Hope this work...

It would seem that the great Chinese cyber-wall won't allow direct
access to blogger, so we're trying the email method. That means these
posts are a bit a shot in the dark, since I don't know if they'll
actually post. The photos will also be a little random, but beggars
can't be choosers. Perhaps someone out there would be kind enough to
send us an email to let us know whether these are indeed getting
through (9 wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Beijing is much as I remember it, and yet somehow different.

The first real difference I noticed was that we didn't need to wade
into the great human river at the Beijing airport. In fact, arriving
here felt no different than any other international airport - people
milling about, some holding signs, others obviously scanning the crowd
for a particular person. Nothing like the crushing wall of humanity
that greeted us on our last arrival.

Having chased, but failed to catch any sleep on the plane, my mind was
pretty much mush for most of the ride from the airport. Our guide –
Lyli – is originally from Hunan Province and actually has a 20 year
old son studying math in California. She was instantly smitten with
Kiyomi and has been fussing and spoiling her with attention and
helping her gather little flowers for an ever expanding collection
(which, come to think of it, are all amassed on Obaajan's jacket
pocket.) I can happily say between Obaachan and Lily, Kiyomi is in
far better hands than she's ever been with us!

I recognized the neighbourhood we're staying in instantly, but was
shocked to see an entire city block reduced to rubble. On our first
trip here, this block had little shops and we saw our first Peking
duck hanging from windows. Now, it is literally a pile of rubble
behind construction walls. Evidence of the speed, strength and
rapidity of change in China.

Kiyomi crashed hard in the bus from the airport and so was raring to
go once she dropped the nap fog that inevitably hits after any nap.
This morning, she announced out of the blue - "Come on guys, today's
going to be a fun day!" I think that girl has travelling in her blood.

Friday morning was some wandering – getting our bearings. Being in a
familiar environment was helpful for tackling the jetlag fog, although
being up early, we also found ourselves trapped in the upscale
Oriental Plaza as many of the doors hadn't opened yet. We managed to
escape when a local woman took pity on us poor wandering, bewildered
foreigners and led us to the nearest exit. You'd think if we got in,
it wouldn't have been that hard to get out... but you'd be wrong.

Friday afternoon, we headed to Beihai (which from what I understood
from our guide means "no sea") Park – a large park on the west side of
the Forbidden City. The White Pagoda – a shrine built in the Yuang
Dynasty – is the centerpiece of the park and provides wonderful views
of the city. Although we couldn't get all the way to the top, the
temples and grounds were beautiful and blessedly only moderately busy
by Beijing standards. Tucked in a corner of the park is a massive
jade cauldron which was used as a wine vessel by Kublah Khan himself.
Pretty amazing to lay your eyes something so old and steeped in
history that the Mongol leader himself laid hands on it.

No set plans for tomorrow – perhaps a little shopping for kid things –
but for now sleep awakes. Jetlag is really kicking my butt, so I only
managed to sleep until about 4 this morning. Have managed to force
myself to stay awake all day – but sounded like I was half baked
while reading Kiyomi's bedtime story as my eyes fluttered and the
words blurred. Don't ask me what we read, it never even made it into
short-term memory.

Good night, once again from Beijing...