Hello from Guangzhou!
Well, we have finally made it to China, and will see our sweet baby Anna Jo tomorrow afternoon!
After several very busy weeks of prep, we left Seattle on May 29th taking a cramped 10 hour flight to Tokyo, and then 4 hours to Beijing. I'm already dreading the flight home with Anna Jo!
We arrived here in Guangzhou about 1pm our time, after 2 very busy tour days in Beijing. We spent the first day visiting some very cute panda bears (our guide called them "panders") at the Beijing Zoo, and then visited the Summer Palace. It is a beautiful area where the royal family spent their leisure time....to have lived such a life of incredible wealth...I just can't fathom it. The pictures will tell the story (unfortunately I haven't been able to figure out how to post photos yet).
We then went to the Temple of Heaven, the Emporer's private Temple, which is surrounded by a beautiful park. This park is very popular with the Chinese people, it is very common to see them engaged in all kinds of leisure activities here, and we were able to watch many of them---playing cards or chess, hackie sacks (sp?), playing music, etc. Again, lots of pictures to post later.
Next day was the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Great Wall. The weather in Beijing was very warm, humid and foggy. I was disappointed to not get better photos, especially of the Great Wall. The Forbidden City is under a great deal of reconstruction, due to the upcoming Olympic Games, so it seemed to have lost some of it's grandeur, and was much more crowded than our last visit--probably because the weather was warmer now. I'm thankful we got to see it in better condition when we came last time for Megan.
Doug braved much more of the Great Wall than I did, and climbed almost as far as this section of the Wall would allow. The weather was so foggy, the visibility was too poor for many pictures. We did, however, celebrate our anniversary a few days early, by buying a lock, having it engraved with our names and wedding date, and locking it onto a chain along the Great Wall. This is a tradition in China for married couples. The Great Wall is the ultimate symbol of longevity in China, and to add your lock to the Wall symbolizes a long and happy marriage. There are thousands of locks there.
We capped off the day with a big adventure. Another couple and Doug and I left the hotel to go to a "hot pot" restaurant. This is similar to fondue, each person has a pot of boiling broth in which different foods can be cooked--we tried very thinly sliced beef and vegetables. It was very good, but what made it such an adventure was the communication barrier. God bless our waitress for her patience! We finally managed to order everything, and were wondering what might actually be coming to the table, when the people at the next table leaned over to ask if we were American....I think they had gotten a kick out of listening to us order! They were very nice and explained how to eat everything. We shared a laugh, and spent the rest of the evening chasing our food around our pots with inept chopsticks!! We had fun!
We have also braved several "squatty-potties," most public places do not have western style toilets, or even toilet paper. And I have to admit that one of my favorite photos so far is of an adorable girl at the Forbidden City wearing split-pants. Her mom was gracious enough to allow me to take her picture--a very cute girl with a very cute hiney!
We've made several new friends of our travel-mates. One family is traveling with a very outgoing 4 year-old named Abby. We have become buddies, and this morning she did my hair for me several times while we were waiting to board the plane. This little girl climbed the entire length of the section of the Great Wall we visited, and has been such a trooper. I think she and Megan would get along famously!
And so here we are in Guangzhou. It is about 95 degrees and very humid. But the White Swan hotel is so lovely, and tomorrow is the big day! I will continue to try to post photos, and we'll let you know all about Anna Jo soon! Our love to you all!
Gretchen
