Catching Up...

Grace Our Guide

Ten En Men Square



Forbidden City

In front of the Couples Tree

Mary at the Great Wall

Kevin at the Great Wall




Sorry it's been a couple of days since I posted. They have really been keeping us busy! Yesterday, our guide, Grace, took us to the Forbidden City, Tian En Men Square, and the Great Wall. We did not make it to the top, but my legs are aching today because of all the climbing. It's truly remarkable the magnitude of the Great Wall. And it was only 35 degrees! Grace also took us to the silk factory and to a Chinese restaurant. The food was very good! On the way back to the hotel, we drove by the Olympic Park (bird's nest), the Water Cube, and the Olympic village where the athletes stayed during the Olympics. There was only 1 other couple with us and they used to live in Georgetown, but have relocated to N. Carolina. We hope to see them again when we get to Guangzhou in a few days.

Grace told us Beijing has a population of 15 million. I am now convinced that the vehicle that has the loudest horn gets the right-of-way!

This morning we were up bright and early to catch our flight to Chengdu, which is where Chloe is. It was a 2 1/2 hour flight. We were met at the airport by our new guide, Susie. Her English is not as good as Grace's, but we are managing. We are the only family here in this province and get a lot of stares wherever we go. Our hotel is very nice. I like this one better than the one in Beijing, actually. Chengdu's population is 5 million, a small town compared to Beijing. Susie laughed when I told her the population of our hometowns. Chengdu is full of skyscrapers like Beijing, but in many areas looks poverty-stricken. You can see both extremes in a matter of blocks. We did drive by a McDonalds, Starbucks, and KFC! So when we have had all the Chinese food we can handle, we'll have back-up plans. (We also passed a Hooters driving in!) We can hardly believe we will drive to the orphanage tomorrow and pick up our Chloe. We have played out this moment so many times in our minds. We just pray she accepts us and adjusts to us quickly.

Here are some pictures we took yesterday during our outings. It was so funny. Kevin must be a novelty here as several people have stopped and had their picture taken with him. Today in the airport when we were waiting for our flight, a lady came in with a man and sat beside him and the man sat across with has camera and took their picture. When we arrived in Chengdu, he said his feelings were hurt because it had been 30 whole minutes and no one had taken his picture! He said he guesses they don't see to many white bald guys!

More Later...


(from Lesa... not sure why there is such a gap between the message and comment. I'll try to work on it)