Day 5 - Chongqing



We are in Gracie's hometown! Weird saying "town" because Chongqing is anything but a town. We drove in at night and WOW! There are so many unique sky-scrapers....all of them are lit up and it just looks amazing! The plane ride was very nice... only 2.5 hours and we were given a movie, a full meal and the beverage cart came by 3 times! Now, on our domestic flight which was 3 hours we did not get a movie, beverage cart came by only one time and we got a mini bag of pretzels... what's wrong with this picture? LOL

We arrived at our hotel and WOW! Yeah... I'm using that word a lot! But we are in a brand new hotel that has been open for only 2 weeks. It's a five star (thank you Bethany!!) and we have a marble foyer (and a doorbell)

and a huge, I mean HUGE bathroom with marble floors and counters.

There is a separate shower (the water comes form the ceiling) and a huge garden tub! Honestly, we could probably fit 10 people in that bathroom!

We were welcomed with cute stuffed pandas on the beds and have a great desk/work area. We are on the 25th floor and have a pretty nice view of the city!



But by far the best thing about the room is this:



We were given updated pictures of the babies on the way to the hotel and well..... we have a little baldie! : ) Because the weather has been unbelievabley hot this summer, the staff shaved the girl's heads to help keep them cool. Apparently the orphanage does not have AC. She looks soooo big! And soooo cute! But they have her in a shirt that was meant for a boy... glad I also brought hats and headbands.... She is still taking a bottle as well.... I packed up her diaper bag... by far one of the best things I have done today : ). I can't believe it's finally time.....

COUNTDOWN TO GRACIE DAY HAS BEGUN!! In about 8 hours we will finally hold the little girl we have been praying our hearts out for! We will try to update the blog as soon as we can but that all depends on Miss Gracie! We will spend the morning with her and then head back out to complete the adoption on the China side of things... more paperwork..... ugh!

G'night and sweet dreams from Chongqing (pronounced Chong-Ching)! : )

Day 5 - Beijing

I climbed the Great Wall and used a squatty potty! Just when I thought things couldn't get more interesting!!



The Great Wall is absolutely amazing. Unfortunately the smog/fog/haze or whatever you want to call this stuff, followed us from Beijing and almost all of the pictures had that fuzzy kind of look to them.

This wall is sooooo steep! It was funny watching everyone climb up because it was so steep everyone was hunched over!



When we got to the top we had our picture taken and placed on a laminated certificate. What a cool way to remember the trip. I think the thing that amazed me the most was how the mountains looked. I knew there would be mountains but I wasn't prepared for the beauty and how similar they are to the Rocky Mountains.

Josh was also in awe of the wall.... It's truly an amazing site to see!



On our way to the airport guess what we passed? Yep... the Olympic Village and the stadium that is being built for the 2008 Olympics! It's massive and very modern looking. The majority of the site is covered up with massive billboards but we found this hole and got this shot!!

We will be in Chongqing tomorrow evening. Because we don't know what the Internet access will be like at our hotel, we may not be able to post as often. We will get pictures of Gracie out here though. I am fairly certain that the Internet will be available but wanted to put this out there just in case you do not hear from us in the next day or so.

God Bless and please continue to keep all of us in your prayers! A Big Thank You to all of you who have sent notes!! We love them!!!

We went to a local resteraunt for dinner tonight. We ordered 1 entree per family and shared family style. What a great assortment of food. We were very adventurous and tried a number of items.

Josh and I both learned how to eat using chopsticks. We had no silverware and didn't leave hungry!


The tea was brewed in drinking glasses... each glass came to us with the tea leaves we ordered and hot water was added.


No one spoke English so it was a bit of a challenge ordering. We got everything we had thought we ordered however we did get tripped up on the "fried noodles"... they brought us a bowl of ramen noodle soup! LOL

We celebrated the sucess of our authentic Chinese meal with Baskin Robbins!


Tarita and Lisa


Conway and Anne

Around Beijing:

Day 4 - Beijing

Well today is our last full day in Beijing. I can't believe we leave for Chongqing tomorrow afternoon!! We will start the day out by visiting the Great Wall and head to the afternoon for a late afternoon flight! We will be in Gracie's hometown tomorrow evening! We will welcome Gracie in to our family first thing the next morning!

