China Adventure, Day 2

The first couple days in China, we toured the big tourist spots. It was like training for a marathon. It was HOT. Hot, Hot, Hot!!! And we were out in it. ALL DAY. The very best purchase we made the entire trip was the frozen bottles of water outside the Forbidden City. We sipped it like it was priceless and made it last as long as we could. Cause it was hot. Hot, hot, hot. (I think you get the picture.) Hot.

Olivia was something of a minor celebrity because of her golden hair. Chinese love kids with fair hair because they know it is natural, and it's scarce in their country. Her picture was taken several times.

The first day of touring, we went to the Forbidden City. It was INCREDIBLE. I want to go back some time (in Spring or Fall) when we can spend all day there. It is SOO huge, you just have to see it to believe it. You enter a courtyard, walk through the large building at the end of it and... find youself in another courtyard just as big as the first, and then again, and again. The courtyards are many football fields large. The buildings are trimmed and painted in such detail, it's hard to imagine. What an impressive place!!!! Unfortunately, they only had squatty potties. Do you know how hard it is to use a squatty potty when you are bathed in sweat and your clothes are totally sticking to you? And you are praying you don't lose your balance and pee all down your legs? Not fun.

When we left the City, we were assaulted by scads of vendors. They almost got physical, jumping in front of us and yelling at us. Aggressive, to say the least. They advised us not to buy anything from them because you couldn't tell if the change they gave you was real or counterfeit. Counterfeit currency is a BIG problem in China. After making it thru the gauntlet, we ate lunch. The funny thing was that the plates they gave us were the size of a saucer for a tea cup. We kept looking for the "real" plates and found no others. So, we just had several helpings of the stuff we could recognize. It was air conditioned, so it was like heaven - even tho they only had squatty potties, too.

After lunch we went to the silk "factory". It's really just a silk store with a tiny group of workers and silk worms for demonstrations. It was fun to see everything. And I fell in LOVE with the silk rugs. The ONE souvenier I ended up really wanting from China just had to be the most expensive thing I could find, of course. I didn't even want a full size one. I just wanted one I could hang on the wall and stare at. But even the small ones cost about $1000. Oh well... maybe when we go back for Brooke's "heritage visit".

After the silk factory, we took a rickshaw ride through a "traditional Beijing neighborhood". It was a large neighborhood - more like a walled settlement. The streets were like mazes. By American standards, the people lived in very poor conditions. You could see into many of the single-level homes, which were built touching each other in most cases. They seemed to be constructed from whatever materials were available at the time. They had very few, if any furnishings, and many had dirt floors. They were very small, with only a room or two. The smells suggested that plumbing was not working/present in many of the homes. It made me appreciate what we have here, what we take for granted. The people we saw seemed content. I imagine it is the only life they have known, so they are used to it and make the best of it. It's too bad we can't send boatloads of teenagers over there to see how other people live. Maybe it would help a few of them see beyond themselves...

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel. We were tired, hot, hungry and strung-out from the jet lag. And we were one day closer to meeting the little person who'd be joining our family.