Touring Beijing

2/19/05

We knew we were in trouble this morning when our guide, Michael, told us that today was going to be the coldest day of the year in Beijing. I really had no idea what we were in for. The high was 22F, but the windchill made it feel like zero! We toughed it out though. How many chances do you get to experience the diverse history and culture of Beijing, China? Michael is a history teacher at a local community college, so you can imagine how much we learned. It was a great experience.

We started out at the Forbidden City. It was a very looong, coooold tour, but fascinating. We then stopped briefly at the Temple of Heaven. It was a beautiful place, but it's very sad that so many people in China are worshiping a god that does not exist (I'll save the sermon for another time). Our last stop was the Summer Palace, which is located about 40 minutes from downtown. The palace sat high on a hill overlooking a huge lake. It was an amazing place, but even colder that the sites in Beijing, so we only stayed long enough to get a picture or two. And yes, we've added more photos (see the "Touring Beijing" album in the photos folder).

We stopped for a delicious meal at a local Chinese restaurant. Grandmother was quite entertaining when she took a sip of her large glass of apple juice and it turned out to be Chinese beer! After that I had a hard time getting the "apple juice" away from Sonya:)

Finally, we stopped by the pearl market. Ben was asked to select an oyster from an aquarium. When the curator opened the oyster shell there were at least 20 pearls inside! She even gave Ben and Drew a couple of them to keep. I got the whole thing on video.

Tonight we plan on visiting the local shopping center and maybe eating some McD's or KFC. Tomorrow we will check out the Great Wall. Something tells me we won't be going on a log trek though.

Today was good for us in that it kept our minds off the real reason we are here; otherwise, I'm sure we would be going our of our minds waiting for Gotcha Day. I am so glad we brought the boys. They are learning so much about what a blessing it is grow up in America. On the way back to the hotel, Michael told us about all the things he could and could not do in China that we freely do every day in the U.S.A. I'll never understand why God has shown our family so much grace and favor, but I'm forever grateful!

God bless you all and tsai jian for now.

Jeff, Sonya, Drew, Ben and Grandmother