But back to today....
Our group visited the Forbidden City and Tianenman Square. We had already visited both of these sites two days ago and frankly I wasn't to thrilled to go again. But wow... we saw so much more today! I think it had a lot to do with our Bethany guide Joy. She really explained a lot and gave us some free time to explore. We saw so much more and really enjoyed ourselves. I am amazed that thousands of locals flock to these sites every day. And there are no rides! I guess living in Orlando has jaded me a bit when it comes to attractions. It seems like you just don't go someplace unless the rides are good. LOL!

At Forbidden City - Imperial Garden


Imperial Garden - Forbidden City


Ed and Josh at Forbidden City


Our Bethany Group


The Olympic Countdown is On!


Scott and Anne, Ed and Josh


We also toured a Hutong. We all took rickshaw rides in to a neighborhood called a Hutong. A hutong is an ancient city alley or lane typical in Beijing, where hutongs run into the several thousand. What an eye opener. Some of the homes were really quaint while others represented poverty we just don't see back home. Residents rent these homes for very modest fees (kind of like rent control)and while they cannot change the outside they can do whatever they want to the inside. The one we visited had crown molding and wood floors. Very nice. But from the outside? It looked war torn. Our guide explained that the government is currently doing work to restore the outsides as well. This was evident as we drove by some of the other Hutongs.

Ed's Ride


Lisa and Josh in Ricksaw


We are about to head out for dinner with some of the group... and then it's creative packing time. We need to have our bags outside our doors by 7:30 am where they will be picked up and deliverd to the airport. We head to the Great Wall at 8am... we are very excited abou this trip! Who knew we would one day see the Great Wall? Who knew we would one day adopt a baby from China! What a trip this has been so far!

Enjoy today's pictures!

Day 3 - Beijing

Today we decided to lay low after the big day yesterday. We started off with breakfast in the hotel...ahhhhh the western buffet is turning out to be our biggest meal each day! We met up with the rest of the families. I can't tell you how fun it is to finally put a face to the folks we have been chatting on line with for the past year or so! They are a great bunch and we are having so much fun with them all!

Ed and I got massages today... holy cow! We got to get them together so that was fun... and the total cost was less than what one of us would have paid back home!

Josh worked on homework, we both did some reading and just enjoyed the day. We finished out the day by attending an acrobatic show. It was really cool! Including pictures below.

Tomorrow we get off to an early start and head out with the goup for the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and a Hutong Tour. Gotta go to bed.... still trying to adjust to the time.... Josh was out like a light and Ed wasn't too far behind. I nodded off during dinner last night (not cool) and fell asleep on the way back from tonight's show! LOL.

We get Gracie in just under 2 days now.... can't believe it!!! Stay tuned. Thanks for checking in and a special thanks to those who are leaving comments and/or sending e-mail! It's great to hear from everyone... what a pick me up!!

Stacey - No more spending on things I can get in GZ...thanks for the heads up... I have spread the word....we all thought we were doing so well too! : )

Sign 'o the Day:

Day 1 -


Day 2 -


Day 3 -

Day 2 – Beijing

We decided to take a tour of some of the places we wouldn’t be visiting when the rest of the group arrived. On the agenda:

Summer Palace
Temple of Heaven
Tiananmen Square
Forbidden City

We were surprised with a few extra stops along the way as well. It was a loooooong day! We started at 8 am and didn’t return to our hotel until 5:30 pm. When we weren’t on the bus we were walking and walking and walking and walking. I think I shall rename this trip the “China Diet” since I am not eating much and walking a ton! LOL

Because we have a lot of photos to post, I am going to give each stop it’s own entry. Enjoy!

Day 2 - Beijing - Summer Palace

We started out our tour by visiting Summer Palace. This palace was built for the royal family to relax and enjoy time away during... you guessed it, the summer! There is a beautiful man made lake that sits in the middle of it all and to say the entire place was breath taking would be an absolute understatement. There is so much history here. Our tour guide shared many stories about the royal family that built these grounds. The large rock formations were brought in from all over China for the emporor since he liked rocks when he was a child. I think all little boys love to collect rocks but holy moly! : ) We ended our visit to this site by taking a boat across the lake... just beautiful.

