We are in China!

Thursday, Oct. 25

One lesson learned -- paying $150 a seat extra to get a few extra inches of leg room in Premium Economy on United is worth it. We only did it to get seats together on the way here; on the way back we are in regular Economy.

But for the important stuff -- we made it! Last night we had dinner with our friend Matthew, our guide who spent two weeks with us when I adopted Leah in 2000. I got to see him again when I adopted Caroline, and he visited us a few years ago when he was in the U.S. He now has a 15-month-old son who is adorable! We didn't get to meet the little guy because it was too late in the evening, but of course Matthew had a few photos to share. :)

It's 6 a.m. here. We will be heading down to breakfast soon, and meeting our guide for the day, who will take us to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. It's a beautiful day, to be 70 and sunny, so we are very fortunate.

6:30 p.m.
What a day! We spent the morning at the Forbidden City. I’ve walked through twice before, so it was not new to me, but I had hoped the girls would be impressed. They found our guide a bit hard to understand, though, and their attention wandered through much of the history lessons. Caroline did like one story about the emperor who slept in a different room of the palace every night, and could do so for 30 years since the palace had 9,999 and ½ rooms.

Then we drove out to the Great Wall, about 1.5 hours away. We had a nice lunch at a nearby restaurant, where Caroline worked to perfect her chopstick skills (and did quite well; Leah is already a pro). They’re being good about trying new foods, even if they don’t always decide they like them. Our guide recommended a spicy chicken dish that I loved, and Leah chose sesame balls that looked like the ones she has had at a local Chinese buffet. They were huge here and filled with a sweet bean paste. I loved them; she thought they were OK.

Then it was time to climb! We went a section of the Great Wall that had a cable car to the top but with my fear of heights I said no, we would walk. About halfway up the mountain I started to regret that! It was quite a climb to get to the actual Great Wall, which of course had been built along the mountain ridges to best protect against marauders. I was huffing and puffing while the girls ran – yes, ran – up the steps ahead of me. But I made it, and we managed to do all the obligatory pictures including, of course, handstands on the Great Wall. I'll post those once the girls have approved which photos had the proper form!

The smog was very bad, so the view was not what it could have been. But it was sunny and crisp fall weather, so we were grateful.

We had a more than two-hour ride back, thanks to traffic, and the girls immediately crashed in the hotel beds. We hoped to meet up with friends tonight but it doesn’t look like that will happen. We will see them in Guangzhou!

Tomorrow we fly to Nanning, where we will meet Caroline’s foster parents for dinner Friday night. Then we will have the entire day Saturday to explore Nanning. It will be nice to have one day of relaxation before we go to Guangzhou to meet Alex!