Trip to China
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Saturday, May 10, 2008 Hi Everyone, we're back! Today was yet another great day filled with lots of excitement. Our first stop of the day after breakfast in the hotel was Tian'an Men Square and Forbidden City. We have taken hundreds of pictures so far and it is really hard to pick only a few favorites to share with you. Tian'an Men Square and Forbidden City are within close proximity to one another. We took one really long, crowded walk and managed to thoroughly take it all in. There were beautiful, ornate structures everywhere. There were ancient stone walkways that were very uneven, I thought of you Mom, it made me laugh out loud to think of you trying to manuver without breaking your neck! I posted a picture for your viewing pleasure. Next stop was our favorite activity of the day, a rickshaw ride and houtong tour. If our rickshaw driver was thinking about needing some cardio for today, he got it when he drove James and I around. He sure was sweating by the time he was finished with us. I was feeling bad about how hard he was working and James quietly suggested to me that he needed more air in his tires! For any of you who know James, I am sure you are not at all surprised that he was inspecting the integrity of the bike. We tipped the driver well for all his hard work. The houtong tour guide was a man named Michael, he was great to have along because he told us so much about the history of houtong villages. The houtong's are becoming more and more rare with our changing times. There are only a few of these fascinating neighboor hoods left, at one time there were thousands, now there are less than a dozen. A houtong is basically a neighborhood that is comprised of many families living in a community that share common areas such as the kitchen and restrooms but have seperate living quarters. The houtong we toured today was very small, it was definitely a different way of life from what we know but there was a special closeness among the residents there; you could tell that it truly was a family within a family. One of the neat features about this houtong is that it has the oldest marble bridge in the world; it was beautiful. We were honored to be invited to have lunch in one of the local homes in the houtong. Mrs.Lin made us the most delicious meal we have had yet. The food just kept coming and coming. She prepared eight dishes for us, it was a meal we wont soon forget. Mrs.Lin had a cat and six kittens, it is a good thing that it is illegal for me to bring any animals home. They were so adorable, they made us a little home sick for our three cats at home who are being catered to by my wonderful family. Thank you guys! We went to see an acrobat show tonight, it was spectacular. We were not allowed to take pictures though. Tomorrow we leave Beijing and fly to Guangzhou, we will only have to wait one more day after we get there to meet Marossie, we are way beyond excited. The touring in Beijing has been wonderful and our fabulous guide Vivian has made sure to spoil us rotten but now it is time to get down to business, we are ready to meet our baby. When we landed in China, a special feeling came over us, the feeling of being in the same country as our daughter, it is overwhelming! We have waited a long time for this and our dream will become a reality in a matter of hours. We are savoring these days. Keep your comments coming, we love hearing from you! We will be back soon!

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