After the Summer Palace we went to a pearl market and then to cute little resteraunt which I am sad to say we didn't eat much from. We have been pretty good at trying out new foods but let's just say the food was a little bit too authentic at this place. Although, they did have a tray of "American" hot dogs available to us... they were sliced and placed on sesame seed loaves with lettuce and tomato... okay. : )

Day 2 – Temple of Heaven

This is also known as Qigu Hall and it was the spot where the emperor of the Ming and Qing dynasties prayed for good harvest in Spring. While there are many temples scattered throughout Beijing, this is one of the best known. There were two other halls but both were being renovated for the ’08 Olympics so we didn’t have access to either. Temple of Heaven grounds include beautiful landscaping and parks where we watched locals enjoying the weather and each other. We climbed to the top and the view of Beijing was amazing! We could even see a ferris wheel in the distance… one of those really big ones like the one on the River Thames in London. The grounds surrounding this temple we could hear traditional instruments being played, people singing and playing. People of all ages were enjoying the day. I was taking pictures of a couple playing a paddle type ball game. They each had two paddles and bounced/balanced an odd shaped ball. They asked if I wanted to join in and let me tell you… I did but our tour guide was moving on and I had to decline.

Day 2 – Tiananmen Square

This was built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty and is the gateway to the Forbidden City. Initially it was used to declare in ceremony to the common people who became the emperor and who became the empress. Today Tiananmen Square covers 440,000 square meters and is now a relaxing place for the common people to fly kites and socialize. On holidays, the entire square is covered with fresh flowers… They were getting it ready for the national 7-day holiday that begins on October 1st so there was a lot of activity.

Day 2 – Forbidden City

Forbidden City was forbidden territory for common people during the rule of the royal family. The grounds are made of thousands of rooms…. 9,999 rooms to be exact. The number 9 in China is a very lucky number that is why they never went for the 10,000th room. They also felt that the 10,000th room was occupied by a god. Once again, tons of the buildings were being renovated so we weren’t afforded a great view at times. Our guide took us straight up the center of the city so we weren’t able to explore the side halls. I don’t think a single day dedicated to touring this site would allow one to truly enjoy themselves. There is just too much to see.




At the end of the grounds was the Imperial Garden. BEAUTIFUL!!!! I am including pictures from there as well. We go back to this site on Friday with the Bethany group so we will have the opportunity to visit the other gardens and buildings we missed.

We then went to visit Jingshan Park which was across the street. BEAUTIFUL!! I wish I could post more pictures but it takes several minutes to load just one so I'll have to end this post with this one from the park.



We ended the afternoon having tea in the park at a Tea House.



For those of you who know us, you know we are quite the tea aficionadoes! This was MY temple of heaven!! We participated in a traditional tea ceremony and we're bringing some home! We drank jasmine tea with real flowers in it! It was like drinking a flower... none of the tea was what we are used to... the tea is actually hand rolled balls, pellets, leaves, flowers.... amazing stuff!



Josh really was having a good time... I thought this photo was pretty funny though!

A common scene in local parks...

It's 4:30 in the morning... do you know where your family is?

Josh is reading a book.
Ed is eating Jelly-Belly's.
I am Blogging.

Me: I can't believe you are eating Jelly Bellys at 4:30 in the morning.
Ed: I can't believe you are Blogging at 4:30 in the morning.

Enough said... end of that conversation! LOL

I.CAN’T.SLEEP.

Day 1 (con’t)

We found the Silk Market! What an experience that was. But not before the taxi ride from hell! I cannot even begin to describe what that was like! We came within a hairs breath of hitting pedestrian after pedestrian.... people on bicycles rode around with big targets on them as they were especially in danger! It is nothing for a car to cross over 3 lanes and swing in to a turn only lane without batting an eyelash! Paris cabbies have nothing on these guys! LOL! But anyway, we found out we were pretty close to the Silk Market and decided to head over there “just to look around”. FAMOUS.LAST.WORDS.

