Goodbye Chengdu

Hi

On the plane getting ready to go to Nanchang for the orphange visit.
Chengdu was nice. Of course seeing the pandas was a highlite. Last nite
we were also treated to a spectacular fountain/light show at a park not far
from our hotel.

Today we fly to Nanchang, then drive to Jiujiang, where Christine was born.
Our travel group/friends have all split up to go our seperate ways. We
will meet up with our main guide and one other family in Shanghai, then fly
home.

The orphanage part should be emotional. Got to go now. More later.

Rob
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Sent by Rob Beal from my Blackberry handheld

Terra Cotta Warriors

Ni Hao;

Today we visited the TC Warriors. The site was unexpectedly large. Twenty
six square miles. The first emperor who unified China over 2000 years ago
wanted lots of help in the afterlife, so he had over 8000 lifesize warrior
figures, plus armor and weapons made, then put them underground for his
tomb. The existence of this was kept a secret and only discovered in 1974
when a farmer was digging a well and got a suprise!

The chinese have done a great job creating mamoth buildings to house and
display the excavations.

Today when we visited it was raining very hard, so we all got wet. This
was a huge improvement over being wet from sweating our b__tts off! Temp
was mid 80's. Ate at a hotel restruant near the site and watched an
artisan give a noodle making demonstration. Basically took dough, rolled
it up and stretched it out, doubled it up, stretched, repeat until he ended
up with spaghetti sized noodles. Very kool. Unfortunately, our cameras
were on the bus, so no pics or video.

Toinite we see a presentation of Tang dynasty dance and afterward the girls
get to pose with a dancer. They will be dressed to the nines in
traditional chinese dresses for the occassion. Should be fun.

Tommorrow we fly to Chengdu to see the pandas. More adventures!

More later.
Rob
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Sent by Rob Beal from my Blackberry handheld

Beijing

Hi everyone;

We left Beijing last night (friday nite here) and boarded a sleeper train
for Xi'an.

Beijing was fun. We saw all the usual sites, Temple of Heaven, Forbidden
City, Great Wall, Tienanmen square. Denise and I had seen these when we
came before on our adoption journeys, but it was fun to see them with the
kids. Both of them agreed that the Great Wall was the best.

Christine and Lily have both made friends with the other girls in the
group. There is one 11 yo boy who seems to be enjoying being the only male
in that age grp. Christine has suprised us by trying some new foods
without being forced.

All in all a great trip so far. The only downside has been the heat and
the crowds. Also, air quality has been poor. Lots of smog.

The sleeper train was fun, even tho we didn't really sleep too well and the
bathrooms were smelled horrible!

It is great seeing something new (to us) in Xi'an. Its a medium sized
city, only 8mil people. Today we saw a 700 year old Budist pagoda, an art
museum and a Chinese muslim mosque. Tommorrow we go to see the Terra Cotta
warriors.

Only able to post via email right now due to chinese govt blocking inet
access to blogs. Makes no sense to me, but there you go. Will post more
from my bberry later.

Rob

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Sent by Rob Beal from my Blackberry handheld

Test post

Hi

We've been in China 3 days now and having a great time. We can't get to
the blog site from a regular browser so we are trying email to post.

Hope this works!

More later if it does.

Rob
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Sent by Rob Beal from my Blackberry handheld

Almost Ready

Just packing. Seems like it is easier than when going to get a baby, but still not much fun. All those "just in case" items - antibiotics, Immodium, rain gear, gifts for translators & officials, etc. At least the weather is all one temperature - consistently HOT across all areas we will be going to, with some monsoon like rains in Chengdu.

The girls are most looking forward to seeing the Great Wall & the pandas. Lily's goal is to walk the length of the Great Wall - she doesn't quite comorehend that 2000 miles might be a little far for her. And Christine is looking forward to playing with babies in the orphanage where we will be volunteering our first day in Beijing. We will not actually be goin inside her orphanage in Juijiang because of an outbreak of the swine flu.

So, more from China after we survive the lovely, never ending plane trip.

Trying It Out - Michigan Test Run!!

Well, here it is, my very first blog posting! Too exciting!! I thought as a test run, I would first try to blog about our Fourth of July trip to Michigan. If that works, I will know we are ready to go for China!!

Right now, we are making biscotti (double chocolate walnut) for a snack to take along for the weekend.