Friday afternoon… We really enjoyed the day of touring, starting with Tianemen Square and the Forbidden City. Lisa met us in the hotel lobby after we enjoyed the breakfast buffet here in our hotel. (I can understand about 75% of what she says!) We did take the typical tourist-y pics and it was amazing. The funny part was how Sara and Lauren were like celebrities – lots of Chinese people wanting to take a picture with them (and a few with all of us!). There were not very many Americans (foreigners) there, so we were quite obvious! Lots of school age children that looked to be on a field trip would point at the girls and get their friends to look at them! Sara and Lauren handled it well and were fine with all the attention!
One of the interesting things we realized today was that there were a lot of Chinese tourist groups from other provinces at the Forbidden City. It was sort of like Americans visiting NYC! Lisa said that seeing Americans in Beijing was not that unusual, but a lot of people from other parts of China may have never seen Americans (or blonde hair). That was part of their fascination with us! One group of boys wanted a picture with Doug. After they posed with him, one boy handed Doug a small Chinese flag and said, “Welcome to China.” Lisa said that children begin English lessons in Kindergarten and are always eager to practice when they see Americans. Most of them would say “hello” or “hi” to us. We said “nee-how” quite a few times and attempted to say thank you in Chinese. Pronounced “see see-ah”. That is about all we know! Glad we have a guide!
Next, we took the van with Lisa to the “hutongs” (not sure of spelling), or narrow streets. We rode in two rick-shaws to a “regular family’s” house for lunch. At first, I thought I had misunderstood Lisa when she said that (part of the 25% that I didn’t understand!), but she was right! The thought of eating at someone’s home made us all a little nervous; I could tell by the looks that the girls gave me. It turned out to be the high point of the day! The ride was fun (a little adventurous), but amazing to see what is considered a “regular house” in the city. The food was a lot like food we might have at a Chinese restaurant and we had bottled water. We left a “generous” tip and the hostess (lady of the house) was handing us bottled water as we left. Everyone was waving to us as we rode through the streets of the “neighborhood”. This was such a surprise that we got to do this and see how “real life” is for many families!
After that we made 2 more stops, the Panda Exhibit at the Beijing Zoo and a Pearl Market. We saw about 5 Pandas (no babies). The funniest thing we noticed was how the small children were wearing split pants and no underwear. We were aware of the split pants, but I thought that was just to make changing their diaper easier – but there was no diaper! It made us all chuckle to see these little kids walking around with their teeny-tiny booties for the world to see! They certainly didn’t seem to mind! As we left the zoo, we bought some Popsicles; one flavor choice was green bean! We chose chocolate and lemon. We passed on the green bean!
The pearl market was fairly high pressure, and we did buy 3 necklaces (one for each of our girls)! They are pretty and are our main souvenir from Beijing!
We did venture out a little on our own (since we finished b’fast at 6:30 AM) and found a market to buy some bottled water and Cokes. Since Doug and Lauren had gotten up so early (3 AM) they had gotten a Diet Coke and a Sprite out of the mini-bar in the room. Lauren told me later that “Daddy had to taste this one to make sure it was Sprite, not beer.” The can looked like Sprite, but he wasn’t sure! Luckily, it was Sprite! We bought a replacement for the mini-bar for 2 yuan (about 8 per dollar) each; the ones in the mini-bar were 20 yuan. About the same mark-up as an American hotel! We did see a guy asleep in a cart behind a bike (well, at least we hope he was asleep) and took his picture.
We are going to McD’s tonight. We aren’t tired of the Chinese food, but just don’t want to overdo it. We have no idea if we will be able to find any “American food” in Xi’an (Ally’s province). (Just took a 2 hour nap – forced ourselves to wake up and go to the pool!)…
One of the interesting things we realized today was that there were a lot of Chinese tourist groups from other provinces at the Forbidden City. It was sort of like Americans visiting NYC! Lisa said that seeing Americans in Beijing was not that unusual, but a lot of people from other parts of China may have never seen Americans (or blonde hair). That was part of their fascination with us! One group of boys wanted a picture with Doug. After they posed with him, one boy handed Doug a small Chinese flag and said, “Welcome to China.” Lisa said that children begin English lessons in Kindergarten and are always eager to practice when they see Americans. Most of them would say “hello” or “hi” to us. We said “nee-how” quite a few times and attempted to say thank you in Chinese. Pronounced “see see-ah”. That is about all we know! Glad we have a guide!
