Sightseeing

We arrived a little weary yesterday afternoon.  The time difference is exactly 12 hours ahead, but we were immediately meeting other adoptive families as we got off the  plane, so the excitement had surpassed the exhaustion as we chatted away. 

We finally checked into the hotel at 5, then out for a fast dinner, shower and a quick Skype with the kids before we sunk into bed.  By 5 am we were awake and ready to face a full day of taking culture and customs and sightseeing.

The breakfast buffet was huge and we easily got our fill while laughing at our first hours with some new friends.   We took a bus to walk Tian ' anmen Square and the Forbidden City which like an onion, its layers of walls and housings seemed endless.  We then took some rickshaws to the district of alleyways and had a late but scrumptious lunch in the private home of a family that are local prize winning pigeon racers.  -Who knew huh?  No pigeon was harmed for the preparation of our food.  

In the midst of all this, our 2 sweet agency guides answer all our cultural questions, teach us language phrases and fill our heads with the history of everything we are taking in.  

Tonight for dinner we roamed the local streets and saw things like scorpion on a stick ( fried or live), steaming dumplings, hard sugar glazed fruit and so many unidentifiable meats that overwhelmed the senses.  We wearily walked back to the hotel but stopped long enough to take in a Friday night dance party in a city square.  (Line dancing that is).  Interesting sights, smells and sounds.  Jet lag still hasn't fully let us go, we are getting to bed pretty early again.  Tomorrow is our last full day in Beijing then off to Maisie's province on Sunday.    

I am having a hard time connecting my pictures on to the blog for a few days.  Trying to get that worked out.  I will take some from my phone to put on tomorrow and keep seeing what I can do.