Showing posts with label In Beijing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label In Beijing. Show all posts
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Photo Catch-up
Here are some photos we've picked out to share. Some date several days back, even before Hannah Dong En. Some are more recent.
We've mentioned that because Benjamin is a caucasian child, and a fair-skinned, fair-haired one to boot, he often has celebrity status here. Many Chinese people think he is a great novelty and so cute. At times the paparazzi catch up with him. Once one person is "brave" enough to ask for a picture, a few others usually gather round to watch or ask for their turn. This photo is from the day we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
Detail of one of the buildings in the Forbidden City (Beijing)
Detail of a door — Forbidden City (Beijing)
First Rickshaw ride — tour of a Hutong neighborhood (Beijing)
Cute or what?
Cute overload. Nap time.
Playing with cars.
Yesterday we borrowed a stroller for Dong En. She was excited to see this statue.
In the words of the Wiggles, "Hats are really groovy."
Trying on Baba's socks
Lost in Translation (Incidentally, the fine ranges from about $2.50 to $7)
Saturday, November 3, 2007
My Friends Were Almost Crushed to Death by a Crowd on the Great Wall of China and All I Got Was This Crummy T-Shirt
We headed up the Badaling Expressway for the mountains northwest of the city of Beijing, to the Badaling section of the Wall. On the way the city gave way to suburban areas and countryside, broken up by quarries, tourist businesses, a few farms, etc. The mountains took shape and rose in front of us. We were all very excited to see the first glimpses of parts of the Wall near the freeway.
We arrived through a congested maze of valley roads, clogged with the cars of weekend tourists and tour buses.
The roads were lined with tourist vendors from old folks with stands, to sophisticated multilevel stores and restaurants.
The Badaling section is the closest to downtown Beijing and we were about to find out, is popular because you can go up on cable cars.
The Wall was on steep slopes out here. Our guide, Joy, told us she would buy us tickets to the cable cars. Until then, we had thought this would just be a walk on the wall. When we got there we saw why most people took the cable cars. It was quite a climb.
We were both a little nervous about the cable cars — six-person hanging, closed gondolas on a cable lifts like ones sees at other mountain tourist areas (except not all shiny and clean and red, like in the photos of the Alps, or what not). Nervous because, well frankly, the cloisonné factory was not the first indication or story we've heard about safety and the effectiveness of regulation in China. Who knows, we were both thinking, how well maintained those things are. We didn't betray our anxiety, however, so as not to convey it to the boy; he was very excited: a device, a conveyance, very train-like!!! I'm so glad he wasn't scared. Rebecca confessed she'd hoped he'd want to walk up (like one other couple in our group did) and take the cable cars down, but Ben wanted to take the cable cars both ways.
Once we got up there and started ascending a section of the Wall, we were grateful that we'd gone with the lift. It was very steep and we doubt we're fit enough to have done the walk in good time.
Before we got the a section of the Wall we could walk, we had to wait in a long line, in a big crowd, surrounded by locals selling everything from hot dogs and marinated boiled eggs to t-shirts and decorative jade. By far, the Wall is the most crowded place we've been so far.
Once on the Wall itself, it was still very crowded. We walked up slowly, taking photos and resting often because of the steep grade.
There was a serious bottleneck of the crowd at one point. One spot on the relatively narrow wall had a vendor's stand set up on one side, and made it much more narrow. We were stuck in the middle of a group literally pressed up against one another, unable to move. People began pushing. It was quite distressing. Headlines about crowd panic and people began trampled to death ran through both our minds, though we didn't share this with each other until later in the day, when Benjamin was asleep.
We were stuck that way for at least 10 minutes until numerous people began pushing more and shouting. We decided to try to go back down, but couldn't get over to the unmoving group heading back. What happened was very confusing: the shouting intensified; some guy was talking into a bullhorn. Suddenly Rebecca — who'd been holding Benjamin the whole time — rushed forward and to the side into a space that had opened up. A few guys were holding people aside and signaling a stream of us up and through the crowd. We got to a more open space and stopped to rest and regain our composure. We took more photos then headed back down. 
The treacherous bottleneck had eased and we could get through much more easily now.
The views were unbelievable, and so frankly were the crowds.
I hope to report from our people-watching on the Wall and describe how Benjamin's celebrity treatment, remarkably, only intensified up there.
