Today was a fun day. We went down to breakfast at about 8:30am, and met another couple and sat down with them. The breakfast buffet was delicious, with many choices typical for breakfast in . There was eggs-scrambled and hard boiled, sausage, bacon, pancakes, French toast (with honey instead of syrup), a lot of fruit and vegetables. There were also some things you wouldn’t have for breakfast in the , like spring rolls and rice.
After we finished eating, we gathered around talking with all the other families and decided we would venture out to see some sights on our free day. There were 4 families, us included that decided to go see the Summer Palace . We paid for a shuttle bus to take us there and back, and were on our way. It was amazing to see the city of Beijing as we drove about 30 minutes to our destination. The traffic wasn’t as crazy as I had envisioned, but still different that the . Bicycles are everywhere, and honking is normal, not rude.
We arrived at the Summer Palace and were immediately bombarded by the vendors wanting to sell us postcards, Mao’s little red book, military hats and “Rolex” watches.
I was tempted to buy the watch that had Chairman Mao’s hand waving as the second hand. I thought Grant would think it was great. If the vendors would back off a little bit, they would probably sell a few more of their wares. When we reached the ticket area, we were approached by a lady “Mary” wanting to be our guide through the palace. We first said, “No thank you,” but she was also persistent and said her price would be only 10 yuan($1.20 US) per person, and we didn’t have to pay until we were done if we were satisfied. So, we took her up and the 9 of us were on our way. She ended up being a very good choice, and we were very pleased with her. She was very informative and spoke pretty good English. She also took us to a building where art students were showing their work, and their professor’s work. It was amazing, and of course we all walked away with some artwork. The students were probably high school age, and were so sweet and spoke very good English. 
We bought watercolor paintings of a lotus flower and Mongolian hunters on horseback chasing foxes. Then I just couldn’t resist a small oil painting of a Chinese baby in a basket wrapped in a red blanket with flowers on it. This is what Graycen’s referral described her being wrapped in when she was found. There is also a rooster by the basket—it is beautiful! We got all 3 for $500 yuan, which is $62.50 US. We probably could have bargained with them more and gotten a cheaper price, but the money went to the students for their schooling (they told us, and we hope it does). After our art shopping we were in for a brisk walk to go see one more sight and then get back to our shuttle bus on time. All the way, we were chased by the vendors, now offering carved wooden dragons, chopsticks and “North Face” winter jackets. We managed to get by, and then on the way to our bus they were practically mobbing us, and we were very glad to get back on the bus and shut the door! Our palace guide Mary, warned us to watch our valuables as they mobbed us, that usually their purpose is to get at those rather than sell you their wares. It is just so hard to imagine trying to make your living that way!
Then we were back to the hotel where we decided we needed to eat, since it was 4:00pm, and we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We decided to venture across the street to a mall and try a Chinese restaurant—a REAL one! The menu was very interesting, but we ended up being very pleased with our choices, they were delicious. We ordered several different items, and our bill came to $12.00 US. This was a very nice restaurant with cloth tablecloths & napkins. Amazing!
After dinner, we were very exhausted and just went to the room and were crashed by 9:00pm.
Please remember our family back home. Grant had minor accident Wednesday evening. He is fine, but Kevin’s car isn’t. We are very thankful that he is okay. My mom, Janet, is also fighting a cold, and still healing from her surgery. Please pray for them and Garrett and Gavin as they are so far away from us right now. We feel like we are being attacked to take the joy away from the awesome gift we are about to receive. We are praying that nothing will take away from this amazing journey we are on to bring Graycen home to her forever family.
Friday, December 2, 2005
Today we tackled the Great Wall of China . It was amazing to be standing on something of such historical importance in . Kevin and I BOTH made it to the top! I didn’t think I would be able to do it, but with a little encouragement, I made it! We were with Joe & Melissa Fleming and their 15 yr old daughter Jaime, and as we were on the way down, someone had the great idea to walk down, rather than ride in the cable car that we had taken up. It wasn’t too bad, until we got to the bottom, and we couldn’t see our bus anywhere. There are apparently 4 different parking lots. A kind (we thought) gentleman in a little van pointed us in the direction we should go (we thought). After we had walked about 100 yards, then another man in the same type of van came along and informed us we were going the wrong direction to get to the parking lot by the cable cars…”Get in, I will take you,” he said. So all 5 of us get in and away we go. We were about 15 minutes late to the bus at this point. Well, we finally arrived, where we were charged about $12.50 US for a 5 minute ride. Can you say, “Idiot Americans got “ Shanghai ’d”!!!” Oh well, we just told ourselves it was an adventure and a story to tell about our trip to the Great Wall of China .
After we all arrived safely to the bus, we were on our way to the Cloissonne factory.
This is a type of copper décor that is hand made with tiny copper wires making designs on the outside then filled in individually with enamel and fired in a kiln—5 to 6 times before it is complete, then it is sanded down 3 times and then finally polished. After to tour of the factory, we then went to the showroom (store to take your money), where there were over 20,000 pieces to see. They were beautiful, and I bought a few. We took great video of the tour and the whole process…very interesting. After we got back to the hotel, I was totally exhausted, as I had woken up at 3:30am this morning. I crashed and Kevin went to the Silk Street market, Friendship store and Pizza Hut with the Flemings.
Tomorrow we are going to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and on a Hutong (alley) tour. In the evening we will go to the acrobatic show.
December 3, 2005
Today we went to see Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and took a rickshaw ride through the Hutong area of Beijing .
It was cold today, but the wind made it very, very cold! Kevin and I did wear our long underwear, hats & gloves so we could have been colder. There were more vendors selling the same wares, but the hats had a better chance of selling today, as they were needed! 
In Tiananmen Square , there was a long line of people waiting to go into the Great Hall to pay their respects to Chairman Mao. Our guide told us that sometimes the wait can be 2-3 hours. It was such a huge area, with so much history.
After our cold stroll through the square (about 15 minutes), we walked through the south gate of the Forbidden City . This is where the emperors of lived and ruled. They call it Forbidden City because it was forbidden for the public to come in during the time period of emperor rule. Now it is open to the public, and we could see the extravagance that they lived with. The emperors were thought to be sons of the gods. We walked through the whole place, south to north, and there was building after building. The buildings looked just like the ones in the movie “Mulan”, where she meets the emperor and helps save ! We think we saw the one where Mushu straps the rocket on his back and shoots off to help save the day! (Just so you know the Disney movie is based on some truth.)
We were happy to get back to the bus where we had a few minutes of warmth before we loaded onto our rickshaws for a ride through this historic part of Beijing .
We loaded up and rode to a local families home where we were served tea and candies, and shown their hobby of cricket raising. They had little cages and boxes that they kept their little friends in. The Hutong area is the type of homes that were around in ancient times. There are only 3 areas of these left, but they are now being preserved, due to their location in center-city Beijing , the property value is very high. Most were torn down to build high rise apartments. Tonight we will see the acrobatic show, and then in the morning we will make the flight to Lanzhou , where we will finally meet Graycen!! Which after all, is the point of this trip! We are glad we have gotten to see so many important things in ’s history, but are ready to get the show on the road. Next entry will be from Graycen’s province.
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