My Beijing Experience Wish List...

• Watch the flag raising ceremony at Sunrise in Tian' An Men Square
  
  
• Hike the Great Wall of China and visit the Ming Tombs
  
  
• Take a Bike tour of the Forbidden City
  
  
• Visit the Summer Palace & the Temple of Heaven
  
  
• Go to the National Art Gallery and explore Artist Street.
  
  
• Go see the Pandas at the Beijing Zoo
  
  
• Meditate in the Botanical Gardens in the Xiangshan Mountains.
  
  
• Walk & Shop Wangfujing Street the NEON heart of the City.
  
  
• Go to the Natural History Museum and see the Peking Man.
  
  
• Go to the top of the CCTV Tower for a bird's eye view....
  
  
• Say HI to the folks at the Canadian Embassy!
  
  
• Experience the Peking Opera at the Grand Theatre
  
  
• Check out the 798 Art District
  
  
• Go for Peking Duck at the Bianyifang Roast Duck Restaurant - I hear it is the best!
  
  
• Take a Cooking Class ;P
  
  
• Sing Karaoke at Melody in the North Chaoyang District.
  
  
• Bargain hunt at the Xiu Shui Market - Mall aka Silk Street
  
  
• Boat across the man made lake at Behai Park to go out and play in the Hou Hai - Bar District
  
  
• Wake up before sunrise and go to the Panijiayuan Antique Market.
  
  
• Lastly, it goes without saying... See as many Olympic Summer Games as my schedule will allow :P
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Easiest way to get to Beijing Olympics...

Beijing - Here I Come...

Well I'm all set... My flight is booked! My Visa has been processed. My accommodation is set, my daily perdiem has been renegotiated... and the company I am working for has coordinated my work schedule for the next month - so I am off... to mainland China!

One of my biggest pet peeve's when I worked in the Hotel Industry was educating guests on where they were. I used to wonder how they even got on the plane being so uninformed. So I thought I would do some homework...

Beijing aka The Forbidden City - is the Capital of the People's Republic of China. The city was settled in 473 BC. Beijing's 2007 population was 8,495,00 in the Urban Core and 17,430 in the Municipality and the magor nationality is 96% Han. Beijing is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, and has also been known in English as Peking. Also, it is China's second largest city, after Shanghai, recognised as the political, educational and cultural centre of China, while Shanghai and Hong Kong predominate in economic fields.

To be continued...

Inspirational Quote of the Week...

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

Confucius.
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LONG WAY DOWN!

This is a follow up to my 2006 post: LONG WAY ROUND

My two favourite motorcycle Boys: Ewen McGregor and Charley Boorman are BACK and they tackle Africa, from "Top to Toe"!



This Thursday July 31st a 2 hr. Feature Film will be shown across the Globe One Night Only! Check local listings to find out where...

The 10 Episode Series - Long Way Down will air on Fox Reality in the US starting August 2nd and on the National Geographic Channel in Canada sometime in the Fall.
Stay tuned... P.
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Ah... Pemberton never looked so good!

If you missed out... T-shirts are still available at the
Official Pemberton Festival Store

For reviews of the weekend consult George Straight.com

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