Tour of Beijing with Kennedy Teachers of China

I am now preparing for finals in my oral English classes. The students are wonderful. I need to take a class picture next week.

The tour of Beijing was cold and exciting. We visited the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Badaling section of the Great Wall, a Jade factory, a cloisonne factory, Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square, the Silk Market, had a Peking Duck Dinner, and saw an acrobat performance. It was an exciting weekend.

We saw the Peking Opera performers applying make-up. The make-up was dramatic.

Bullet train and Temple of Heaven

We have been going everywhere. Last Saturday we along with the Jeppsons took the bullet train from Beijing to Tian Jin, east of us. The train reached a speed of 205 mph. It was comfortable, clean and new. We visited our Kennedy teacher friends the Normans while there. They are best friends with our ward member friends DeVon and Diane Hale. Friday we visited Temple of Heaven. The day was wonderful; sunny, warm and clear. Most of our time here in Beijing has been clear skies.

I'm in China

I haven't been able to write since coming to China on September 29th since blogs have been blocked but a branch member, Effe Simpson told me about VPN and now I can write again. VPN lets you on the Internet as a blind surfer and no one can tell what I am doing. I got VPN so I could blog, see YouTube and Facebook.

We just returned from a week long trip along the silk road. We had many adventures: We flew into Urumqi in the northwestern portion of China. It's population is about 50% Muslim. Most of our lodgings were adequate but one hotel in Turpan was not a pleasant experience since it had stained carpet, poor walls, etc.

I rode a camel in the Gobi Desert. An experience in itself. There was one camel who was a "cry baby", hollering out his discontent.

We rode a donkey cart. There were about five carts with 8 people in each. Our donkey was aggressive and passed all carts ahead that were in his way. He would get out of his rut, pass and then enter the rut in front of the other cart. We loved how he sped up, passed and returned again.

We viewed vineyards and bought dried grapes or raisins. It was a wonderful adventure.

We also visited the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi'An and it was magnificent.

China Farewell August 20, 2010

We had a wonderful going away party at our home. All close families were invited to a Chinese potluck held in our back yard. William came from California to visit.

Rebekah's Baptism

Saturday morning early, 9 am., Rebekah Spendlove, Vaughn and Holly's eight year old daughter was baptism by her dad in her Lehi stake building. All the family on both sides were in attendance. She was excited and loved the experiences.

Missionaries to Dinner

Elder Link from Seattle, Washington and Elder Hunt from Bakersfield, California came to dinner. Larry picked them up from their apartment and dropped them off after. Elder Hunt has been on his mission about a year. Before his mission he got a golf scholarship to BYU Hawaii and was there two semesters. He loved the islands; who wouldn't.

Banff National Park and Lake Louise

Banff and Lake Louise were brilliant. The waters of Lake Louise were a milky blue. The surrounding park had wide valleys and tall peaks. I love the Canadian Rocky Mountains.