Beijing Take 2

So...let me preface all of this by saying this time around while in country, our Internet connections were slow, and I had lots of troubles while trying to blog so I kept an ongoing journal so that one day, (4 months after being home,) I could post about our travel adventures as we brought home our little bug!

Monday, April 04, 2016

The last few days have been a whirlwind!  We arrived Saturday afternoon to Beijing and walked to a nearby mall for the Mister’s birthday dinner.  A great way to spend a birthday, right?  On a plane for half of it!  We got a decent night’s sleep and left bright and early on Sunday to visit the Great Wall.  It was amazing!  It was a perfect day, with no clouds (or smog,) and a perfect temperature too.  It was especially beautiful because all of the Cherry Blossom trees are in bloom.  We spent a little over an hour on the wall, but we probably could’ve stayed up there all day if our guide wasn’t waiting for us for lunch. To get down off the wall, we chose to take the toboggan ride, which was also really fun.  The Mister would’ve preferred to go a little faster, but the man in front of him didn’t share that desire so we poked along!  It was still nice though!  

Have you ever seen such a blue sky in Beijing?  It was perfect!!!

Graffiti wall inside of one on of the wall towers.  I thought it was beautiful.

Total tourist alert!

  Once we got back to Beijing, our guide drew us a map of how to get from our hotel to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City...because seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the World in one day just wasn't enough for us.  Totally kidding!  Anyway, the square was really busy since this weekend is a holiday weekend here because Tomb Sweeping Day is on Monday.  We didn’t go in the Forbidden City since it was later in the day and all of the tickets had been sold, but it was still cool to see!  We got laughed at by more Chinese people than I would care to admit as we were taking a selfie with our brand spanking new selfie stick on Tienanmen Square, trying to catch the Forbidden City in the background.  It was painfully evident that we were selfie stick rookies, which is an art that the Chinese have mastered for decades….or at least a few years ;) 

The Mister looking cool at 'The Square

 From there, we walked to the snack street, which is a famous place where you can buy street foods.  We saw starfish, sea urchin, spiders, snakes, and pigeons.  Yum-my!  We stuck with our potato on a stick!  

How adventurous, right?

 On Monday, we flew to Xining, which is the city where our little lady currently lives.  I’m happy to report it was an uneventful plane ride, which is the kind I like, especially after our last domestic flight experience in China, which you can read about it here.  The highlight of the flight was that I sat next to a Tibetian monk on the plane!  We tried to take a sneaky photo, but it turns out I’m just not all that sneaky, so it was a picture taking fail!  We are now safe and sound in Xining, and settled into our gorgeous hotel!  We have a little suite with a living area and mini kitchen, a HUGE walk through closet with a washing machine, (adoptive parents swoon over those,) and two bathrooms!  Whoo hooo!!!  Xining is a beautiful city high in the mountains.  It’s elevation is actually higher than that of Denver.  You can tell we are high up, as the mornings are quite cool and it takes the entire day for it to warm up!  Tomorrow morning we will meet our little princess!  We are so excited and can’t wait!