Now, though, I really should post some photos and go to bed.
We arrived through a congested maze of valley roads, clogged with the cars of weekend tourists and tour buses.
The roads were lined with tourist vendors from old folks with stands, to sophisticated multilevel stores and restaurants.
The Badaling section is the closest to downtown Beijing and we were about to find out, is popular because you can go up on cable cars.The Wall was on steep slopes out here. Our guide, Joy, told us she would buy us tickets to the cable cars. Until then, we had thought this would just be a walk on the wall. When we got there we saw why most people took the cable cars. It was quite a climb.
We were both a little nervous about the cable cars — six-person hanging, closed gondolas on a cable lifts like ones sees at other mountain tourist areas (except not all shiny and clean and red, like in the photos of the Alps, or what not). Nervous because, well frankly, the cloisonné factory was not the first indication or story we've heard about safety and the effectiveness of regulation in China. Who knows, we were both thinking, how well maintained those things are. We didn't betray our anxiety, however, so as not to convey it to the boy; he was very excited: a device, a conveyance, very train-like!!! I'm so glad he wasn't scared. Rebecca confessed she'd hoped he'd want to walk up (like one other couple in our group did) and take the cable cars down, but Ben wanted to take the cable cars both ways.Once we got up there and started ascending a section of the Wall, we were grateful that we'd gone with the lift. It was very steep and we doubt we're fit enough to have done the walk in good time.
Before we got the a section of the Wall we could walk, we had to wait in a long line, in a big crowd, surrounded by locals selling everything from hot dogs and marinated boiled eggs to t-shirts and decorative jade. By far, the Wall is the most crowded place we've been so far.
Once on the Wall itself, it was still very crowded. We walked up slowly, taking photos and resting often because of the steep grade.
There was a serious bottleneck of the crowd at one point. One spot on the relatively narrow wall had a vendor's stand set up on one side, and made it much more narrow. We were stuck in the middle of a group literally pressed up against one another, unable to move. People began pushing. It was quite distressing. Headlines about crowd panic and people began trampled to death ran through both our minds, though we didn't share this with each other until later in the day, when Benjamin was asleep.
We were stuck that way for at least 10 minutes until numerous people began pushing more and shouting. We decided to try to go back down, but couldn't get over to the unmoving group heading back. What happened was very confusing: the shouting intensified; some guy was talking into a bullhorn. Suddenly Rebecca — who'd been holding Benjamin the whole time — rushed forward and to the side into a space that had opened up. A few guys were holding people aside and signaling a stream of us up and through the crowd. We got to a more open space and stopped to rest and regain our composure. We took more photos then headed back down. 
The treacherous bottleneck had eased and we could get through much more easily now.
The views were unbelievable, and so frankly were the crowds.I hope to report from our people-watching on the Wall and describe how Benjamin's celebrity treatment, remarkably, only intensified up there.
Now, though, I really should post some photos and go to bed.
There's a Cute Little White Boy in the Store
We just got back from the Great Wall of China. That's not something you can say every day. It's hard to believe that it's true; it's still hard to believe we're really here in China, because it all seems so surreal.
But the fact that we are in China is unavoidable. Chinese writing and spoken language surrounds us everywhere, of course. Moreover, unlike traveling to most places in "the West," we are unmistakably foreign and, outside this hotel, even at large tourist destinations, part of a slim minority in the crowd.
As to our adventures today, our Bethany (adoption agency) travel group of five families got on the bus this morning to head to the Great Wall. On the way, we stopped to visit a cloisonné factory. (What's cloisonné? Click here or here.) It was very interesting and a little bit sad. A friendly guide who spoke English very well showed us to several different workshop areas demonstrating the different steps in creating the cloisonné pieces.
The process is done largely by hand and with painstaking detail. I believe the guide said it takes 20 days of labor done by 7 different craftspeople or laborers to make, for example, a medium sized vase.
Making Cloisonné / Working Conditions
The working conditions disturbed us. The areas they showed us were very dingy, spartan rooms with concrete walls and floors and old tables and chairs. Women worked for unknown hours on end gluing the tiny strips of copper to the sides of the pieces to form the design. Others applied various colored enamel mineral pastes with eye droppers to the spaces formed by the designs. Men without breathing masks sat at machines that could spin the vases (etc.) around very quickly, smoothing these fired pieces with handheld polishing stones.
