Saturday morning was not too special. Breakfast at 7:30AM and we departed for the train station at 9:00AM. Traffic was light in Jinan, a city of 6-7 million, and we arrived at the train station about an hour before our 10:20AM high speed train back to Beijing…a three hour ride, where at times we were going 244 kilometers per hour. As we approached Beijing we finally saw the sunshine and blue skies…the very best weather yet. “Bing”, our Beijing guide, met us at the airport and we all got in the Mercedes van for our trip back to the Jiang Xi Grand Hotel Beijing. Along the way we stopped at a restaurant to grab a quick lunch…of course, more Chinese food. Surprisingly, in the restaurant were photo graphs of Laura Bush and Colin Powell who had previously visited there. We arrived back at the hotel around 3:30PM, deposited our bags, and promptly headed off in a taxi to visit The Temple of Heaven, a temple on a hill where past emperors went to get close to heaven as possible to pray. Along the way there were hundreds of people singing, dancing, and playing old Chinese instruments. The sinking sun shown against the Temple of Heaven making it shine…but the wind and the bitter cold made it difficult to stay too long. On our return we bought some scarves from a local vendor and caught a taxi to shop one last time at the Silk Market. We bought some last minute purchases, ate at a nearby restaurant, and topped off the night with an incredible head and foot massage at a local spa.
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