June 20, 2008
THE GREAT WALL
We have been anticipating this day as long
as we have been anticipating meeting Ellie Lu.
When you decide to adopt from China you then
dream of certain things…after meeting your
child you dream of climbing the Great Wall…one
of the 7 wonders of the world. I even trained
for the last 6 months so that I might have the
strength and stamina to climb to the highest
peak. This was an amazing day.
We woke up bright and early and had our first
breakfast in China and were met by most of our
travel group. The breakfast was great…so much
to choose from the banana bread was fab…omelets,
fried rice, sausage; fresh squeezed orange
juice, milk and great bread. Now mind you
there were so many “unconventional/un-western”
things but I did not partake in the “unknown”
and won’t mention them here other than to say
I think I saw a cricket this morning…lightly
toasted and maybe a few of his cousins too. We
filled our tummies on those familiar things we
know and love and then prepared for a big day.
We gathered in the lobby and met Iris the Holt
rep and our tour guide?. We boarded the bus
and you could hear the cameras flashing as
each of us eagerly tried to capture everything
we saw and heard…our journey was live and in
color right before our eyes. We traveled
through Beijing and then a few small villages
and then we could see in the distance the
Great Wall. We did not go to the most popular
point were most gather but a more remote area
that was just lovely, it almost felt like we
had discovered it. The heat was sweltering, as
we topped the mountain there was still a haze
over the area…very humid.
As we left the bus we were reminded of our
aggressive the vendors are and various points
to consider. We walked up a path…large hill
that was lined with vendors wanting our every
penny. “Lady, hey lady you want a silk
tablecloth?”…”Look 1 dollr, only 1 dollr” We
then took a 4 person tram to the top and then
could decide whether to go left the hard route
or left the very hard route. We chose left…and
off we went. We walked until the peak and
really did not have time or energy to climb
the last peak a few in our group did. We made
it back to the tram with many pictures and so
many visions in our mind and very tired and
hot. When we exited the tram in our tired
stupor…the aggressive vendors started and they
got me. We bought a tshirt for something like
$30 dollars and a nice picture of the Great
Wall for I think $50. In hindsight…they should
have been like $10 and $15 at most…oh well
they got me. We did get the most delicious
cold drinks at the bottom very large Sprites,
best ever.
Without going into detail we were blessed with
some closure regarding our first referral of
Yi Ke Qun, we now know why the would not allow
us to continue with the adoption of her…we had
peace already but now know we were guided down
the right path and that all along Bo Juan was
the child that was meant to be our daughter.
We boarded the bus for lunch…we had lunch as a
group and they brought all kinds of creations
to the table…most memorable my very large
sprite that I paid 20 Yuan for and drank the
whole thing myself. Note, in China there are
no FREE refills, you pay for every drink
similar to Europe and the glasses are like
“shot” glasses very small. After lunch we
toured a Cloisonné factory and learned how it
was made. We also bought a snake (me), horse
(Mel) and Pig (Ellie Lu) Cloisonné animals to
put in our curio cabinet.
After the Cloisonné’ factory we visited the
Hutong Lane and were able to ride the rickshaw
and then have tea with a local family…a very
full day indeed. When we arrived back at our
room we had a leak and had to move…what else
is new right? Then we had room service and
readied ourselves for bed. Another big day
tomorrow. |
Copy of The Cloissane Factory
Hutong Lane and Architecture
Our Hotel and Traveling to the Great Wall
The Cloissane Factory |