The workers who could look up from their work or who interacted with the tour guide, were pleasant and did not appear as if they found the work oppressive. If these dreary, seemingly unsafe spaces were the ones they showed to tourists, I had to wonder under what conditions might the unseen dozens be working under.
Rebecca wondered how many of the women working there might be birthmothers to orphaned or adopted children.
One can complain a little about some of the seemingly overly detailed, intrusive OSHA rules bearing on U.S. business. But after seeing just a sample of the conditions in Chinese manufacturing plants, as Rebecca reminded me, we are very fortunate that past generations risked their livelihoods and sometimes their lives to help secure us the labor regulations that we have today in the U.S. and many other countries.
Exit Through the Gift Shop
The conditions of the cloisonné workshops were soon set in stark contrast with the large, lovely store in which we were, of course, given time to shop among the factory's finished wares. The carefully-lit glass shelves and cases bore thousands of pieces of cloisonné, from little 750-yuan ($10) figures to floor display urns on sale for thousands of dollars. The store was staffed by well-groomed, friendly, young people, most of whom were versed in at least a little English. Their sales techniques consisted mainly of walking up to customers and beginning a "casual" conversion about the quality or beauty of the items, or whether one liked this or that piece.
Movie Star Status
We looked at the work, much of it very beautiful and chatted a little with the clerks. Benjamin's celebrity for the day began here. Waiguoren (foreigners) are commonplace at the cloisonné factory as it is obviously on the itinerary of many a travel group headed for the Great Wall. Western children, however, are more rare — especially a fair-haired, fair-skinned, green-eyed "spectacle" like Benjamin. Some steal glances, others stare and comment to one another quite openly. Women often giggle and fawn. If Benjamin says "ni hao" (hello), xie xie (thank you), or "zai jian" (goodbye), many are so surprised or tickled that they just light up. Rebecca heard one young women tell her coworkers excitedly how she waved to Benjamin and he said "ni hao" and "zai jian," even though they were standing right next and saw the same thing — as if they wouldn't believe their own eyes unless she told the tale aloud. A few people, on hearing one of us attempt a sentence in Mandarin, commented directly to us that Benjamin was "hen piao liang" (very good-looking).
Rebecca or I frequently say to people around us "ni hao," especially if they are staring at Benjamin or us. We also repeatedly say "xie xie" (thanks) to those who help us in the least. For me it’s the nerves of being out in a strange place combined with Midwestern courtesy and guilt. Many nod or politely respond with the typical response "bu ke qi" (you're welcome or, literally, no [need to be] polite). For others that small token of Chinese (from us adults) alone is enough to provoke a surprised smile or comment.
One young sales lady in the cloisonné shop was so surprised that we could speak a few sentences of Mandarin (and that Benjamin knew a few phrases, too), she asked if we had recently settled in China.
We did break down and buy a few small items and then met with the group outside. It was a beautiful sunny day with a high of 58 degrees F, and we were soon off for the Great Wall.
But the fact that we are in China is unavoidable. Chinese writing and spoken language surrounds us everywhere, of course. Moreover, unlike traveling to most places in "the West," we are unmistakably foreign and, outside this hotel, even at large tourist destinations, part of a slim minority in the crowd.
As to our adventures today, our Bethany (adoption agency) travel group of five families got on the bus this morning to head to the Great Wall. On the way, we stopped to visit a cloisonné factory. (What's cloisonné? Click here or here.) It was very interesting and a little bit sad. A friendly guide who spoke English very well showed us to several different workshop areas demonstrating the different steps in creating the cloisonné pieces.
The process is done largely by hand and with painstaking detail. I believe the guide said it takes 20 days of labor done by 7 different craftspeople or laborers to make, for example, a medium sized vase.
Making Cloisonné / Working Conditions
The working conditions disturbed us. The areas they showed us were very dingy, spartan rooms with concrete walls and floors and old tables and chairs. Women worked for unknown hours on end gluing the tiny strips of copper to the sides of the pieces to form the design. Others applied various colored enamel mineral pastes with eye droppers to the spaces formed by the designs. Men without breathing masks sat at machines that could spin the vases (etc.) around very quickly, smoothing these fired pieces with handheld polishing stones.
