Today's tour was to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Imperial Palace, Great Wall, Cloisonné Factory, Lunch at authentic Chinese Restaurant. It was a cool, breezy day with some overcast so the weather was very comfortable. We toured today with our "province group" those that are all adopting in our Province out of Nanchang. It was nice to get to narrow down our group and get to know them more personally.
The history of today and being in the middle of it all just cannot be described. We touched and walked on areas more than 500 years old. You read about these places but to BE HERE....IN IT..... indescribable.
The Imperial Garden was calm, peaceful and beautiful. This, I learned, is the only place to have plants and trees inside Forbidden City. The reason for this is because of safety concerns. The leader felt that someone could hide in the trees, behind bushes, etc and kill him. So that is why all is constructed in concrete and no trees.
The Great Wall is just breath taking. The steps are so uneven and the depth changes from step to step. When you approach one of many Great Wall's entrance, you can immediately look up and see the steps leading to each tower, which is a look out tower. This wall, build to protect China, is miles and miles long and built by the hands of many many Chinese people under very harsh conditions. Having no machines to assist, each brick and stone was carried up by manpower alone. That is what makes this one of the wonders of the world.
Inside the Great Wall you can also see a long heavy chain attached alongside the wall. People buy a padlock, have it engraved with their loved ones names, lock it onto this chain and throw the key over the cliff. This is to symbolize eternity-the names on the lock are people united forever now, and there is no use for the key anymore...as you will never break that bond again. There are thousands of padlocks attached and keys down below.
Our guide took us to a Cloisonné factory. The people hand make each piece of ware individually! They bend each and every wire, attach it with special glue to the piece, fill in with color, add a glaze over it all, fire it several times along the way, and polish the finished product. I bought Savanah several pieces here so I can give her a gift on each year of her "Forever Family Day" until she is 18. I cannot wait to show you all when we get home.
The picture you see of the girls stretching in the courtyard was taken on a whim. The girls were beside us as we were waiting for our group to finish at STARBUCKS in Forbidden City (that just doesn’t seem right, huh?)...So Lisa and I ran over and took pictures of them. The little boy, Ramon, is in our tour group! I took pictures with my Polaroid and gave one to each girl. The people here really enjoy this, and really smile when you give it to them!
Lunch was delicious. I told you guys I would be trying new and different foods and not flinching a bit. So today I volunteered to eat the fish head on our fried fish. I ate the eyeballs, brains and jaws. It was all fried and tasty believe it or not! See the picture below! I made Chris, the 11 yr old in our group a little sick at his tummy! LOL
We had another great touring day in Beijing, and finished off the day by eating in our restaurant's tea house. We sat in a private room, I asked the waitress to order her favorites for Lisa and me. We had some hot and spicy rice noodle soup that was out of this world! We also ate some dumpling with pork. They were ok, but the soup was sooooo good, we ate that and filled up! Thanks to Alyson and her mother Jules, for inviting us and spending the evening with us. What really great people both are!
Tomorrow is the day! We are to have our suitcases by our room's door and they pick it up for us and transport it to the airport. Our flight leaves at 1020 am and arrives NANCHANG at about 1230 pm. After we collect our things, we quickly head to the hotel and get ready for our girls! I will post more on that tomorrow.
I have some butterflies occasionally, but I am calm and peaceful about meeting my daughter. This is all just such an amazing adventure!