The atmosphere was incredible. Five floors packed with vendors who were selling everything from silk pajamas to pearls to iPods. The only bad thing was that if you even glanced at an item, the salesclerk started wheeling and dealing with you. This may be a good thing as it probably kept me from buying too much on this, our first full day in Beijing! At one point I had three different sales clerks holding my arms trying to get me into their store... they were from different stores. This happened to Ed to but all he could think about was that he should have asked me to take his picture so that he could share with everyone how he had three women fighting over him! LOL We happened to stop by a store selling ski clothes. I explained we had no use for them so the clerk asked us where we lived. We said Florida and she knew exactly where that was and proceeded to tell us that what we should do is outfit ourselves with her ski clothes and move north so that we can use them! She was serious.

Price Haggling 101
The prices that you are presented with are typically a bit high… but that’s all part of the game. I had been told that when you are presented with a price, no matter the amount, show a bit of concern or disinterest and they will start giving you a lower price. Now, one of the things we wanted to buy for Gracie was some silk pajamas. Note that they are not really pajamas but traditional wear. I have seen children’s silks at EPCOT for about $40… not surprising as Disney tends to mark everything up 500% anyway. I knew that I could get them for less than ½ of that price. I thought I would put my “haggling” lessons to work and see what would happened next. I present you with what happened next... (for the purposes of today's deomonstration, SM=Silk Market):

Me: How much for these pink silk pajamas?
SM: I can give to you at 400RMB (about $50)
Me: 400 RMB? That’s pretty high” at this point I gave her a look of concern and told her “no, that’s a lot”. That's what a good little haggler does...right?

CRITITCAL ERROR

I turned to Ed and do you know what this un-schooled on haggling man did? He said “That’s fine, I like them… and proceeded to count out the money”. First of all, hello, I wasn't looking for permission here! What happened to my husband? The man who hates when I spend too much? The man who can’t even stand shopping or crowds let alone the two combined? HELLOOOOOOOOO? So I gave him the look (ever see Everyone Loves Raymond? They did a whole episode on the look)... okay time to start re-tooling my strategy. I put them back on the rack and said I didn't think I liked them as much as I thought. Immediately the price dropped by 100RMB (now we are down to about $40…still some work to do because I really did like them!).

Me: I don’t think I’ll take these, maybe they aren’t exactly what I was looking for.
SM: I give you good price, you be my friend, 200RMB.
I decide to give Ed a second chance so I turned back to Ed again and what did this man who is not my husband say? THAT’S FINE. What is wrong with this guy…. Didn’t I just give him the look???? LOL

Long story short, I ended up paying 150RMB (about $18) and Gracie has now scored her first set of pink pjs! I had a long talk with my otherwise awesome husband and I think he gets the drift now and has decided to not be an active participant in the haggling game... that will now be one of my jobs on this trip. We left the Silk Market with a few other items and another set of silk pjs for Gracie…. Which I might add are way too cute!!

We ended the day having dinner with Anne and Scott, our Bethany travel mates. What a cool couple! We have been talking with them for over a year on the Bethany Boards and other online forums. The Internet is such an awesome thing… later today we will meet up with more of the Bethany families including Conway, Juleen, Rossette and Tarita who we have also been talking to for a while. We can’t wait!

Today we are off on a tour to see the Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and the Forbidden City!

Day 1 - Beijing
We started our day off with a great breakfast buffet! They had traditional Chinese foods along with western style foods such as cheerios and frootloops! I decided to try a couple of new food items and had an egg custard... it kind of looked like flan but it tasted like soft boiled eggs. I liked it. Also tried fried noodles and they were really good! Ed and Josh had those as well as eggs, bacon, sausage, etc... The hot tea was delish!

Our Hotel




We went exploring near the hotel and ended up in a mall!


We were really looking for a place to buy water and a few odds and ends and there we were. Very nice and super clean. The sales people follow you everywhere and there is tons of security. They had a car show in the middle of the mall (did I mention it was 5 stories) and they had beautiful women in evening gowns next to each of the cars...


Well afer returning to the room and doing a bit of research, we have discovered that we are mere blocks away from Forbidden City, the Pearl Market, the Silk Market and the Friendship Store. So it looks like we are going to head out and so some real exploring and maybe get a jumpstart on some shopping.