This blog entry is long over-due! My apologies...finding both working internet and surplus time has been a bit difficult since we left Beijing. But to give a brief recap: we left Beijing and headed south on the train, stopping off in the town of Tai'an, where we climbed the most sacred of the five Taoist mountains in China, Tai Shan. The mountain is high and has 7,000 steps built into the side of it. Everyone from Confucius to Mao Zedong has climbed these steps to watch the sunrise (including twelve separate emperors) so Todd and I felt we had climb it too. The climb was physically exhausting but wonderful for our spirits - we so enjoyed being out in nature after the pollution of Beijing and it was fun to be the only two non-Chinese on the mountain (literally). I was asked for my photo no less than twenty-seven times and so felt like quite the celebrity! Once at the top, we spent the night in a small guest house and woke early (before 5 am) the following morning to watch the sunrise. Confucius apparently watched the sunrise and said he could "see the sun rising on all of the world", Mao watched the sunrise and said he could "see a red sun rising over China" and Todd and I watched...and were mildly disappointed as the morning was cloudy and the sun mostly hidden by fog. But the entire experience of waking early, putting on old army coats they keep at the top for just such occasions, and sitting in the cold with devout Chinese as dawn came was incredibly special and not a moment either of us will soon forget.We left Tai Shan that afternoon and re-boarded the train to Shanghai. Our overall experience in Shanghai was a bit of a disappointment after our "inside-scoop" stay in Beijing with Taylor and his friends. Shanghai felt like a very big city after Beijing also, where there are many Europeans and Americans and English is spoken everywhere. There is such a focus on progress and newness in Shanghai that we felt rather nostalgic for the history that helps to make Beijing so special. All of that said, we did love walking through the Shanghai Museum, the Urban Planning Museum and along the "Bund" - a long waterfront walkway with beautiful "European-styled" buildings from the 19th century. Overall, we loved our time in China but we were ready to leave after a few days in Shanghai and eager for the next adventure that awaited us in Southeast Asia. As I write this, we are already in Thailand because of my blog-tardiness but as I know Todd has already begun a posting for Thailand, I will leave him to fill you in on "the latest" news and stories.