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This guard liked my red hair and had his buddy take a picture with his cell phone. Look at his friends face.....

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Hey look, Georgia Poole is here too

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The conference has started and we have heard many inspirational speakers. One of which started a foundation called rachels challenge. Rachel was the first child killed at columbine high school. Today our group went to the great wall. This section was really crowded by all the op smile kids in bright UT orange tshirts.

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These birds could say hello in 4 languages.

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We went to then Tang Dinner dynasty show. The costumes were amazing.

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This is the bell tower as seen from our hotel room in Xian. There was a mcdonalds across the street and the girls were ready to go over and have a burger. We needed a break from Chinese food....at least for one meal.

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One of the many funny signs in china

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The largest pit is pit #1 . The warriors were found totally smashed to pieces. Archaeologists have found 8,000 warriors, but since 1976 only 2,000 have been reconstructed. The warriors were originally painted, but when unearthed the paint peeled and faded away within days. Just within the past year the Chinese and Germans have come up with a varnish to stop the paint from corroding. Now, more warriors are expected to be unearthed and put on display.

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This is pit #2

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The warriors were discovered in 1974 by a Chinese farmer digging a well. Our guide told us that many farm people knew about the warriors but never told the government, because they didn't want their farmland confiscated and used by archaeologists. This farmer told the government and they discovered 3 pits which are museums today. The farmer was in the gift shop signing books, too. How funny...

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This morning we took a two hour flight to the city of Xian to see the famous terra cotta warriors.

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What I didn't realize was how steep the wall was in many places. We went to the mutanyu section of the wall about an hour outside of Beijing. It is less crowded and considered one of the most beautiful sections of the wall. We rode a cable car up to the wall then walked several miles along the top. My calves were sore the next day, it seemed everything was straight up coming and going....

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What we had been waiting for ....the Great Wall!

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We are in Xian seeing the terra cotta warriors. The wifi is too slow to add pictures, but I will in a few hours. We are flying back to Beijing today. Yesterday we went to the great wall and I didn't realize how steep it is in many places. My calves are sore today, for sure.

Sent from my iPad

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We went to a tea ceremony

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Snake on a stick, Shelby got tired of chicken tenders.

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These are silk worm cocoons ...crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside.

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Dinner at the night market

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Dinner

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Temple of heaven

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Margaret at the entrance to the summer palace

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It was a mob scene as the Chinese locals wanted their pictures taken with the girls. We finally had to run away with our guide.

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We are headed into the summer palace along with every other Chinese tourist group

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They were a little tired getting going this morning

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Lismore and Shelby

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The girls on a walk around the lake. There was a huge windstorm last night and many trees were down. The workers were clearing them quickly.

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This is the lake that is very polluted, but it doesn't stop the balancing act fisherman.

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A very serious guy

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Shelby with a Chinese guard

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Siesta in china

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Now this is funny....we walked by a shop that I thought sold birds. The cages were hanging in cages on a clothesline. Our guide told us the birds were the pets of the local retired people. Every morning they take their birds, cage and all, for a walk around the neighborhood then hang them outside to visit with the other caged birds.

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They were dying to get on a bike for three

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We were walking around a lake and noticed how bad the pollution is in the fresh water. What is shocking to us is seen as very normal to the local residents.