Today was our first day with the rest of the families from our adoption agency. We hopped on the our buses for an exciting day touring and our tour guide, Yong Fan, or Candy as she told us to call her, told us our first stop was a….Jade Factory Outlet Store? Seriously we went to the Jade Factory and had a very nice tour as well as an opportunity to buy lots of interesting jade items including Jade globes, jade pillows, jade sculptures and silk scarves. I don’t know why they were selling silk scarves and bolts of silk fabric, but they were.
After the Jade factory it was only a short drive to the Great Wall. And it was truly Great with a capitol G or is it capital G.
I won’t into all the facts and figures, that’s what wikipedia is for. But here are our some of our observations. First of all, footwear choices among some tourists makes you wonder if: A – some people like pain or B – some people are obviously clueless.
Yes that woman is hiking to the top of the great wall in a skirt and heels. She wasn’t alone, we saw several women who were victims of fashion, including one nice Belarussian lady who made it to the top, about twice as fast as we did. You can also see from the picture the worn steps from all the people clinging to the handrail trying to seek any help as they struggle through the wind and the cold to make it to the top, regardless of the pain, sweat and heavy breathing. Following up on an earlier observation, yes there apparently is Graffitti in China, it just appears to be somewhat less in your face than most tags in the U.S.
After much struggle, we finally made it to the top, although Catherine seemed concerned enough about me to take my camera. I think she just wanted to take a picture of me drenched in sweat, hunched over the safety rail just trying to draw a breath. And I’m not even a smoker. The number of people who were climbing today while smoking wearing only light coats and no gloves in the sub-freezing weather was apalling. The wind chill must have been O degrees up on the mountain, especially at the top. The picture below was taken before the going got really tough.
After summiting the wall, we sped back down en route to the tour bus trying not to trip over the the bazillion steps of different heights from 1 inch to 12 inches. We were of course the absolute last persons onto the bus and went from there to a nice lunch at a combo restaurant/friendship store. Once again after lunch we were politely told we’d have about 30 minutes to shop in the store. This seems to be an ongoing theme. Of course unlike the rest of China the factory and friendship stores have fixed prices, so things can seem a little, or a lot expensive depending on your viewpoint. We went from there and drove by the Oylmic village, in case you were unaware, Beijing is hosting the 2008 summer games. The National stadium shown below is nicknamed “Bird’s Nest”.
Our next step was an acrobatic’s show where we watched people perform feats of balance and strength, some of which were probably unnatural and I’m sure there must be painkillers involved because bodies just shouldn’t bend like that. Here we have some lions balancing on a ball, walking across a teter-totter board.
After another great meal, which you may guess was tasty, we were able to have a drink with Catherine’s cousin Bill.
He was in town on business as part of a whirlwind trip to India, China and Germany. We were able to share some stories about China, home renovation and parenting over a few beers. A great end to a great day. Tomorrow we’ll visit the summer palace and I don’t know where else. Goodnight. -t
L – 1 1/2 Days
raem77 
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Ann Schomer
Thom you look good! At least the women in the skirt had the good sence to wear nylons with her skirt and boots. I am working on Lili’s quilt as we speak.