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We were busy this morning trying to catch up on all of our internet time. We've been so busy lately since Tom and Jax arrived that it's been hard to keep up with all of the pictures and postings! We got it all squared away though and will try hard not to get that far behind again.
Instead, we crossed the road and walked down the street and into a market area. This market was selling mostly touristy items (miniature terra cotta warriors, Chinese fans, flutes, etc) but also had a large dried fruit and nuts section. We sampled a few nuts and fruits and bought a package of some candy that is almost identical to the insides of a Butterfinger! We're wondering if whoever came up with the Butterfinger recipe got their idea from China?? Something to Google later :)
Final thoughts on China: Food: BYOF unless you like duck feet/liver/tongue/tendons and other unidentified foods. Seriously, you can find at least some fried rice or maybe some noodles if you are lucky, but it is difficult to swallow the rest of the menus. We gave it a try, but then resorted to more international foods for the remainder of our stay.
Memories: the thousands of people on their Golden Week vacation, pushing and shoving to see inside the temples, riding in the rickshaw through the hutongs, duck parts on the menu, no one speaking English, giving our own directions to every cab driver, making it to the Great Wall bus with 1 minute to spare, hiking 6 miles on the Great Wall of China, saving Veronica from the wicked witch of the Wall, ziplining down the Wall, Super 8 not checking us out, terra cotta warriors and horses People: Don't expect anyone to speak English around here, but you should be OK if you have a guide book with a good map and some Chinese characters. The people in China aren't as used to tourists as many of the other countries in Asia - be prepared to get quite a number of stares. They mean well though, and most people are very pleasant if you take the time to get to know them. They will giggle at the sight of Westerners and maybe even want to take their picture with you. The vendors are stubborn, but you can usually get away from them with a stern No Thank You if you keep up your pace. Economy: China's economy is growing at a fast pace and has been since the late 1970's. Its GDP has quadrupled and foreign investments have skyrocketed. 50% of people are involved in agriculture, and China is the world's largest producer of rice and wheat. China is surely a country to keep an eye on in the upcoming years, with expectations of 9-10% growth each year.
Climate (May): We can't say for sure, as the skies were covered in smog the entire time! There is a major pollution problem here, and it will only get worse if they don't do something about it fast. The smog from Beijing drifts across much of the country. In fact, China has 20 of the 30 most smog polluted cities in the world.
Safety Rating: Recommendation to friends: 6 out of 10 for Beijing - We'd recommend waiting until after the 2008 Olympics to visit Beijing, as many of the main attractions are currently undergoing major reconstruction. We found Beijing to be ultra-crowded and one of the most difficult places to get around. Very little English is spoken or recognized here, so make sure you get everything written in Chinese characters! 9 out of 10 for Great Wall of China - As one of the Wonders of the World, the Great Wall of China is a must see. We'd recommend avoiding Bataling (where all the tourist buses end up). If you're somewhat fit, you should make the trek on top of the wall from Jinshaling to Simatai as we did. It was a beautiful sight and something we will never forget. 8.5 out of 10 for Xi'an - Discovered in only 1974, the terra cotta warriors of Xi'an are amongst the top sights to see while in China. While we wouldn't make a trip all the way here to see these alone; no trip to China would be complete without a quick stop in Xi'an.
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We had a much needed sleep in this morning. We told Jax and Tom that they could feel free to wander about Xi'an if they wanted to wake up earlier than us :) They did decide to venture out and took a stroll through a few of the nearby streets. They also checked out the 7 story mall across the street. The mall here is a little different than those at home, with no walls to separate the stores, its like one enormous department store. The Chinese sure do love their shopping, as the mall has been packed each time we've passed through there! For shoe fanatics - there is an entire floor dedicated to shoe shopping :) 
We negotiated a late checkout with the hotel. Here in Asia, everything is a negotiation. We asked for 2:30pm checkout but they said "OK 1:30". We had agreed to that but at second thought, called back and asked for 2:30pm again, saying we'd only keep one of the rooms. They came back with a 2pm reply, but we were persistent this time and got the manager to OK a 2:30 :) haha. Now we were free to go out into the city and not have to return until it was time to get our taxi at 2:45. Right across the street from our hotel was one of Xi'an's attractions, the Bell Tower - a temple-looking structure right in the middle of an intersection. You can go up into the tower, although it's only about 3 stories tall. We opted not to, as we figured the view would be pretty much the same as we had on the street - just traffic and modern buildings. 
We were headed for the Muslim mosque but got so involved in the street shopping that we didn't have enough time. We bought another small watercolor painting of 2 cats (they looked like Cal and Indy, so how could we resist?) and another larger one of a tiger in the snow. Mario found a sharp Chinese knife that would have gone for hundreds in the states but he bargained it down to only $7! His dream is to use it for chopping open the many coconuts he wants to drink when we get home (not sure where we'll be getting those...). :) T&J also bought 2 small paintings. We were running out of time, so we made our way back towards the hotel (stopping to pick up 4 baby coconuts to drink, of course). We checked out and found our taxi to be right on time as promised. 
Jax and Tom hadn't been able to get on our exact flight, so they were in for a 2 hour wait at the airport until their 7pm flight. They tried to get on standby, but a huge tour group had taken up almost all of our plane! It worked out OK because we had the hotel all set up for them when they arrived, and we had even negotiated a discount rate at the airport hotel counter. We stayed at the Capitol Airport Hotel ($43), only 1km away from the Beijing airport. It was a comfortable room and we had a quick bite to eat at the Japanese restaurant downstairs before bed. Tomorrow is pretty much a full day of travel as we make our way back to Hong Kong and then on to Tokyo!
Beer of Choice: Tsingtao Beer
Exchange Rate: 1 US dollar = 8 Yuan