Though we thought at 9PM last night that we could sleep forever, we were up for the day at 4AM (darn you, jet lag). So, we headed to the hotel breakfast by 7AM and enjoyed some fried noodles, steamed rolls, and some other interesting dishes. Mark had some french fries—I guess that is part of what makes it a “Western breakfast.” After that, we had a whirlwind day around the city of Beijing. We visited Tiananmen Square (along with oodles of other people. It was so crowded. Mao’s tomb was open, and there were thousands of people filing slowly in a line in order to see his preserved body). After that, we toured the Forbidden City. The buildings and colors are so beautiful. Mark went up to see the throne room–I did not since the crowd of people shoving and invading any personal space you think you may have just freaked me out a bit. The gardens were my favorite part. Note the picture of the Raudenbush lovebirds next to the husband and wife tree–two trees which have grown intertwined.
We headed to a very Chinese restaurant for lunch. The “very” is necessary because no one spoke any English, and we were the only Westerners there in the crowded restaurant, AND I had the pleasure of experiencing a non-Western bathroom. Let me just tell you that I was glad I brought that roll of toilet paper my agency suggested bringing. Bathrooms here have been interesting—even the ones with toilets. If you don’t aggressively go for that open spot, someone will just jump right ahead of you. There is no concept of a line. The food though was amazing. After lunch, back out on the town to the Temple of Heaven and then spend some time at the pearl market where I visited some of my mom’s favorite spots and got some treasures to bring home. No break after that–back out to the Peking acrobat show. Boy, our kids would have loved this.
It was fun to see, but I have to say that my immediate impression was that no one in it seemed happy to be in it. There were some (not many) stage smiles, but none looked genuine. I wonder what the stories of all those young people are. We (as you can imagine) were beat after all that, having still not recovered from jet lag on top of a long day of sightseeing. So, we had dinner back at the hotel with one of the other families in our travel group as well as our guide Lisa. She ordered amazing food for us again. And, now, we are ready to collapse. In fact, as I type this, Mark is loudly snoring on the bed behind me. He’s a goner.
I have to say that my favorite part of the day was simply looking at the people here. I loved seeing the children–we saw many young ones with older people, probably grandparents caring for them while parents work. I love this picture of the toddler I took today. And, I just liked observing people and trying to get a feel for what their days are like here—some are rushing on their bikes and nearly run you over as you walk by, others are working hard selling some sort of product on the street (some more aggressively than others), older people playing instruments and singing or playing cards together, Chinese tourists taking pictures like crazy and wanting to see the monuments we too came to see…it’s all very interesting to observe.
We’re looking forward to another full day tomorrow (after getting a full night sleep, hopefully). But, we can’t help but long more for Sunday when we travel to Xi’an and meet our daughter for the first time. As I have wondered what life is like for all the people we saw today, I wonder even more what her days are like. I’m ready to be a part of those days.
Dear Evan, Ashlyn, and Drew – it was so fun to see you on the computer this morning and get to hear your voices and hear about all that you are doing. I’m so proud of how well all of you are doing back at home. We took lots and lots of pictures today and want to show them all to you when we get home. We love you!