It's just like camping...

A few days ago I mentioned to Lauren that I will never again complain about the cleanliness of the bathrooms at home. Today, I had to squat, for the first time (granted, we've been here for 11 days and I didn't have to for the first 1o). I'm not sure if you're familiar with the "toilets" in China, but they have them in other countries, too. A hole in the ground... not a toilet like we're used to. I've always opted to wait in the longer line for the western toilets rather than take the squatting position over the hole in the ground. But today, rather than peeing my pants, I opted for the first door to open when I got to the front of the line. A squatter...damn. It wasn't as bad as I thought... relief was on my mind, not the disgustingness of possibly peeing on my shoes. Just like Cathy said, It's just like camping...

We had a long day, today. It started with a rushed trip to the breakfast buffet and ended with a relaxed, luxurious meal including peking duck and other Chinese dishes followed by another trip to Haagen Dazs. In the middle, a tour of Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, yet another Chinese family-style meal and a Kung Fu stage show. It was pretty amazing to see the history China in Beijing. David Krinsky made a point to give us part of the tour through his eyes from the western perspective in addition to what Kitty, our guide, was saying. He told us about seeing Tienamen Square on tv in the late 80s, the chaos that the American reporters captured and fed back whereas Kitty told us she wasn't even sure what happened. The Chinese government had kept it from their people.

From Beijing: Day 2 -- Tianamen Square and Forbidden City

Tomorrow we go to the Great Wall and a few other things to finish up the scheduled tours. So weird to be going home in 3 days!