Wuhan Photos

Bell Tower at the Yellow Crane Tower.  You can bang the bell for good luck....... for 10 yuan of course!

We went to The Temple of 500 Buddhas.  Most people go in the morning to pray.  We were there in the afternoon so it was quiet - peaceful and beautiful.

Yellow Crane Tower

Lewis and Elly rang the bell!

The bell tower

We weren't able to get a cab so we took the bus to the Yellow Crane Tower.  This was Frances about an hour before her lips turned white and she nearly passed out at the Yellow Crane Tower

A typical street scene in China!

Night on the Yangzte River from our hotel.

Winding down

Last days in China!

On our last day we went to New Day Foster Home, where Elizabeth lived for one year until she came home to us.  The kids were thrilled to find a playground in their beautiful, lush back yard.  It's truly an oasis!

The resident dogs, Tom and Sydney.

The front door to the foster home.

Elizabeth went right to her former room and showed everyone her crib!  Yep, she slept in a crib until she was 4 1/2!!

The kids would have liked to play here all day!

Elizabeth and her nanny who screamed "LI XIN!!!" when she saw her.  El was thrilled!

The day before we went to the Forbdden City.  It was built more than 600 years ago and was the home for emperors for about 500 years.  It's magnificent and I love going there.  This was my 3rd visit.  This time was a huge disappointment - it was so crowded and dirty - litter strewn all over.  It didn't help that it was also H*O*T and smoggy.

Love those roofs!

The mass of humanity!

On our way back from the Great Wall, we stopped for lunch.  The restaurant "just so happened" to be next door to a Cloisonne factory!  Imagine that!  I was more interested in the bleak surroundings!

This little boy was so cute.  He was trying his best to get the kitten interested in playing with him but it just ran away.

Well, most of us are ready to come home. Ana misses homemade tortillas, Frances 
is sick of the dirty streets, Lewie wants a better supply of peanut butter, Elly 
wants to see Trixie, Lisa's stomach hurts, Suzie needs a rest and I need a good 
cup of coffee! Amazing how I've never had a good cup of coffee here EVER!  But 
Lewie said he might want to live here and Ana loves it here.  It's really been a 
positive experience for us all and we couldn't have planned a better 
trip....well, more Mandarin would have been helpful. We have had so many funny 
experiences here and made lots of great memories. 
Yesterday on our way to the Great Wall, our guide was telling us about her 
grandparents, aged 103 and 104!! We were trying to pry the secret to their 
longevity out of her.  She said they get up every morning at 4:30 for tai chi 
anddrink tea all day BUT not green tea - "it's terrible for you!" 
We told her that green tea is pushed as a wonderful drink inthe US- she told us 
very seriously that we are WRONG!! 
Then on the way home we saw something that one would only see in China. We 
passed a huge field with sections of different kinds of flowers.  In each 
section was a white grand piano- yes, out ina field! People were having wedding 
pictures taken there.  There were probably 15 pianos!!! So crazy. 
When we got up this morning, it was really smoggy but we ventured out to the 
Forbidden City.  I grossed the children out with stories of how all the men were 
castrated in order to work there! It was around 90 degrees so we wilted early on 
but made it through.  There were 1000s of people there and it was kinda 
oppressive. As we exited, there were cabs trying to get 200 yuan - $30 for a 
ride back to the hotel - we paid about $3 to get there! We split up to try to 
get cabs and one cab came. I waited and waited with 3 of the kids and then a 
scooter rickshaw pulled up and motioned us over.  We crammed in and had a crazy 
fun ride to the hotel. It only took. 5/10 minutes and the guy tried to charge me 
280 yuan - $40. I just laughed and gave him 25 - $4!  He fussed, then shooed me 
away.  Always an adventure! 
Tomorrow we are going to Elizabeth's foster home, where she spent her last year 
in China. It should be interesting since she recalls this place with some 
rosecolored glasses. 
Love 
Barbara 

Field trip in Beijing

Trip to Mutianyu section of Great Wall of China!

Aunt Suzie and Elly riding the chair lift to the Great Wall!

Yeah, they were skipping along as Lisa and I were huffing and puffing behind!  It was a steep climb!

Vendors selling beer, water and Snickers!!  They were offering the kids beer!  We never allow beer before noon!

Photos don't do it justice!

I see a Mongolian!

The winding vistas were incredible!

As we were sweating and wheezing, our guide "Ellen," took out a sweater!!!?

A sport? Hmmmmmmmm

Rule #1 - no photography on the ride! :)

Aunt Suzie took the warnings seriously and went really slowly - much to the disgust of the riders behind her!!

