Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce President Pat MulQueeny shared the following from the first day of the chamber's trip to China with representatives from the city of Eden Prairie:

Day One

Our group left Seattle for Beijing early in the afternoon.  Seattle is very scenic with great mountain views, a lot of pine trees and many bays.  It may sound odd, but the 12 hour flight actually went pretty fast.  One interesting item that helped us with the jet lag and transition to the new time zone was the fact the sun never set.  The other item that was interesting was our flight pattern took us over Alaska and Russia.

Great Wall

First night in Beijing – We arrived around 5:00 and after getting our luggage and loading up on the bus, we headed for dinner at very nice Chinese restaurant.  The  food was wonderful – Peking Roasted Duck-and everyone had a good time.  After dinner, we headed to our hotel which is fantastic.  In the morning, we gathered for a huge breakfast buffet  - most everyone got a decent amount of sleep.

Sightseeing – On our way around of Beijing, we enjoyed seeing a number of Olympic venues including the “Birds Nest” and the swimming cube.  We went to the Summer Palace which was fantastic.  It is hard to describe the beauty of this place – with the many colors and intricate designs of the structures and buildings – including the Long Corridor with its endless paintings.  We left there and visited a pearl market where you can buy fresh water pearls.  After the pearl market, we enjoyed another great meal and headed to the Forbidden City which was home to 24 emperors and has 9,999 rooms.  It is a massive structure with many trees and squares inside.  It seemed that each building and structure we came to was grander than the one previous one.  As we left the Forbidden City, we headed across the street to Tian An Men Square.  This is an amazing area – the largest square in the world and surrounded by many interesting buildings as well.  Between the Forbidden city and Tian An Men Square we walked around 4 miles!

Great Wall – Today we visited a jade factory which was very interesting in how they carve such beautiful artwork.  From there we enjoyed a good lunch and headed for the Great Wall of China.  As we arrived, one cannot help but be awestruck by these wonder.  As we began our climb, we had the choice of heading one of two ways – a less inclined one that doesn’t get as high up, or a more steep one that really has a great view.  We chose the steeper of the two and as we climbed wondered if we could make it to the top.  It was a long climb – but well worth it.  Looking around at the hillside and thinking how long this wall has stood was really a moment that none of us will ever forget.  The day was capped with dinner and an acrobatic show and then back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep!

You can also find updates from the chamber at City Manager Scott Neal's blog here. And updates with more photos at the chamber Web site here.