Sunday, March 26, 2006

Less than 24 hours until Genevieve arrives in our arms. We are currently in the air flying from Beijing to Nanchang as I type this update. Jen has dozed off beside me. She still hasn’t adjusted to the time zone in China - she passed out at 9:00 PM last night and woke up at 2:00 AM this morning. It is only going to get worse when Vivi is with us.

We checked out of the Hotel New Otani this morning. Goodbye super high water pressure - Taking a shower was like standing under a fire hose - China must not have flow restricter valves. We drove to the Great Wall of China after checking out. On the way we stopped at a Jade Factory/Store. The Chinese are very good at showing us their craftsmanship, explaining the work that goes into each item, and then showing us the store.

We then drove 50 minutes up through the mountains that surround Beijing to Badaling. The mountains are dry like the ridges in California but much more steep and rugged. It is hard to believe a Great Wall was needed to keep the Mongol and Hun horsemen out of China. You can see the narrow terraces that the Chinese government had the people carve out of the steep mountain slopes during the Cultural Revolution in order to farm all available land. After they realized you couldn’t grow crops in the rocks, they planted trees for reforestation. You can still see beautiful pink blossom apricot tress dot the rocky slopes among the green scrub bushes.

The Great Wall of China is an awesome sight & engineering wonder. It winds up and down steep ridges and is massive - 4 horses could ride side by side on the walkway on top of the wall. The portion of the wall we were on was over 600 years old. Jen and I climbed to the first watchtower - It wasn’t so bad going up even through the steps are steep, worn from 600 years of travel, and uneven. The climb back down was more tricky - you had to be very careful not to stumble on the uneven steps and tumble down over 100 feet of stairs. The watchtowers and beacons also were neat to look at and go into. I imagined myself as a cold and lonely foot soldier (couldn’t desert or my entire family would be killed) staring out at the steppes of Inner Mongolia ready to run to the fire and light the beacon if an enemy army was sighted.

After the Great Wall, we stopped at a pottery shop and friendship store for lunch. Again lunch was extremely good especially the dumplings, spicy chicken, and sweet and sour chicken - I never thought I would like authentic Chinese food so much (Except for the steamed cabbage and other vegetables). Then we visited the Panda Bears at the zoo in Beijing. One of them came out and did tricks for food and paced all around the enclosure as if he knew he was putting on a show.

We finished our tour of Beijing by visiting the Summer Palace. This large park was the summer retreat for the Emperor when Beijing got too hot in the summer. The Dragon Empress (Dowager XiXi) who essentially ruled China for her young son and young nephew in the late 1800's especially enjoyed the Summer Palace.

We wanted to say how much we appreciated our guide throughout Beijing, “Anthony”. We learned so much about not only Chinese history, but also about Chinese culture from a common person today, such as the effects of the one child policy, adoption in China, the political changes in China, and the family social structure in China. Thank you, Anthony (Yan Si Jun)!!!!

When we arrived at the Beijing airport to depart for Nanchang, we finally got to meet up with our travelmates. We didn’t geta chance to talk with them much yet since we had been touring all day, and they had been traveling all day. We have now arrived at our hotel, and we decided ahead of time to arrange for a suite since the first week may be very emotional and difficult to manage....even more so in a tiny hotel room. Let me just say–HOLY COW!!!!! The room is beautiful, huge, and has a huge window overlooking the Gan River. Well, it’s late here, and tomorrow......WE MEET OUR DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!! Wish me (Jen) luck in actually getting some sleep tonight.

Until Tomorrow,

Karl & Jen