On to Wuhan

After breakfast this morning we met Ling Ling in the lobby and left for the airport. She helped get us checked in and went with us as far as security. The Beijing airport has a nice children's play area with toys and a TV showing Tom and Jerry cartoons that kept our kids busy during the wait for our flight to board. We were very impressed with China Eastern airlines. The plane was immaculate, they served us a nice lunch even on a short flight, and the service was wonderful.

We arrived in Wuhan at around 1:30, gathered our luggage, and met our next guide, Zoey. She seems very nice and helpful. We had about an hour's drive to our hotel, the Poly White Rose. The streets outside seem difficult to walk around, but the hotel itself is amazing. We got unpacked and settled in our room and then had dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. Our food came one plate at a time, very far apart (Elizabeth and Diane were finished before the rest of us had our food), but when it all finally came it was delicious.

The lobby of our hotel (www.wrhotel.com)

braided bamboo in the lobby

Amelia's crib came with stuffed animals and a child-sized bath robe. There are also a baby bath tub and a training potty in the bathroom.

Tomorrow we have the morning to relax, and then we will be meeting Zoey at 2:20 to head to the Civil Affairs Office where we will meet Amelia at 3:00!

More Beijing pictures

Here are a few more pictures from Beijing.

This is on the street outside the hotel.

This is the front of the Peninsula Hotel, directly across the street.

The lobby of our hotel, the Novotel Peace.

And this is the hotel restaurant where we enjoyed breakfast each morning, including yummy crepes with chocolate and raspberry!

Great Wall and Summer Palace

We met our guide Ling Ling in the lobby this morning at 8:30 to begin our tour of the Great Wall and Summer Palace. We went to the Mutianyu section of the wall, which has a cable car that takes you up to the wall and a toboggan sled you can ride down. We all really enjoyed this! The wall itself is absolutely magnificent. There is really no way the pictures can do it justice.

When we were finished at the wall, we had lunch at a Cloisonne factory. We were served chicken with peanuts, beef and onions, and sweet and sour pork, along with two vegetables. It was all good. Then we were given a brief tour of the different stages of making Cloisonne. It was quite interesting and gave us an appreciation for this type of craft. Of course, we also stopped in the showroom and came out with a few souveniers!

Our last stop was the Summer Palace, which was where the emperors stayed in the summer to escape the heat of the city. We took a dragon boat ride across Kunming Lake and walked through some beauiful places. By this time we were all tired, and Elizabeth had fallen sound asleep, so we didn't stay very long.

This evening we packed everything back into suitcases as we leave tomorrow for Wuhan. Here are a few things about Beijing:

• It is a very international city. Many signs are written in both Mandarin and English. There are many recognizable brands and stores.
• It is a beautiful city. There are large flower displays everywhere!
• It is an interesting mix of old and new, rich and poor. You can find very close together brand new buildings and buildings centuries old. Also, the area around our hotel is filled with stores such as Gucci and Cartier but we have also seen many beggars.
• The traffic is CRAZY! Apparently the lines on the roads are just suggestions.
• The people have been friendly and helpful, and we have enjoyed our stay here.

Off to Wuhan in the morning!

Orientation, Forbidden City, Silk Factory

We had an awesome breakfast this morning at the hotel buffet and then went to our agency orientation meeting. It was very helpful in learning what to expect over the next several days. We also were given a beautiful red book with an update on Amelia and two pictures we hadn't seen before.

After the meeting we had lunch at the hotel with the group. It was a 10-course Chinese lunch and the food was very good. We left shortly after lunch for some sight-seeing with the other Holt families and staff. Our first stop was Tiananmen Square. It is massive.

Then we spent some time touring the Forbidden City. This was built in the 1400's and was the home of the emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are over 900 buildings and more than 8000 rooms of the original 9999 still there. It was very impressive. It was also very hot and crowded, more so than usual due to the Dragon Boat holiday.

Our last stop was at a silk factory where we learned how the cocoons of silk worms are spun into silk for blankets and clothing. It was very interesting. We got to help stretch silk into a layer for a blanket, and the kids got to hold a silk worm. We bought a dress for Elizabeth, and she chose a doll dress to match.

We are going to go find some dinner and maybe walk down to Haagen-Dazs for ice cream tonight.

Travel pictures from yesterday

Here are some pictures from our trip yesterday. They uploaded in reverse order for some reason. . .

The little white plane moved very slowly across the screen!

Our gate at O'Hare for the flight to Beijing

Evan spent part of the flight plugged into the i-pad. It was a good thing!

McDonald's at O'Hare

Waiting for our flight from Peoria to Chicago

We've arrived!

We made it to Beijing and got checked into our hotel. The flight was smooth and we had no trouble making our connection -- praise the Lord! But can I just say that 13 hours is LONG!!! I dozed off for awhile and woke up thinking that the flight was perhaps half over. Nope. Nine hours left to go. Thankfully both kids slept for around four hours and have been great travelers. Our guide Ling Ling was at the airport to meet us, and all of our luggage made it as well. We are going to try to stay awake for awhile yet so we can sleep all night. At this point, we are so tired that I don't think that will be a problem!

Tomorrow we have our agency orientation at 9:00. Ling Ling said that there are three families here with Holt this week, so we have just a small group. We are looking forward to meeting the other families in the morning. Thank you all so much for your prayers!

And. . . we're off!

Our bags were all packed. . .

and loaded in the van. . .

and we got to the airport two hours early, only to find that our flight to O'Hare is delayed by over an hour! So we're still sitting here. Thankfully, we shouldn't have any problem still making our connection in Chicago. Please pray for that!