with a lazy susan. Authentic Chinese cuisine- steamed rice, dumplings, spicy beef, sweet and sour pork, egg drop soup, and more. And to throw a little extra in- french fries, corn, watermelon, and fruit salad. Mickey did well. We took a picture of the plate, because it was like a saucer. Very good food and we got to know some of the other families better.

We headed back to our motel, and traffic was terrible. It was worse than NYC- the honking,cutting off, and crammed roads full of car/bicyles/scooters. It was outragous. We had dinner in- Pizza Hut!! Yes, a cheese pizza, and it was great. Pizza Hut and KFC are big over here.