Next, we took the van with Lisa to the “hutongs” (not sure of spelling), or narrow streets. We rode in two rick-shaws to a “regular family’s” house for lunch. At first, I thought I had misunderstood Lisa when she said that (part of the 25% that I didn’t understand!), but she was right! The thought of eating at someone’s home made us all a little nervous; I could tell by the looks that the girls gave me. It turned out to be the high point of the day! The ride was fun (a little adventurous), but amazing to see what is considered a “regular house” in the city. The food was a lot like food we might have at a Chinese restaurant and we had bottled water. We left a “generous” tip and the hostess (lady of the house) was handing us bottled water as we left. Everyone was waving to us as we rode through the streets of the “neighborhood”. This was such a surprise that we got to do this and see how “real life” is for many families!
After that we made 2 more stops, the Panda Exhibit at the Beijing Zoo and a Pearl Market. We saw about 5 Pandas (no babies). The funniest thing we noticed was how the small children were wearing split pants and no underwear. We were aware of the split pants, but I thought that was just to make changing their diaper easier – but there was no diaper! It made us all chuckle to see these little kids walking around with their teeny-tiny booties for the world to see! They certainly didn’t seem to mind! As we left the zoo, we bought some Popsicles; one flavor choice was green bean! We chose chocolate and lemon. We passed on the green bean!
The pearl market was fairly high pressure, and we did buy 3 necklaces (one for each of our girls)! They are pretty and are our main souvenir from Beijing!
We did venture out a little on our own (since we finished b’fast at 6:30 AM) and found a market to buy some bottled water and Cokes. Since Doug and Lauren had gotten up so early (3 AM) they had gotten a Diet Coke and a Sprite out of the mini-bar in the room. Lauren told me later that “Daddy had to taste this one to make sure it was Sprite, not beer.” The can looked like Sprite, but he wasn’t sure! Luckily, it was Sprite! We bought a replacement for the mini-bar for 2 yuan (about 8 per dollar) each; the ones in the mini-bar were 20 yuan. About the same mark-up as an American hotel! We did see a guy asleep in a cart behind a bike (well, at least we hope he was asleep) and took his picture.
We are going to McD’s tonight. We aren’t tired of the Chinese food, but just don’t want to overdo it. We have no idea if we will be able to find any “American food” in Xi’an (Ally’s province). (Just took a 2 hour nap – forced ourselves to wake up and go to the pool!)…
5 comments:
Do you just feel like you need to pinch yourself? I look at your pictures, and I so excited that you are really there!
AND, are you going nuts just thinking she is soooo close to you now??? Can you feel that she is near you? It's like you are beginning to have contractions yet it is not yet time to go to the hospital, and we are all waiting with you!
Good morning or Good Evening! I am glued to the Bloglines waiting for updates :D This is amazing! I understand how you must have felt when we were in China! I am so glad that you got to go to a regular families home ~ what an incredible experience! I love all the pictures but still ~ I'll be uo bright and early on Sunday to see Ally's beautiful face!
Love ya,
Debbie
What an amazing day for all of you! Can't stop checking on you!
Hugs,
Sheryl
Hi guys!
We are loving following your journey. We can't wait. Thanks for going "before" so we know what to expect. Loved the pictures of Sara and Lauren with all the Chinese children. Wonder if they think "Big Doug" is a famous American athelete!!
One more day and she is in your family!! Welcome home Ally. We can't wait for you to be an official Harkness! Chad took the kids to swim team so I could have a break and get the house ready for a business party we are having here tonight. As soon as they get home, they will be glued to the computer. We love ya'll.
Melissa
Aw c'mon...you didn't try the grean bean popsicle? ;) Thanks for taking the time to share some of the details of the trip; I'm eating it up. Impatiently waiting (as you are, I'm sure!) to hear details about tomorrow, though!
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