The workers who could look up from their work or who interacted with the tour guide, were pleasant and did not appear as if they found the work oppressive. If these dreary, seemingly unsafe spaces were the ones they showed to tourists, I had to wonder under what conditions might the unseen dozens be working under.
Rebecca wondered how many of the women working there might be birthmothers to orphaned or adopted children.
One can complain a little about some of the seemingly overly detailed, intrusive OSHA rules bearing on U.S. business. But after seeing just a sample of the conditions in Chinese manufacturing plants, as Rebecca reminded me, we are very fortunate that past generations risked their livelihoods and sometimes their lives to help secure us the labor regulations that we have today in the U.S. and many other countries.
Exit Through the Gift Shop
The conditions of the cloisonné workshops were soon set in stark contrast with the large, lovely store in which we were, of course, given time to shop among the factory's finished wares. The carefully-lit glass shelves and cases bore thousands of pieces of cloisonné, from little 750-yuan ($10) figures to floor display urns on sale for thousands of dollars. The store was staffed by well-groomed, friendly, young people, most of whom were versed in at least a little English. Their sales techniques consisted mainly of walking up to customers and beginning a "casual" conversion about the quality or beauty of the items, or whether one liked this or that piece.
Movie Star Status
We looked at the work, much of it very beautiful and chatted a little with the clerks. Benjamin's celebrity for the day began here. Waiguoren (foreigners) are commonplace at the cloisonné factory as it is obviously on the itinerary of many a travel group headed for the Great Wall. Western children, however, are more rare — especially a fair-haired, fair-skinned, green-eyed "spectacle" like Benjamin. Some steal glances, others stare and comment to one another quite openly. Women often giggle and fawn. If Benjamin says "ni hao" (hello), xie xie (thank you), or "zai jian" (goodbye), many are so surprised or tickled that they just light up. Rebecca heard one young women tell her coworkers excitedly how she waved to Benjamin and he said "ni hao" and "zai jian," even though they were standing right next and saw the same thing — as if they wouldn't believe their own eyes unless she told the tale aloud. A few people, on hearing one of us attempt a sentence in Mandarin, commented directly to us that Benjamin was "hen piao liang" (very good-looking).
Rebecca or I frequently say to people around us "ni hao," especially if they are staring at Benjamin or us. We also repeatedly say "xie xie" (thanks) to those who help us in the least. For me it’s the nerves of being out in a strange place combined with Midwestern courtesy and guilt. Many nod or politely respond with the typical response "bu ke qi" (you're welcome or, literally, no [need to be] polite). For others that small token of Chinese (from us adults) alone is enough to provoke a surprised smile or comment.
One young sales lady in the cloisonné shop was so surprised that we could speak a few sentences of Mandarin (and that Benjamin knew a few phrases, too), she asked if we had recently settled in China.
We did break down and buy a few small items and then met with the group outside. It was a beautiful sunny day with a high of 58 degrees F, and we were soon off for the Great Wall.
Out Into the City / Behai Park / Acrobatic Show
Today we planned to strike out on our own and visit the Summer Palace. Instead, due time constraints, we went to Beihai Park which is closer to our hotel.
The most exciting part of the trip was the taxi ride. Driving anywhere in Beijing is a competitive sport. Several times our taxi driver came within inches (or less) of striking another vehicle as he maneuvered as quickly as possible between lanes, then slammed on his brakes when someone equally reckless cut in front of him. He did all of this while talking on his cell phone with one hand, and both steering and driving stick shift with his other. At one point, he charged a city bus head on and I thought we would all surely die. Yet, against all odds, we managed to make it to our destination safely.
Beihai Park is absolutely gorgeous. It is located in the center of downtown Beijing and is the oldest existing garden in all of China. It is over 800 years old. It also has many Buddist temples and we saw lots of people offering money to the statutes of the various gods in the temples.
Benjamin was a huge attraction at the park. Several people gestured to have their picture taken with him and he very kindly obliged. One person told us in English that he was "very beautiful."
Ben was also thrilled to discover, and use, the squatty potty at the park. He told me that he was going to check out the bathrooms at the acrobatic show tonight because if they also have squatty potties, then he wants to use one there as well.
