In the blink of an eye...........

Sunday August 5^th.  We once again started with the continental breakfast at the Beijing Holiday Inn.  This time though when we were done, we had to go back to our rooms and pack.  Our time in Beijing was coming to an end.  A few of our group members were to begin their local travel today.  We gathered in the lobby and said our good byes to those who’s journey parted us early.  Then Zhou said he had something special for we remaining 4 families.  When you lose a day like our group did, you lose the time to “see it all and do it all” and that’s a shame.  For some of us, this will be our only time there.  I’d like to think someday Scott, Emma Grace and I will return.  But there is no complaint.  We have enjoyed every minute of our visit and chuckled at the rest.  So we jumped back in our van and we were off! 

It would of course be hard to match the opportunity to visit one of the great wonders of the world – The Great Wall of China was a crazy experience. Not to mention our legs still hurt……..It would definitely have to be the #1 sightseeing experience.  But this…..this……comes a very 2^nd place.  A simple rickshaw ride. 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A75lXAb6GDI&feature=plcp

 

It was the best!  So much fun!  So much laughter!  So much beauty in the simplistic side of China.  The real side of China.  The hotels and popular tourist attractions have a western modern edge put to them, but during this ride we got to see and experience “China”! 

From traffic jams and near misses on the narrow streets – to crazy uncontrollable speeding turns, to the friendly smiling faces waving at the westerners cruising through their hood to the horns of other bikers wanted us to skoot.  This was an experience we shall never ever forget!

The all of a sudden the rickshaws stopped and Zhou told it was lunch time.  Zhou had set up an opportunity for us to enter a modest Chinese home, sit at their table and partake in the family meal.  Once again delicious!  The ladies showed us how to make dumplings.  They told us dumplings should be dunked in a mix of soy and vinegar.  The home was not like what we think of home.  The toilet was in the alley and shared by the community…..I’m going to say it more than likely was a squattie, but I did not explore.  After the meal and good byes and thank yous to the family, Zhou then walked with us down the streets explaining how much it is to live there and how many families live in each individual home.  Although extremely modest, they all had their own uniqueness about them.  China is such country filled with people who love the beautiful of simply elegance.  We got back on our rickshaws and continued on our journey to what appeared to us afterwards to be somewhat hidden.  Out of nowhere there was a gorgeous pottery factory.  We got to see how pottery was made and fired and got to enjoy much of its beauty.  On display were many vases from several dynasties.  Once out our van was waiting to take us to some local shopping and then………..off to the airport.  This is where our group parted completely.  We will meet up again in GZ for some squeaky shoe shopping, but it was now time to go to our children’s providence and receive them the following morning.  We were very lucky, Zhou boarded the plane to Shanghai with us and in approx.. 2 hours we were finally at the place we had thought about for so long.  The place  where on January 16, 2012 a lady named Karla told us of a little girl waiting there for a forever family she could call her own…………