Friday, December 11, 2009
A TOUR OF OLD CHONGQING
AND TRAVEL

Our flight today didn’t go out until almost 7:00 P.M. so we had some time this morning to tour one of the oldest parts of Chongqing. We took the tour bus to a place our guide referred to as porcelain city. We unloaded from the bus and headed through what looked to be some of the oldest standing housing left in Chongqing. After walking about a quarter of a mile we stumbled down some steps and into a very busy old style market place. There was shop after shop of all kinds of interesting things. Brandy got some Chinese knots. I got some opera masks.

My favorite two stores were side by side. A woodcarving store and a little magic shop. I saw three different people along the way performing one of the oldest magic tricks in the world, the Chinese linking rings. The first magic store we came to also had one of those old fashion whack-a-mole machines. The girls took turns whacking and they all had a great time.

At the center of the shops was a Buddhist temple. We got to the top of the steps and the girls lit some incense. There was a very cute young kitten on patrol at the top. I imagine it will be his job to keep the mice down. On the way down Amalie threw some water on the lucky frog and touched it. Sophie got a little freaked out at the top of the long stairs so I carried her down.

When we got back to the hotel we had a few hours to eat and get packed. Check out time was at 4:00 P.M. (after we got Opal’s passport at about 3:30 P.M.). We got some pastries just across from the hotel and brought them back to the room to eat. Before we knew it we were heading to the airport to leave Chongqing. Travel went very smoothly and was uneventful.

We met our guide Kelly at the airport here in Guangzhou. She was our guide when we got Amalie and we were glad to see a familiar face. Amalie went running to her and gave her a big hug when she saw her.

We were DOUBLE glad to get to the White Swan Hotel. It’s about 10 times nicer than the hotel we were in. We have a two room suite here to allow Brandy and I some privacy from the girls and to have enough beds. THANK GOD! I could stay here about a year, we just wouldn’t be able to afford it! Brandy was so happy to get to a clean, quiet hotel room that she said she almost cried from sheer joy.

Tomorrow we get the girl’s mandatory physicals and all the necessary immunizations. We will probably try to head to the Chinese National Puppet Theater in the afternoon. It’s nearing midnight here. Fessick needs to get some sleep!

We’ll be back to book writing tomorrow!

Brandy, Ted, Amalie, Opal and Sophie