It's Saturday night, September 4, Beijing time, and we're back at our hotel room after a long day of sight seeing. We're exhausted. Here's a brief update on the last few days...
Travel to Beijing went fine. Arrived late Thursday night, slept a little in the airport terminal, flew to Xi'an Friday morning. Saw the Terra Cotta warriors (quite impressive) and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Flew back to Beijing after 5 hour flight delay due to storms. Arrived at hotel at 4:00 am Saturday morning. In bed at 5:30 am, up at 7:30 am for breakfast. Met group at 8:30, left to see Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, pearl store, Summer Palace, and silk store. Had yummy Chinese food in between. Sunday we'll go to church, see the Great Wall, go to a jade store (shopping seems to be a popular activity for these adoption groups), see an acrobat show, and pack for our flight Monday morning which will take us to Jianxi province to pick up Alexis!
Here's more detail for those that would like it...
We arrived in Beijing around 11:30 pm Thursday night. Customs was uneventful. After getting our luggage we found that the airport sleeping rooms were all taken and decided to find a bench to sleep on for a few hours while waiting for our early morning flight to Xi'an. Flew to Xi'an after a one hour delay on the tarmac. Was met by a driver and tour guide. Stopped at a business where they make Terra Cotta Warrior statues (everyone wants you to shop, shop, shop!). Went to site of Terra Cotta Warriors. It's huge. Archeological sights were impressive, but not as many statues were restored as we expected. Drove to and toured grounds of Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a famous Buddhist site. Drove by famous Xi'an city wall (Xi'an has around 7 million citizens), and then back to the airport for 8:50 pm flight. Storms came in, so we were delayed until 1:50 am. At least they didn't cancel our flight. We arrived in Beijing around 3:20, were met by a driver, picked up our luggage that we had stored at the terminal, and drove to the Radisson Hotel. We checked in around 4:00 am and were glad to finally see a bed. The hotel is very, very nice. Got two hours of deep sleep and then had to get up to get breakfast. Met Sherry, our Beijing guide, who briefed us on the day's activities. Met our group members at 8:30 and departed on a bus for sightseeing. It was amazing to be at Tiananmen Square and to see the Forbidden City, which was more expansive than we could ever have imagined. There were people everywhere sightseeing, many of them Chinese from other provinces. It was quite hot - probably in the upper 80s. We were constantly drinking bottled water.
We had a very nice lunch at a nearby restaurant and then went to a pearl store for shopping. Next we went to the Summer Palace grounds, which were very beautiful. We stopped at a silk store, went to dinner for Peking Duck, took pictures of the Bird's Nest stadium built for the Olympics, then back to the hotel. Sunday is another full day of activities and then we fly out early Sunday morning to Jianxi province to get Alexis!
It's amazing to be in China. We keep pinching ourselves and try our best to enjoy every moment. Beijing is huge (around 20 million people), and very impressive.
We have met all the other group members and they are very nice. It has been interesting hearing their stories and getting to know them. Monday is going to be a very emotional day.
That's all for now, we need to get some sleep.
Travel to Beijing went fine. Arrived late Thursday night, slept a little in the airport terminal, flew to Xi'an Friday morning. Saw the Terra Cotta warriors (quite impressive) and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Flew back to Beijing after 5 hour flight delay due to storms. Arrived at hotel at 4:00 am Saturday morning. In bed at 5:30 am, up at 7:30 am for breakfast. Met group at 8:30, left to see Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, pearl store, Summer Palace, and silk store. Had yummy Chinese food in between. Sunday we'll go to church, see the Great Wall, go to a jade store (shopping seems to be a popular activity for these adoption groups), see an acrobat show, and pack for our flight Monday morning which will take us to Jianxi province to pick up Alexis!
Here's more detail for those that would like it...
We arrived in Beijing around 11:30 pm Thursday night. Customs was uneventful. After getting our luggage we found that the airport sleeping rooms were all taken and decided to find a bench to sleep on for a few hours while waiting for our early morning flight to Xi'an. Flew to Xi'an after a one hour delay on the tarmac. Was met by a driver and tour guide. Stopped at a business where they make Terra Cotta Warrior statues (everyone wants you to shop, shop, shop!). Went to site of Terra Cotta Warriors. It's huge. Archeological sights were impressive, but not as many statues were restored as we expected. Drove to and toured grounds of Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a famous Buddhist site. Drove by famous Xi'an city wall (Xi'an has around 7 million citizens), and then back to the airport for 8:50 pm flight. Storms came in, so we were delayed until 1:50 am. At least they didn't cancel our flight. We arrived in Beijing around 3:20, were met by a driver, picked up our luggage that we had stored at the terminal, and drove to the Radisson Hotel. We checked in around 4:00 am and were glad to finally see a bed. The hotel is very, very nice. Got two hours of deep sleep and then had to get up to get breakfast. Met Sherry, our Beijing guide, who briefed us on the day's activities. Met our group members at 8:30 and departed on a bus for sightseeing. It was amazing to be at Tiananmen Square and to see the Forbidden City, which was more expansive than we could ever have imagined. There were people everywhere sightseeing, many of them Chinese from other provinces. It was quite hot - probably in the upper 80s. We were constantly drinking bottled water.
We had a very nice lunch at a nearby restaurant and then went to a pearl store for shopping. Next we went to the Summer Palace grounds, which were very beautiful. We stopped at a silk store, went to dinner for Peking Duck, took pictures of the Bird's Nest stadium built for the Olympics, then back to the hotel. Sunday is another full day of activities and then we fly out early Sunday morning to Jianxi province to get Alexis!
It's amazing to be in China. We keep pinching ourselves and try our best to enjoy every moment. Beijing is huge (around 20 million people), and very impressive.
We have met all the other group members and they are very nice. It has been interesting hearing their stories and getting to know them. Monday is going to be a very emotional day.
That's all for now, we need to get some sleep.
Thanks for taking the time to post. Sounds like you are short on sleep but high on energy and excitement. Can't wait to see pictures of Lexy!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the blog update! I have been checking it often to see how things are going :). I am so excited for you guys about getting to see your little girl tomorrow! I can't wait to see pictures of you guys holding her :)! Praying for you!!!
ReplyDeleteCousins Jennifer, Jeff and Evie