I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to Beijing on business for 10 days in August 1997. Aside from a weekend trip to Canada when I was a teenager, it was my first trip outside the U.S.
Favorite Things: The Great Wall; beautiful artwork; great exchange rate; trying to speak Mandarin; excellent food; friendly people; inexpensive silk pajamas.
Least Favorite Things: The public bathrooms; fear of inadvertently breaking some law and getting arrested; crazy drivers; being the fattest person in all of China.
The Great Wall of China
Me wearing a pointy hat standing on the Great Wall of China
Portrait of Chairman Mao
Door to the Forbidden City
Ceiling of the Temple of Heaven
Dragons on guard at the Forbidden City
Hand-painted ceiling of one of the buildings at the Summer Palace
Lotus pond at the Summer Palace