This is our 3rd day in Beijing.

The city has an interesting mixture of new and old.

Here is a picture from our hotel room main window. You can’t quite see it, but down below is a Starbucks, and a western styled mall featuring expensive restaurants, name-brand stores such as Gucci store, and VERY expensive European sports car dealerships.

Here is a picture from our hotel room side window. An old neighborhood along side a Hutong. I can walk to this Hutong side, and pick up 10 steamed dumplings for 3 Chinese yuan (less than 50 cents at current exchange rates) then stop by Starbucks to get my caffine fix for 28 Chinese yuan. Oh, and also a couple of donuts for my kids for 12 Chinese yuan each.

I am exhausted from combating the massive crowds everywhere in Beijing since we arrived. We are going to the Great Wall tomorrow. I am scared just thinking about all the people we are going to bump into there…