Shane & Kyle at daycare winter 2013

Beijing!

Grandma and Grandpa treated Julie and Eric to three days and two nights of free babysitting, so we headed off to Beijing. An afternoon was spent visiting a colleague's lab and presenting at a conference, respectively, but for the rest of the trip, we were tourists.

Our first impression of China: Starbucks and KFC at the airport!

Our hotel was right by the Bird's Nest:

An unreconstructed part of the Great Wall (Jiankou to Mutianyu):

Peking Duck:

Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City

My tour guides at Peking University

And of course seeing Fuling was a great highlight!

Transportation

Be it by ferry, double-decker bus, tram or subway, the ride there was more important than the destination for the boys.

Sweaty

We had been warned that August is not the ideal time weather-wise to visit Hong Kong...

Yum!

The Johnsen family all agrees that the food was the best part of Hong Kong!