Sunday,
November 2, 2008
Today was another busy day. We started the day with an
international church service and then we were off to the
Jade Factory, where we learned how jade is carved and how
to determine quality in a piece of jade. The salesgirls
all followed Holt around the store, touching his skin and
hair and telling him how handsome he was. He’s going to
miss having an entourage when he gets back to the states!
After the jade factory we had a traditional Peking duck
dinner at a very nice restaurant. Then it was on to the
Great Wall, where Holt, Jamie and I managed to climb a
pretty impressive distance before collapsing and deciding
we’d had enough. Basically we climbed all the way to what
appeared to be the top, stopped to admire the view and pat
ourselves on the back, and then discovered there was more.
MUCH more… so, we didn’t make it to the very top after
all, it just kept going up and up and up. The tower you
see at the top of the photo, we climbed to the very top of
that tower. And then we looked out and realized there were
several more levels behind the tower. MeMe and Pa amused
themselves (and those around them!) while we climbed by
trying on the Emperor and Empress’ costumes and taking
photos. Don’t they look like Chinese royalty?
After our climb we went out to dinner and then went to see
the Chinese acrobat show, which was very impressive but
still failed to keep most of the group awake. We were all
so exhausted that most of us dozed at least a few times
during the show. Which was a shame since it really was an
awesome show.
We found out that we will be leaving at 6:50 in the
morning to take a train to Tianjin, where we will go
directly to the orphanage to meet Maili. We will take her
with us back to the hotel and check in after that.
Hopefully we will have good luck with internet service in
the new hotel so that we can post pictures after we get
her. Thanks to all of those who have been sending us
messages via the guest book, we have enjoyed reading
everyone’s comments and look forward to hearing from you
each day.
|
Holt is rubbing the jade Buddha hoping
for some good luck
Holt modeling his pendant he got
at the Jade Factory
When you're only halfway up you're
neither up nor down |
