Beijing is more like manhattan. since it is the capital city, it is more touristy and business oriented. all of the large businesses in china have central offices there. We did go to the 700 year old neighborhood there. it is located about 5 km north of the forbidden city and tien en men square. did not realize that tien en men square is at the south entrance to the forbidden city. the forbidden city is where the emperor lived. the entire forbidden city is surrounded by a rectangular moat. it was frozen solid while we were there. you can check it out on google maps. that's what i did the night before we visited it. THere is a beautiful garden along the north end of the forbidden city. the cedar trees there are hundreds of years old.
once we got checked into our hotel in Guangzhou yesterday, our guide showed us around the block that our hotel is on. we took a short cut through a narrow alleyway and were in a residential area where there were 7 story apartment buildings. along the alleyway was nothing but a food market. lots of fruits and vegetables. some were not identifiable so we asked our guide what they were. the most interesting was the "stinky fruit". it was a large fruit (soccer ball size) that has pointy spikes all over it. she said that the hotels would not let us bring it back because of the terrible aroma. she said that it tastes good though. the stink is released when you cut it open so we did not get to experience that. we will take photos of the area and put them on the blog. they also had live seafood (shrimp and fish of all varieties, lobsters, clams, oysters, and some things we've never seen before). none of it was very touristy. they stared at our boys in amazement because of their hair and eye color. cayden had a shoe untied and one of locals pointed to it as we were walking and looked at me. i guess he was concerned for cayden's safety. so we stopped so cayden could tie his shoe.
Also went to an electronics store where the boys Bought two sets of beats headphones for $45 total. they seem to be authentic and work great. all the packaging was legit. what a bargain!
I woke up with tears running down my cheeks this morning at 4:30. cant believe we meet her today. hope I'm not a basket case.
Love yall,
Neal
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Be ready for more of those to come Neal. They are good tears. Tears of waiting, longing, hoping. Then tears of relief she is yours! We will be crying right here with you. Tatum was begging to stay up til gotcha time. I explained to her that you probably would not post right away and it would be just as exciting when she wakes up in the morning. We are thinking of you guys constantly today. Love, Kim
ReplyDeleteA word from Barry- He said, just wait until she comes through the door and you see her for the first time. She has been a part of your family for months now and you have waited for so long to finally see and hold her. In one moment she is there, your long lost daughter is home with her family forever. Be ready for it to hit you like a ton of bricks.
Kim again-Text us if you need to talk. Praying for Chelsea especially right now.