Friday tours in Beijing

Your prayers worked! Logan slept until 5:30 AM. Thank you! Erich was up shortly after. We all got ready and went to breakfast. It was mostly empty which was nice. We sat with other FTIA couples and met some that came in on Thursday night. We were to meet in the lobby at 9:30 AM for tours. We saw Jasmine (3) and Liam (6). We didn't get much time with them though. They have us split by province. The Guandong province has the most families with at least 2 orphanages. Approx 13 families ride in one bus with Jeanine as our guide. The other 2 provinces ride in the other with Katherine and another guide (I didn't catch her name). The guides assigned to the province will be with us for the entire trip. They split us so we can get to know the families we will spend the most time with.

Our first stop was Tinnamen Square. The guide made a comment about how we probably know more about the 1989 incident that she did. Thank God for freedom of press in the US! Logan was stopped to have his picture taken with a little girl. He shied away. She gave her a Chinese flag. He shied away. She gave him candy. OK we can now take a picture as long as Daddy is in it too. We were stopped a couple more times after that and he is getting use to it. There are other couples who are singled out. Chelgrins are because Beth has red hair and Allen is tall. Other couple, the wife has blond hair. These are not things the Chinese see on a regular basis. I've seen entire families get in the pictures with American's. During the tour, it was very difficult to hear our guide so I didn't get much history out of it. I will have to do research on my own later. I did take lots of pictures. However, I can only post 5 pictures with each blog entry.

Next we crossed the street with the under ground tunnel. To cross the street normally is taking your life into your own hands. They have tunnels that get you across that remind me of subway tunnels without the subway. Across the street was the Forbidden City. We walked all the way through. Wow! It is huge! Many layers and the buildings are of such vibrant colors. This is where the Emporer lived. Logan is amazing! He has such energy. He was bouncing all the way. He did get tired because it was a lot of walking, but what a trooper! He ate all the candy the little girl gave him. It is called White Rabbit.

As we left, we were mobbed by pan handlers/gypsies. The were selling everything from fake rolexes to hat and books. The one phrase our guide taught us before we left today was 'I don't want any'. Very useful. That and no eye contact. None. Once on the bus, we went to lunch at a 'minority restaurant'. There are 30 some different nationalites in Beijing. The Han's are the majority. Anything else is minority. It was a family style lunch. We are not brave people when it comes to food. We did try most of it, but did not eat much. We were told the basic of the dish: chicken, pork, beef, fish, and more beef. There was a lot of food. There was also a little show on the stage. We were on the 2nd floor down from the main floor. My brain is not funcitioning to know if there is better terminology to describe that. The boys are asleep again, otherwise I would ask.

After lunch we had a couple hours of down time. Logan fell asleep on the way back to the hotel and didn not wake up when we carried him inside. We had to be in the lobby at 4:20 to go to the acrobat show. We were soooo tired. We fell asleep. I did set the alarm before hand, but it didn't help. Erich woke up at 4:10. It was difficult to wake up Logan. He was fussy, cranky, and just couldn't wake up. He ended up sleeping through most of the acrobat show. It was fun to watch. We saw some of it at the circus in February, but it was way cool. After the show, Logan was wide awake. Back at the hotel, we met up with the Chelgrin's and went to Pizza Hut for dinner. We also stopped by the food market. Logan found his White Rabbit candy so we'll bring some home.

It is now 11:30 and I'm going to crash. Tomorrow we meet at 9 AM to go to the Great Wall, lunch, and Summer Palace. It will be a lot of walking again. I am looking forward to this tour. I know Logan has been waiting on it for a while. Sunday we have to have our bags packed and outside our door by 7 AM. We fly to Guanzhou about noon. It is great to hear from everyone. Keep emailing and posting comments. It is great to know that we are loved.

Peace,
Robin