GUEST SPEAKER- Mandy Leastman

Posted by Richard L. Roberts 
 
Mandy Leastman who just returned from a trip to China was asked to give an extemporaneous presentation about her trip. The participants, 287 mostly other Rotarians, attended the tour from the central coast area. When they arrived in Beijing, after the fifteen-hour flight, the city was cloaked in snow, turning an otherwise gray city to white. They were accommodated with 4-5 star hotels.
 

When they visited the Great Wall of China, she called her husband, back home with tax clients, to

wish him a happy 25th wedding anniversary. She managed to climb 221 steps to the second tower along the wall route. She told us that two SLO travelers were given a brief, because of the cold, wedding ceremony on the Great Wall. 

Tiananmen Square , near the Emperor's Palace is a huge area surrounded by public and government buildings. It was difficult to avoid the vendors trying to sell their wares, including fake Rolex watches. They were able to locate a Starbucks, not well advertised, and 22 out of the 23 in their group huddled inside to get warm and enjoy a hot cup of American coffee.

The cities of Shanghais and Beijing seem to be in competition with each other as to which city can build the highest building. The new airport is huge and beautiful and a new shopping center is expected to equal Hong Kong. There is little pollution form cars as they all appear to be new with modern pollution controls. However, there are hundreds of bicycles and motorbikes crowding the city streets. She observed one ambitious entrepreneur who set up his bicycle repair shop right on the sidewalk at a major intersection and seemed to be doing a very good business. Thanks for helping out, Mandy. We look forward to the pictures to be edited by husband Marc.