Ran across this on the road today......



I'm having email problems and have set up a temporary account. You can reach me at garybrown4432@sbcglobal.net As usual, I welcome any email.

We got off the main highway today and just happened upon this relatively isolated stretch of road. Check out the stone wall to the left of the photo--the Ming Dynasty is best known for the Great Wall but also built many series of Lesser Walls and some sections, such as this one, still survive today. This is actually one of the few "Chinese" architecture sights I've seen in Beijing--mostly its the "chrome and glass" skyscrapers. During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s much of the "old" Chinese influence was torn down because it was thought to be too connected to colonialism.

Yesterday we stopped and had lunch on the road and ate at a Chinese noodle house--they're roughly the equivalent to a Texas icehouse. Some are pretty disreputable others are clean and the one we ate at was a good one but very "local." From the looks I got I don't think a lot of Westerners visit there but the food was good. Basically you order from four types of noodles and then order side dishes to put on it. I ate wheat noodles with marinated mushrooms and loved it. Chopsticks, of course, cause I doubt they even stocked forks. I'm getting better with the chopsticks but the noodles did give me fits.

I'm almost half-way through the China job and it has gone really well. I'm in the process of negotiating an overnight trip to Xian to view the terracotta warriors next week. Will keep you posted.....