Day 3: Speed Touring Beijing

~ sent Saturday 8:19 AM China time / Friday 7:19 pm CST

First of all, our baby at home lost his second tooth today. Woooohoooo Wild Man! Sorry we missed it but we know the Tooth Fairy will stop by even if Mommy and Daddy are away. We miss you both so much but we know you are having a great time. We'll Skype you in the morning. Have a great day!

Today we packed in the high points of Beijing seeing as much as we possibly could in one day. We are absolutely positively exhausted. Jet lag stinks but we know staying busy is the key and that is exactly what Angela did. She kept us BUSY BUSY BUSY! We keep saying "Can you BELIEVE we are in CHINA?" We have learned SO MUCH about our daughter's culture in only a day and a half.

First, let me say we are amazed by the size of this city. It is HUGE--HUGE--HUGE!!!! The Chief is quite the navigator. He can go anywhere one time and tell you how to get back there. Not here. Tonight he said, "I have a great sense of direction and I don't have a clue where we are". HA! This morning it took us an hour and a half to get to Summer Palace. We passed the Bird's Nest, Water Cube and Torch Building on the way. We didn't stop because traffic was AWFUL but I snapped a few pics out the window.

Summer Palace was breathtakingly beautiful--one of the most amazing places we have ever experienced. In ancient times, it was the summer home of the Emperor built around a large manmade lake before our country was even established. How strange is that? It was significantly cooler there than the city and we could definitely see why it would be considered their summer retreat.

It is now open to the public and stays very busy year round. Angela said many older retired people come to the park to spend the day, exercise, socialize, etc. When we first arrived we passed a man practicing pinyin characters with a water wand. It was fascinating to watch. There were several others in the park and it was interesting to see the different writing styles. Our equivalent for handwriting.

The park smelled INCREDIBLE. It took us a while to figure out where it was coming from. I'm sure the locals thought what are those crazy Americans doing--smelling of everything in sight? LOL! Finally we figured out it was these tiny little yellow and orange flowers. I took pics of the id cards to see if we can get them at home. As for the rest of the place, I can't even begin to describe it. I will let the photographs tell the story.

We drove back into Beijing for lunch at a local restaurant. We ate the best sweet and sour pork EVER along with several other interesting but yummy dishes. I am perfecting the art of chopsticks (at my own expense) but I refuse to use a fork. My sushi loving husband was a pro before China so all eyes are on me. I'm going with the "When in China do as the Chinese"...at least for Day 3. I might be starving by Day 10 so don't hold me to it. Oh, I almost forgot. Angela ordered Peking Roast Duck (no pics, sorry). It wasn't the whole duck so thankfully no one came to whack off his head at our table. That is my favorite scene from "A Christmas Story". You know at the end when the dogs eat the Christmas turkey so they go to the Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner. hahahahahaha. Tell me someone knows what I'm talking about? Anyway, back to the duck. Basically you eat it like a taco--rice wrap, roast duck, sauce, cucumber and onion. The verdict: I'll stick with tacos. :-)

After lunch we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. This is what we took away from both...HUGE and historical. Thousands of years of history and symbolism in the Chinese culture.

I didn't realize the Emperor had one wife (the Empress) but many many concubines. Thus the reason why the Emperor had his own quarters and she had hers. Not exactly our idea of marriage but an interesting fact nonetheless. We had our photo taken with the Loving Tree in the Imperial Garden. It is supposed to signify eternal love. We took that to mean our way as opposed to the Emperors way. :-)

Once we left TS and the FC, we headed to ChinaCenterforAdoptionAffairs.

That's right girls. C2A2--home of all things adoption in China. It is, indeed, a real place. Not a fig newton of our imagination. We had to pick up our tickets to the acrobat show from a friend of our guide who works there. I wanted to go in and ask about my pal Cindy and when they are going to find her baby but I resisted. I knew Pam and Nancy might have a stroke so I took pictures of the building instead. :-) Sorry Cindy.

Next we took a rickshaw through the old hutongs of Beijing. Fascinating. There are families still living there and they welcomed us into their home. They were so proud to have us there. They let us look around and take pictures while she told us stories of the significance of so much of their culture including the color red and the marriage union tradition. Can you imagine us walking down the aisle with a red veil and the Chief with a red bow around his neck? No one would forget THAT wedding in America.

Finally we saw the Peking Acrobat show at 5:15. The show was AMAZING but by this time we were EXHAUSTED! I fell asleep during the show a few times. Not because it was boring but because the jet lag is brutal! The Chief kept nudging me because he said my head was thrown back with my mouth open. LOL! I was out cold.

It took us an hour and a half to get across town to our hotel after the show. The traffic is HORRIBLE here. I should NEVER complain about traffic again after this. We were hungry but there was no way we were going to stay awake long enough to eat another traditional Chinese meal without falling asleep in our sticky rice. So we broke the cardinal sin and ordered Pizza Hut on the way back to the hotel. I know. Someone out there just GASPED but that's OK. We ate quickly and collapsed into bed. What a day! We love Beijing. We love China. Next stop--the Great Wall, Temple of Heaven and the silk factory.