Sunday, November 4, 2012

Day 2 - Rainy Days Across the World - Beijing

We finally had a moment to sit down and post from yesterday's adventures... all this, and we're actually under 2 hours away from going to meet our daughter for the first time! :)

Ok... here's a few comments about our adventures in Beijing:
  • We stayed at the Metro Lido Hotel not too far away from the airport. I guess it was a 4-star hotel that is nicer than most 5-star ones over there. I guess from our point of view - it was a hotel room... nothing to write home about - with the exception of the breakfast buffet!! Wow! Not only did I enjoy fried noodles, dumplings, and terriaki chicken, but also more typical items like bacon, pastries, eggs, and sausage. Also, the area had a very nice fully automatic espresso machine - so I was in heaven.
  • We started off by going to Tiananmen Square - just across from the entrance to the Forbidden City - what a huge place!! It was very impressive to see Army soldiers and police all over the place.
  • We crossed the street and entered the Forbidden city - and that was even more impressive... what history! Our only disappointment was that it started to rain as we were entering the 3rd inner ring into the city - and it didn't stop after that.
  • When we were about finished, we started to get random strangers coming up and clammering to get a photo with our blond-haired daughter Ashlyn... I think it happened 3x that day (and once today)...
  • We then went out to the Jade market where there was also a restaurant attached up on the 2nd floor... there were some massively expensive pieces there... things like life-sized jade sculptures of the terra-cotta soldiers... now THAT would be cool to have... too bad the price on that was $130,000 though... oh well...
  • We then drove out to the outer edges of Beijing to see the Great Wall... unfortunately, it was really raining still at that point... so our experience there was rather..... let's say wet.... we did end up climbing up what felt like a mountainside... only to see the stairs kept going up. Our daughter Ashlyn ran up the stairs... which meant that I had to go up after her... when I finally caught up to her... she was stopped with someone... taking a picture :) Yup... she's liking the celebrity status here...

  • We ended our day at dinner - which was a "real" Chinese dinner. We had spicy vegetables, candied deep-fried sweet potatoes (which were great), kung pao chicken (best ever!!), Peking duck, and sweet & sour chicken. Overall - a fantastic meal...
I'll post more about today in a later post... but let me just say that our Gotcha Day is just moments away. :)
     
    Our family in front of the entrance to the Forbidden City
    
    
    Ashlyn having a good time looking around
    
    
    The Chinese Paparazzi found Ashlyn
    
    
    Ashlyn and our two guides in Beijing - Holly (behind) and Cissy (front)
    
    
    Ginny and Ashlyn about to trek up the Great Wall
    
    
    Our dinner once all the food was delivered - oh my!!
    


The Great Wall of China


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