It is so wonderful to travel with him. Most westerns complain bitterly about squatty potties. They are difficult to use and I can attest first hand that they smell terrible. But to Ben, using them is an adventure. Seeing everything through his eyes has made this trip so much more enjoyable.
The acrobatic show was astounding. As Jay pointed out, given the mass media we have access to, very few things surprise us. We've seen it all on T.V. The acrobatic show, however, was truly unbelievable. There is simply no way to adequately describe seeing 14 young women ride on 1 bicycle. Or seeing a series of three young men standing one on top of the other, the first and the third both on moving balance boards, and the top one using his balance board to simultaneously launch 4 bowls into the air and catch them on his head. It is incomprehensible to me how the performers learned their routines, or how they are capable of contorting their bodies in ways that seem inhuman. Our guide told us they have been trained since they were babies.
They perform 2 back to back shows every day, 7 days a week. Tonight, we saw the first of the two shows. As the curtain started to go down, an announcer said, "The performance is over. Thank you for coming." Everyone in the audience rushed out to make way for those attending the next show. Most people were gone before the curtain had touched the floor. I felt sorry for the performers. I am sure they would have received multiple standing ovations in the U.S.
Tomorrow we will visit the Great Wall. Just three more days until we finally meet Hannah Dong En.
The most exciting part of the trip was the taxi ride. Driving anywhere in Beijing is a competitive sport. Several times our taxi driver came within inches (or less) of striking another vehicle as he maneuvered as quickly as possible between lanes, then slammed on his brakes when someone equally reckless cut in front of him. He did all of this while talking on his cell phone with one hand, and both steering and driving stick shift with his other. At one point, he charged a city bus head on and I thought we would all surely die. Yet, against all odds, we managed to make it to our destination safely.
Beihai Park is absolutely gorgeous. It is located in the center of downtown Beijing and is the oldest existing garden in all of China. It is over 800 years old. It also has many Buddist temples and we saw lots of people offering money to the statutes of the various gods in the temples.
Benjamin was a huge attraction at the park. Several people gestured to have their picture taken with him and he very kindly obliged. One person told us in English that he was "very beautiful."
Ben was also thrilled to discover, and use, the squatty potty at the park. He told me that he was going to check out the bathrooms at the acrobatic show tonight because if they also have squatty potties, then he wants to use one there as well.
It is so wonderful to travel with him. Most westerns complain bitterly about squatty potties. They are difficult to use and I can attest first hand that they smell terrible. But to Ben, using them is an adventure. Seeing everything through his eyes has made this trip so much more enjoyable.
The acrobatic show was astounding. As Jay pointed out, given the mass media we have access to, very few things surprise us. We've seen it all on T.V. The acrobatic show, however, was truly unbelievable. There is simply no way to adequately describe seeing 14 young women ride on 1 bicycle. Or seeing a series of three young men standing one on top of the other, the first and the third both on moving balance boards, and the top one using his balance board to simultaneously launch 4 bowls into the air and catch them on his head. It is incomprehensible to me how the performers learned their routines, or how they are capable of contorting their bodies in ways that seem inhuman. Our guide told us they have been trained since they were babies.
They perform 2 back to back shows every day, 7 days a week. Tonight, we saw the first of the two shows. As the curtain started to go down, an announcer said, "The performance is over. Thank you for coming." Everyone in the audience rushed out to make way for those attending the next show. Most people were gone before the curtain had touched the floor. I felt sorry for the performers. I am sure they would have received multiple standing ovations in the U.S.
Tomorrow we will visit the Great Wall. Just three more days until we finally meet Hannah Dong En.
Friday, November 2, 2007
One Miàn Tiáo [Noodle] at a Time
[by Rebecca]
Last night we ate supper at a real Chinese restaurant. By "real," I mean it didn't have any silverware, just chopsticks and Chinese style soup spoons. Our waitress didn't speak any English and got a different waitress to help us. The second waitress only spoke limited English, but with her English and Jay's Mandarin, we managed to successfully order hot and sour soup, pork dumplings, chicken with lemon sauce, stir fried noodles, jasmine tea, and bottled water. Everything was delicious and the portions were huge. We ate until we were stuffed, but still had at least half of the food left over. It cost about $12 USD.
Ben is a trooper. He tried everything and loved it, even the jasmine tea. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of chopsticks yet. To eat the noodles, he resorted to hooking a single noodle on the end of a chopstick and eating them one at a time. (We'll try to attach a picture below, but have been having trouble connect with blog sites on the Internet.)
