A Day in Beijing

We arrived! Our international flight was delayed because the air conditioner on the plane was broken. It was an hour late, which was a bummer. The good news was that one of my adoption friends was on the same flight, so we got to chat for quite a while! My daughter got motion sickness on the plane and was miserable for 8 hours of the flight. Poor thing! We landed and all was well, though. Our luggage arrived, which was such a relief! We got to our lovely hotel, the Marriott Renaissance, later than we wished. We didn't get to bed until about 11:30 pm. I was so tired, but could not sleep most of the night. I don't know why! I was so annoyed with myself!

We met our guide at 8:30 am in the lobby. It rained all night long, so it was not too hot luckily! It continued to drizzle on us for most of our visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, but I'd rather have rain than heat any day!

Here we are at Tiananmen Square.

In front of the Forbidden City

 Hoping for good luck!

 Inside Forbidden City. Last time we were here I was fascinated with all the history. This time the kids get bored with all the talk of symbolism, so I find my mind wandering with theirs! I'm glad I recorded so much last time!

 Once we got into the heart of the Forbidden City, I found it quite hysterical how many people were interested in taking pictures of the kids. They were trying to be discreet, but they failed big time. We just laughed and laughed as dozens of people acted like they were taking pictures of something in the distance, but had their phones pointed right at the kids! A few times Quin said, "Want a picture? Here!' and would pose us all. They LOVED it when he did that! Haha! After a few hours of this, my son said, "I love China! I'm famous here!"

 The Forbidden City still captivates me. It is overwhelmingly ornate and beautiful.

With such a long day of site-seeing, my daughter and I inevitably had to face a few "squatty potties". She was terrified to try and we had our first culture shock break down moment, but she faced her fears and conquered the squat. Haha! Tomorrow, however, I need to remember to pack toilet paper. Oops.

 The garden at Forbidden City.

 The exit. I loved the Buddhist temple on top of the hill last time, and I loved it again! So gorgeous!

 After the Forbidden City, we went to the most amazingly delicious lunch! It makes my mouth water just thinking about it! A few things I'd forgotten about China: the food is more incredible than I'd remembered, the traffic is I N S A N E, cars have the right-of-way, then scooters, then bikes, then pedestrians, and to cross the street is to take your life in your hands, nearly everyone smokes, and people love to stare.

 After lunch we took a rickshaw ride to the Hutang neighborhood. Hutang is a very old, historic neighborhood. There is no running water, and it was so interesting to see how people live there!

 This was in front of the door of what would have been a rich person's residence, specifically someone related to the Emperor. Today it's a business.

 We got to go visit one of the homes in Hutang. It was small and quaint and quite charming! These gigantic crickets are hung at the entrance for good luck. The first thing I thought was how much it reminded me of Mulan!

 Inside the living room. The furniture is all several hundred years old! Crazy!

 This is the lady who lives in the house. She was playing this instrument for us. She told us the name in Chinese, but I can't remember what it is!

 A shot of some of the furniture.

 After Hutang, we went to see the Temple of Heaven. There was this gorgeous bride and groom getting their pictures taken. So fun!

After the Temple of Heaven, we headed straight to the Acrobat show. It was SO amazing! The kids loved it! It hit me in the show, though, that I was absolutely dead tired. I could not keep my eyes open! I need to get to bed, so hopefully this post makes sense! We're headed to the Great Wall tomorrow along with the Summer Palace. It's sure to be another busy but fun day! All day today the kids kept saying, "I can't believe we're actually in China!" It's crazy! We're here!!