Jamie, I'm NOT showing them the fish head!

We are starting to get caught up on our sleep and acclimated to this timezone which is a great thing. We're glad we had this time in Beijing to recover from the flight and to get over the tremendous differences in culture and customs. I feel weird saying this but aside from the constant sore throat and stench I barely notice the pervasive fog of pollution!

We started off today going to the Lama Temple which is affiliated with the Tibetan Buddhist sect of the Dalai Lama and another Lama whose name escapes me. (Lamas are major Buddhist religious leaders and there are only two of them) It is a very beautiful Buddhist temple site though smaller than most historical sites we have visited. We could take pictures of the buildings but not indoors because it is actually an active worship site. We saw incense burners and several bowing worshippers. We saw many Buddha statues being worshipped including one that is 54 feet tall. All these statues were wooden and covered in gold paint. I felt sad for those people - I mean when you serve a living God who guides your steps daily, actively answers your prayers, and speaks into your life it is a tragedy to see people bowing three times and laying incense sticks at a carved wooden image that cannot help them. We said a little prayer for them. We certainly respect their spiritual hunger and pray they find the Lord.

After this we went to the Government Silk Factory which was an amazing experience. We first had a tour and learned about the silk growing and weaving process. One interesting fact we learned is that each silk cocoon is made from 1 strand of silk. They find the end of the strand, connect it to the silk string-making machine and it basically unspins and becomes thread. We were able to see this in practice. We then were able to see a demonstration of a young lady weaving a silk rug. Persian rugs are more common and commercialized abroad but are made out of cotton and are not woven very densely. Chinese rugs are woven from 100% silk and have between 300 and 1700 knots per SQUARE INCH! A weaver can only weave 3-4 rows per day and it takes 2-5 years or more to weave a rug depending on the density they are going for and the size. What you pay for is density. The Chinese rugs are woven tightly and each row is tapped down with a wooden device into the previous rows so tightly that no air is between the strands. They are so airtight and dense they actually resist fire. Our factory guide put a lighter to one rug and it would not light. A Chinese rug is actually an investment and can last generations. The official showed me a 300 knot floor rug the size of a coffee table someone spent 2 years of their life on and he quoted me $1500 USD which was wild (..again just that rectangular coffee table size here). He showed us an amazing trick that can be done with a Chinese rug- if you pick it up and shake it the color changes from darker to lighter and back again- like magic- and its beautiful. We bought several things at this market (no rugs thank you) and can't wait to show everyone.

Next we went to the Temple of Heaven which is a site four times larger than the Forbidden City. This Temple was an Imperial site built so the Emperor could worship "the god of heaven" as well as lesser "gods". It is open year-round to local residents if they buy a pass and there are nice parks and ancient stone walkways everywhere with trees and even a children's play area. Under one outdoor walkway it was fun to see many older Chinese people bundled up in the cold and crowding in small groups along both sides of a long flat railing playing cards, chattering, and laughing at each other. It was a warm and cheerful sight to see them throwing their playing cards down and really getting into their card games and conversation. In that same corridor there was a married Chinese couple doing a ballroom dance right in the middle of all of this while a man played a traditional Chinese instrument. There were several musicians playing and trying to make tip money. There was also a young woman dressed in a silk multi-colored dress with gold embroidery dancing to the tune of the musicians for tips. It was some type of formal Chinese dance full of rich engaging movements and a graceful elegance. I saw she had a tip plate so I tipped her $10 Yuan and she acted surprised in a thankful way and raised her voice and said something to her friends who were watching her dance as we walked off. It wasn't a big deal because it was only a little more than $1 US Dollar. The exchange rate by the way is 1USD=8.21 Chinese Yuan.(hope I spelled that right but that is how you pronounce it) The Temple of Heaven site was impressive. There were ornate temple buildings, carved white rock columns, raised platforms, traditionally painted Chinese arches, rock paved imperial walkways, and ancient white and grey marble stairs everywhere. The stairs are a little taller than standard and Jamie was extra careful and cautious and braced herself on me as she walked down a few of them. I have had the scripture going through my head for a few days "he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." I have quoted that to Jamie a couple of times as it has popped into my mind if she seems nervous or like today when we were walking down a marble stair. Well, we had a short break at the hotel and I hadn't read my Bible in a couple of days so I decided to read Jamie a Psalm or two and just give the Lord some time in our day. I opened up to Psalm 91 kind of randomly and began reading out loud to her. Suddenly in verse 11-12 I caught my breath and so did Jamie because that verse above about angels watching over us was in this first Psalm I chose out of the thousands of verses in the Bible. In response to the prayers of many family and friends the Lord just wanted us to know we were being taken care of and he wants you to know he is hearing you. It was so touching for this to happen and an example of what I am talking about above when I say he "speaks" into our lives. What a real, active- and kind God we serve. Thanks Lord.

Ok, after the break we went to an acrobatic show. It was really many shows in one. Young Chinese girls and guys did many amazing feats of strength, balance, coordination, flexibility, and team work while dressed in what often looked like ancient Chinese costumes with many colors and especially a great deal of red and gold. We saw maybe a dozen ladies in red and gold Chinese dresses spinning several plates apiece on long metal poles. Some of them did tricks while spinning the plates. We saw many other things and we'll show you pictures and video when we get home and I will include some here.

I am including above a picture of our group after dinner. The two Chinese people in the picture are our guides "Rocky" and "Jennifer"- they choose American names to do their tour jobs to make it easier for us. Jennifer has 3 American names and her real name is Jian something.

Miss ya'll! (that is the only time someone will say ya'll in China today)