Sunday, February 22, 2009

We started today with a tour of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. This area of town is very large, and beautiful. There are many different temples, and viewing areas. It is one of those things that you must experience in order to comprehend what it is truly like to be here. I know that I cannot do it justice with words, so I wouldn’t even try. Certainly the pictures that we took won’t be able too, not even the ones that we have that aren’t posted here.

We were then privilege to a local rickshaw ride for a tour of some century old living complexes – or back alley living quarters. The rickshaw driver that Jen and I had was a very petite man. Jen and I felt sorry for him biking around two larger Americans. We defiantly gave him a workout! The section of the housing complex we toured looked old and tattered, we learned that the people that lived here were considered to be on the wealthier end of the social order. To live in a housing complex such as what we saw is considered to be more desirable than apartment living.

As part of the tour we were invited into a local family’s dwelling. The lady of the residence showed us around her and her extended family’s living quarters – about 1000 square meters of total space, fairly large in comparison to government owned properties. She has opened her family’s residence so that people such as ourselves could learn more about the Chinese culture. We took some video this opportunity, you’ll have to see it to fully comprehend and appreciate the experience afforded our group during this tour.

During our Rickshaw tour, we also took part of a Tea Ceremony where we learned a little about ancient Chinese tea. They let us try three of China’s most famous teas, which were very distinctive in flavor and were all first-rate in their own way.

This evening we joined some others from our group for dinner. We chose to eat at the Jin Ya Du restaurant not too far from our hotel. We ordered quite a few dishes and shared what we ordered with each other. Two dishes were ordered that weren’t the same as the others - roasted duck being one of those and the other was sautéed eel with garlic. Jen and I both had some duck, but only three of the guys in our group were willing to try the eel. It was really good!

One thing that Jen and I have noticed is the large number of people that live in Beijing! There are people all over. It is amazing how everyone works together to get through the day. We are in a city of 16 million, but it seems that we are in a much smaller city.

We sent a package home today of cold weather items and gifts that we have bought for Addison that we will not need in Nanning! Sorry Nikki your coat is on a slow boat from China! The package is actually going to be on a ship delivered within the next three months. Currently Nanning temperature is 98 degrees F.!

Tomorrow is a big day for us! It is Gotcha Day! Jen and I are both very excited about this, maybe also a little nervous too! We can’t wait to post pictures of Addison!

Until tomorrow,

Jason and Jen