November 6, 2004
It was pretty amazing to see all of the CHI families gathering in the hotel lobby. There were 42 families multiplied by two people, which equals 84 people. Many brought additional familiy members, so you get the idea that we are a big group.
We ran across a couple from NYC. AR had met the husband yesterday in the hotel gym. They exchanged pleasantries then, but neither was aware that they were each here for adoption. Small world, right? Even funnier, when he and his wife met me, they remembered me from the travel adoption meeting in NYC in September. "You were running around showing everyone your referral photo." Yep, that is me. Guilty as charged, hee hee.
We divided into two groups~ the Jiangxi Province (Us) and Guahdong Province and went on separate busses. We had already met our coordinator, Sabrina, who picked us up at the airport. She was going to travel with us for our whole adoption trip (except back to the U.S.). We were pleased because she was so nice.
We drove to Tiannamen Square first. Honestly, it wasn't much to look at. I guess I was expecting to see tanks or something, but it was really just an open area flanked by government buildings that we could not go into. Chairman Mao's body lay in state and thousands of Chinese people waited in line to see him to pay their respects. It would have been cool to do that, but it wasn't on our agenda.
There were a LOT of people in this area. Each guide held up a colored flag so that we would be able to find them by spotting the flag. It was tough to keep the whole group together.
The Forbidden City has a huge picture of Chairman Mao's face on it. Inside the city were the Emperor's palaces, so we walked from the South gate to the North gate. There was a strabucks in the middle of Forbidden City. It is true, capitalism has infiltrated China. I call the photo above, Forbidden Starbucks!
We stomped around the palaces and they all had doors that you had to step up and into. Not easy to traverse. We did quite a bit of walking and I wanted to conserve some energy for walking up the Great Wall, which was to be visited after lunch.
Lunch was dinner of roasted Peking duck for 80+ people. Apparently the place we went to was the place for duck. I let our guide Sabrina know that I was a vegetarian and she informed the waiters. I was provided with plenty of veggies. The broccoli was the best I ever ate in my life. It was crunchy and tender and bright green. We had several glasses of beer, which was probably a mistake because we were off to climb Great Wall.
Most of us were quiet or fell asleep during the hour drive to the Great Wall. It may have been the beer, the heavy lunch, the walking that was done all morning or jet lag, but we were all pretty pooped. Despite this we made our ascent.
The walk was difficult because the steps were uneven. One step would be a normal step and the next would be the equivalent to two steps, so you had to use your hands to grasp onto the steps or hang onto the wall as you climbed.
I made it to the third level and gave up. AR made it to the second level. Only three from our group went to the top. We did get some great photos. Coming down the stairs was harder than going up, if you can believe that!
We arrived at the hotel at 6 pm and had an orientation meeting from 7-8:30 pm. We had to pack our bags that we were checking tomorrow when we got back to the hotel. No rest for the weary because they were collecting it at 10 pm.
At the orientation meeting we received an update on our daughter. She has 8 teeth! Still we were told that she was not on solid foods and only formula. We were told that she was a deep sleeper. I sure hope that part is true!
We ate pizza at the hotel for dinner and waited for our luggage to be collected. We were in bed by 10 pm. This was our last night as a childless couple. Tomorrow we meet the babies!
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