Sunday.... Day 2 in Beijing, China

Sorry to bore some of you with sooooo much detail of this trip. Just skip to the pictures if you don’t want to read the boring stuff! I need to journal it for me because my “trip brain” gets fuzzy. I also want Anna to be able to read every detail as she gets older and forgets a few things. I want to keep China alive in her memory. She has been amazed at how beautiful it is here. We have encountered many not so beautiful areas around our hotel, but each time we go out and about we learn something new. Anna is also journaling each day. It is so fun to read her account of the day. China, from her eyes, is bound to be much different than ours. She was very emotional when we got here and nervous. Once she met our guide, Eric, she was a little better. After our time with Diane, she was just fine. We got to see Beijing from Diane’s point of view and what a treasure the afternoon/evening was. 

Day 2 in Beijing started off very early. I didn’t sleep well at all and 5:00am was way too early to wake up.

Can’t seem to adjust to the time yet. Barry and Anna aren’t having any trouble. LOL They woke up early, too, and we all decided

we were getting hungry. We discussed our free day here and decided that we wanted to see something really neat that we would remember. Summer Palace it was! WOW…..it was wonderful there. Beautiful and peaceful and not too crowded at first. It was another beautiful blue sky day in Beijing with no pollution. Perfect. The cab ride there was an adventure in itself. It was about $10 and it was about 15 minutes or so away from the hotel. We decided we weren’t brave enough to attempt the subway. ;) 

We got there around 9am and walked miles and miles. We never got hungry the entire day since our stomachs are still messed up. We make sure we feed Anna, though, as she has to maintain the weight she is at. I, however, do not. LOL We walked at least 7 miles there. There are many temples, gardens and palaces at the Summer Palace. There was no way we could see it all, let alone walk it all. TONS of steps and steep inclines to the top of the Tower of Buddhist Incense. Kunming Lake was gorgeous and we walked around and around it. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It was interesting just watching the people there. Many were exercising, listening to music as they walked, playing instruments, meditating, etc. I guess we probably stared as much at them as they do at us. People seem quite interested and point. Two Americans with a sweet little asian face between us is not the norm. It is in the hotel we are at since we will have 40 families here, but it is NOT the norm out in public at all. Sometimes I wonder what they are thinking. Are they thinking how incredibly lucky we are to have Anna in our lives? I don't know. I often wonder if some of the women are thinking about a little girl that they had to give up because they had no choice in a country where there is a 1 child policy in so many places. I don't know. All I know is that I am incredibly blessed by Anna. If you are reading this, you have most likely been blessed by Anna in some way, too. She is pretty special. ;)

We tired out and made it back around to the beginning. I can’t tell you enough how large this place was, how much we walked and how warm it got. 

We took a cab back to the hotel and enjoyed being in the air conditioning before heading across the street for lunch/dinner. We are in for the night, but might head down to the Lobby later or other areas of the hotel. There are many restaurants in the hotel, a Starbucks, Baskin Robbins, A bank, shops, etc. Next door to the hotel is NICK’S MART and you can buy just about anything there.

The main trip starts Tuesday, but tomorrow we opted to go to The Temple of Heaven and also an Acrobat show. We are anxious to meet more families from our GREEN GROUP. Anna has already met an 8 year old, an 11 year old and a 12 year old that will be in our group. She also had the privilege to meet a 13 year old girl from Guiping City, which is where Anna is from. In all of the cities and orphanages in China! We find that really neat. 

Goodnight, Illinois, from Beijing!!!!