Today, we are going to an acrobatic show in the evening. This morning we MIGHT try to venture out on our own to see the beautiful "Summer Palace." We have been warned to cross the streets with caution. The drivers here do not exactly follow traffic signals and definitely do not give the right of way to pedestrians. Before we left I read that 25 bicyclists and pedestrians are killed every day in auto accidents in Beijing alone. That's 175 a week, over 650 a month. I suppose in a city of 15 million+, that statistic isn't surprising to officials, but it shocked me. We will definitely watch where we're going!
Last night we ate supper at a real Chinese restaurant. By "real," I mean it didn't have any silverware, just chopsticks and Chinese style soup spoons. Our waitress didn't speak any English and got a different waitress to help us. The second waitress only spoke limited English, but with her English and Jay's Mandarin, we managed to successfully order hot and sour soup, pork dumplings, chicken with lemon sauce, stir fried noodles, jasmine tea, and bottled water. Everything was delicious and the portions were huge. We ate until we were stuffed, but still had at least half of the food left over. It cost about $12 USD.
Ben is a trooper. He tried everything and loved it, even the jasmine tea. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of chopsticks yet. To eat the noodles, he resorted to hooking a single noodle on the end of a chopstick and eating them one at a time. (We'll try to attach a picture below, but have been having trouble connect with blog sites on the Internet.)
Today, we are going to an acrobatic show in the evening. This morning we MIGHT try to venture out on our own to see the beautiful "Summer Palace." We have been warned to cross the streets with caution. The drivers here do not exactly follow traffic signals and definitely do not give the right of way to pedestrians. Before we left I read that 25 bicyclists and pedestrians are killed every day in auto accidents in Beijing alone. That's 175 a week, over 650 a month. I suppose in a city of 15 million+, that statistic isn't surprising to officials, but it shocked me. We will definitely watch where we're going!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
We Made It
[by Rebecca]
We made it! It took us a little over 28 hours from the time we left our house in Wisconsin to the time we arrived at our hotel in Beijing.
The flight from Detroit to Tokyo was very long and crowded. Ben managed to sleep pretty well on the plane. The airline provided lots of food and snacks. The food was great! We had fresh fruit, pork fried rice, blueberry muffins, and orange juice for breakfast just before we arrived in Tokyo.
In Tokyo, we had a 50 minute layover, but were required to exit the plane, go through security, and get back on the same flight to continue on to Beijing. I assumed we'd be on the same plane, but they switched us to a smaller, newer plane for the last leg of our trip. As we exited the 747 in Tokyo, it was obvious why a new plane was preferable. It looked like our plane had hosted a frat party. There were crumbs on all the seats, everything looked stained and wrinkled and there was litter everywhere. Yet, with over 400 passengers, I was amazed at how smoothly everything went. Everyone was very courteous and quiet.
Ben opened his Halloween card from Grandma on the plane. He loved it and had lots of fun putting all the spooky stickers on the haunted house.
We arrived in Beijing at about 9:00 p.m. local time. The city is enormous. The population exceeds 15 million. Even from the air, it stretched to the horizon. As we flew in, Ben said, "Beijing is beautiful. It is even more beautifuler than I thought it would be!" Indeed, it was very pretty. There were many more colorful lights (blue, purple, red, orange, yellow and green) than are typical in American cities.
We had no trouble getting our luggage or getting through customs. As we left customs, we were greeted by a Starbucks, a KFC, and our guide, Joy. Joy is very friendly and knowledgeable. She speaks English well, and also speaks Mandarin and Cantonese. Jay quickly surprised her with his ability to speak a little Mandarin and Cantonese.
At the airport, Ben and I had our first brush with "squatty potties." The restroom had toilets and squatty potties. Each stall had an image outside of it to indicate what type of facility was inside. The "squatty potty" picture looked like a circle with two footprints on either side of it. Ben REALLY wanted to use the squatty potty, but alas, it was already in use and he settled for a traditional toilet. He's been on the lookout for a squatty potty ever since.
