Sunday,
November 28, 2010
Jacqui has just left to catch her flight back to Shanghai,
so it’s just Mike and myself and the waiting moments…20 hours
and 37 minutes until we meet our Grace!!! It seems incredible
that after such a long wait the moment is almost here…
Enough of the pondering, here is what we have been up to today:
We had our guide Tracy take us on an excursion to the ancient
city of Pingyao, a 2000 year old walled city – beats anything we
have even in England! It was a beautiful, clear but cold day.
The journey took 2 hours and took us through the countryside of
Shanxi province – an industrial but fascinating landscape. The
rate and size of the building projects in China defies
description. Despite being Sunday, it seemed as if everyone was
working at something. The ancient city itself was beautiful and
if you have seen the movie “Raise the Red Lanterns” you will
know the kind of architecture to which I refer. 30,000 people
still live within the walls of this ancient place and so it is a
very busy place as well as very touristy. We had lunch in a
traditional Chinese restaurant and it was delicious. Desert was
potatoes roasted in sugar and of course lots of tea was served.
We are now relaxing back at the hotel and waiting for a phone
call from another American family who we know have checked in
today. They are also adopting tomorrow so it will be nice to
have someone else to share the experience with. I think the
locals are quite used to the sight of ‘westerners’ with their
new Chinese children.
Thanks for all the lovely posts on the guestbook. We are missing
you all today and thought particularly of our Ascension family
this morning celebrating the first day of Advent. Please pray
for Grace tomorrow – she is in for a huge change and we want it
to be as peaceful for her as possible.
Love you all, Margaret and Mike |
Shanxi Grand Hotel
The Ancient City of Pingyao
Red Lanterns in Pingyao |
