Day 3 Sightseeing in Beijing

We've had quite the day! Because of the time change, we were up and at it very early this morning (Nathan at 3:30am, me at 5:00am). We headed to the Starbucks that is in our hotel at 6am, but it didn't open until 7am, so we went to have breakfast. I had heard that breakfast is amazing, and man today's was amazing. The hotel also had latte that was complimentary, so I was happy (we had some language barrier issues finding this out, but luckily there was a guy there that spoke Chinese and English, so he saved the day). It's hard to describe what the breakfast buffet looked like- there was so much to choose from, and many items you'd think were more like a lunch choice. I loved the little egg rolls they had!

After breakfast, we headed across the street (traffic wasn't too bad on a Saturday at 6:30am, so we got across pretty easily). I threw a pair of tennies in at the last minute but forgot to pack socks, and I had seen some at the convenience store the day before. It was neat to see Beijing in action. There were dumplings being made fresh in the street, there were bike carts preparing other fresh meals for commuters to purchase.


We headed over to Starbucks- never too much caffeine when you're up as early as we've been the last few days! It feels like such a treat to have this right here in our hotel. I hope we have easy access in Guiyang as well!

We met our guide and 2 other people from our group at 8:30. Christy and her daughter Kimberlyn had come to be with Christy's sister, Jenny, who is adopting a little 2 year old boy. Jenny and her husband, Jacob, have adopted 3 other kids from China, so they decided that just Jenny would come this time. Kimberlyn is 12 years old, so we enjoyed being in the company of a kid! We headed to The Great Wall. It took over 2 hours to get there because of the crazy Saturday traffic. So apparently, you are told what days you can drive on- odd numbers drive on these days, even numbers on the other days (the number is on the license plate), but everyone can drive during the weekend, so it's just busier than during the week. We enjoyed the people watching! We saw kids squatting on the side of busy roads to go to the bathroom (many wearing split pants also, which is kind of alarming to see- bare butts hanging out...). One kid we saw was completely naked, just chilling on the side of the road with his mom. So many people ride bikes and scooters, and no one yields for anyone- their merges are insane. I don't know how there aren't more accidents! What an experience, for sure!

We came to realize after talking a bit that Jenny's husband, Jacob is the pediatrician we'd talked to at length for the first file we received on a child, the child he had to say no to. We also talked to him about Scarlett's file, for a second opinion! I can't believe I didn't put it all together before now. It's neat how God puts people in your life and then again down the road- complete strangers who become friends due to common experiences!


The Great Wall was... well, GREAT. Oh my gosh it's amazing. Even with the crazy humidity and sweat dripping into my eyes I thoroughly enjoyed trekking up those steep steps. I made it as far as I could, and then turned and came back down (coming down was harder than going up, in my opinion.
Nathan had turned around before me because his leg started hurting, and he didn't realize that once you get to a certain height, you come down a different way. So, after about 30 minutes of not being able to find him, I saw him where he'd left us and I had to take my shaking legs back up a bit to fetch him. He felt terrible because he had the backpack that contained the extra water, my kleenexes, and all of the money. We did a little shopping in the gift shop and headed back to the air-conditioned van. We have the nicest driver and guide. I also experienced my first squatty potty at the wall.

After that, we headed to the Jade Factory for lunch. It was a delicious traditional Chinese meal. They didn't have forks, so we ate with chopsticks. They also don't really use serving spoons, so you just dip your chopstick into the dish and grab what you can. We shared germs like champs- what a way to get to know someone. Haha! It felt great to sit down and get refreshed. After lunch, we were given a little tour of the jade factory- so cool to see how they carve it, and then walked around looking at things that we couldn't buy (the sales lady followed us around, asking what we wanted to buy). 

Then we headed to the Summer Palace. This was a very neat place, too, although the crowd was pretty insane. I was feeling a little closed in with all of those people in the heat, but then we got to the corridors and there was a nice breeze coming off of the lake and gorgeous views of the palace and lake. What a history! 

We headed back to the hotel to freshen up just a bit (deodorant and febreeze spray), and then met back in the lobby for dinner. Jenny had arrived by that time, so she joined us for dinner. It was nice to get advice from her since she's adopted 3 times before. We enjoyed roasted duck tonight along with a variety of other foods (Gia ordered way too much for us, and we ended up wasting a lot) at dinner tonight with our group. I'm so thankful for these other people who are traveling some of the trip with us. We said goodbye to them tonight and will meet up with them on Friday in Guangzhou where the U.S Consulate is. At that time, we'll have 2 little ones added to our group. I'm so excited but nervous at the same time!

In about 36 hours, we'll have Scarlett. I've enjoyed these few days with just my husband. We needed this time together before becoming a family of 6!