We did an unusual thing for us, we took a formal large-scale tour of China rather than our usual traveling to a destination and then arranging for our own local sight-seeing. We had about 36 people on the trip with the tour agency China Focus. In planning, we certainly underestimated the scale of China. Given the scale, it was good to take a tour first...China is huge and the people build that way.

Above, here we are on arrival on a bus from Bejing Airport to our hotel. We are exhausted and disoriented, but looking forward to whatever this tour provides for our traveling pleasure. What we found was beautiful and ugly, fun and difficult, true and false, encouraging and not.....All of it, though, was exciting. We only saw a small portion, and only what is authorized, but Wow! The thumbnails below lead to groups of pictures arranged in order of our tour itinerary.