Our hotel is very nice. Our room is spacious and clean. I've heard many adoptive parents say the beds in China are very hard. It is difficult to comprehend just how hard until you experience it first hand. I would love to see a cross section of the mattress. I'm pretty sure it would include a layer of plywood with a 1/8-inch of padding on top. Nonetheless, after sitting up on various planes for 28 hours, the bed was heavenly and we all slept well until 7:00 a.m. this morning. We are adjusting well to the time change.
Today is a free day. So far we've eaten breakfast and walked to a local supermarket to buy snacks and water. The market was very interesting. The meat section had lots of meat I couldn't identify and all of it was displayed in the open on beds of ice. There were no display cases. There were also lots of products we have in the U.S. like Oreos, M&Ms, Ritz crackers and Coke.
On the way to and from the market, we saw lots of older people walking with little pet birds in cages. I noticed lots of people staring at Ben and pointing him out to their companions. A blond-haired little boy seems to be a real novelty. Ben said "zai jian" (good bye) to a group of young waitresses this morning as we left the restaurant. They all giggled and acted as though they'd never seen anything more cute in their lives.
Tomorrow we are off to an acrobatic show.
We made it! It took us a little over 28 hours from the time we left our house in Wisconsin to the time we arrived at our hotel in Beijing.
The flight from Detroit to Tokyo was very long and crowded. Ben managed to sleep pretty well on the plane. The airline provided lots of food and snacks. The food was great! We had fresh fruit, pork fried rice, blueberry muffins, and orange juice for breakfast just before we arrived in Tokyo.
In Tokyo, we had a 50 minute layover, but were required to exit the plane, go through security, and get back on the same flight to continue on to Beijing. I assumed we'd be on the same plane, but they switched us to a smaller, newer plane for the last leg of our trip. As we exited the 747 in Tokyo, it was obvious why a new plane was preferable. It looked like our plane had hosted a frat party. There were crumbs on all the seats, everything looked stained and wrinkled and there was litter everywhere. Yet, with over 400 passengers, I was amazed at how smoothly everything went. Everyone was very courteous and quiet.
Ben opened his Halloween card from Grandma on the plane. He loved it and had lots of fun putting all the spooky stickers on the haunted house.
We arrived in Beijing at about 9:00 p.m. local time. The city is enormous. The population exceeds 15 million. Even from the air, it stretched to the horizon. As we flew in, Ben said, "Beijing is beautiful. It is even more beautifuler than I thought it would be!" Indeed, it was very pretty. There were many more colorful lights (blue, purple, red, orange, yellow and green) than are typical in American cities.
We had no trouble getting our luggage or getting through customs. As we left customs, we were greeted by a Starbucks, a KFC, and our guide, Joy. Joy is very friendly and knowledgeable. She speaks English well, and also speaks Mandarin and Cantonese. Jay quickly surprised her with his ability to speak a little Mandarin and Cantonese.
At the airport, Ben and I had our first brush with "squatty potties." The restroom had toilets and squatty potties. Each stall had an image outside of it to indicate what type of facility was inside. The "squatty potty" picture looked like a circle with two footprints on either side of it. Ben REALLY wanted to use the squatty potty, but alas, it was already in use and he settled for a traditional toilet. He's been on the lookout for a squatty potty ever since.
Our hotel is very nice. Our room is spacious and clean. I've heard many adoptive parents say the beds in China are very hard. It is difficult to comprehend just how hard until you experience it first hand. I would love to see a cross section of the mattress. I'm pretty sure it would include a layer of plywood with a 1/8-inch of padding on top. Nonetheless, after sitting up on various planes for 28 hours, the bed was heavenly and we all slept well until 7:00 a.m. this morning. We are adjusting well to the time change.
Today is a free day. So far we've eaten breakfast and walked to a local supermarket to buy snacks and water. The market was very interesting. The meat section had lots of meat I couldn't identify and all of it was displayed in the open on beds of ice. There were no display cases. There were also lots of products we have in the U.S. like Oreos, M&Ms, Ritz crackers and Coke.
On the way to and from the market, we saw lots of older people walking with little pet birds in cages. I noticed lots of people staring at Ben and pointing him out to their companions. A blond-haired little boy seems to be a real novelty. Ben said "zai jian" (good bye) to a group of young waitresses this morning as we left the restaurant. They all giggled and acted as though they'd never seen anything more cute in their lives.
Tomorrow we are off to an acrobatic show.
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