Every morning, Lewie asks "so what's our field trip for today?" Woooohooo, did 
we have a good one today! 
Yesterday, I asked the front desk if they arranged day trips. Silly me, OF 
COURSE they do!!! We went to a section of the Great Wall called Mutianyu, where 
you can go to the top of the wall on a chair lift and down on a tobaggan!! Our 
guide was "Ellen," a young woman who works for the government by day and is a 
tour guide on the weekends.  When we started off, I asked her if she had another 
job or if she was a full time tour guide.  She said she was a government worker 
but the way she pronounced it, we all thought she said "garment" worker! So we 
all, independently, are thinking, "garment worker? Who has to travel the world 
for her job? Huh?". But we all figured it out! 
We got to the wall in about an hour and a half and got right to the climbing!  
Lisa and I nearly had heart failure going to the top but the kids just ran up 
like it was nothing! It was just stunning and I hope the pictures I took will do 
it justice! Elizabeth, being from Inner Mongolia, was quite put off by the fact 
that the wall was built to keep out the Mongolians and we took every opportunity 
to tease her about it!  The walk back down was just as bad!  Well, almost as 
bad!  Oh, I forgot to mention the incredible trip up on a chairlift- just 
beautiful, magnificent views. The highlight for the kids was yet to come! We 
rode tobaggans down a track that was hilarious.  Everyone had their own and 
could control how fast or slow to go with a lever.  Lewie was behind me yelling 
"faster, Mom!" as we whizzed down.  I was thinking how lucky we were to be able 
to experience something like this.  It was so much fun!  Even Aunt Suzie rode on 
one but was mad at the 
 people behind her, yelling at her to go faster! 
After our adventure, we stopped to eat lunch and were "only" served 8 platters 
of food! You know, I don't like that my ipad doesn't have spell check because I 
know I'm going to butcher this word- we next went to a Cloissane ?? "factory" 
that was pretty sad looking - people sitting in little rooms, working on pieces. 
We had more questions to ask Ellen but she fell asleep on the way back!! 
It was a great field trip! 
Love 
Barbara 

Wifi in Hohhot!

Hohhot Photos

Shark over the People's Park!

Ho Ho Hohhot

Parakeets and Rabbits in the People's Park?????

This little guy sat down with Suzie and me, just smiling and looking at us.  When Frances joined us, he was fascinated, kept talking to her even when Aunt Suzie told him she was American and only spoke English!

Lots of people wear masks when they ride their bikes and scooters.  This woman looked prepared for anything!

Lisa, Ana, Lewie and Elly went on the ferris wheel.

 Who wouldn't want to win a bunny???

The entire park could hear Lewie screaming with joy on the zipline ride

It was a real bonding experience for Oil (aka Elly) and Water (aka Franny) to work together to motor the bicycle ride in the sky!

We were having a drink (water and juice, not beers silly!) break when I saw a group gathered near us and heard singing.  I went over to find a group of men playing traditional instruments and 3 other guys singing, one at a time, in high pitched voices - it was like Chinese Idol!

The singers

The guy in pink was handed money by someone in the audience - it seemed like that made him the champion!

These guys were playing cards and slapping their cards down on the bicycle seat!

The kids bought these funky paper hats from a vendor for less than $1

The Inner Mongolian Museum.  We were rock stars there.  People kept asking us to have their picture taken with us.  One boy asked for just me???!

A monk with a cell phone.....hmmmmmmm

The incredible Xilitu Lamasery 

I have no idea............

This little thing was tethered to its perch in a market next to the Lamasery :(

Frances found wifi here in Inner Mongolia!! A modern day miracle! We are just 
packing for our trip to Beijing - our last city in China. For the last few days 
we have been in Hohhot, enjoying the cool weather! It's about 25 degrees cooler 
here than it was in Suzhou and Wuhan.  On Thursday, we spent the day walking in 
a park that is right across the street from our hotel. The park has ponds, 
wooded areas, and a little amusement park! The kids went on a few rides, like 
the ferris wheel, a zipline ride, and a fun house.  I went on the fun house ride 
and the best part was a "scary" owl that crowed like a rooster! In another part 
of the park a group of older men were playing traditional instruments while 3 
other guys were taking turns singing opera pieces- I think it was some sort of 
competition. 
Today we had a city guide for the day - ChaoLu, who is a Mongolian.  He met us 
at our hotel and took us to the Inner Mongolian Museum.  We spent about 2 hours 
there, looking at displays of Mongolian history and a dinosaur exhibit.  ChaoLu 
then took us to lunch at a neighborhood restaurant where we had a shredded 
potato dish, tofu, scrambled eggs with tomato, and chicken with potato.  Really 
yummy.  Then he insisted that we go to our hotel for a nap!! It didn't matter 
that we also insisted that we don't nap in the middle of the day.  After our 
"nap," we went to a beautiful Buddhist temple for the rest of the afternoon.  
The name of it is escaping me right now but it was the most beautiful temple 
I've ever seen in China. 
I have to finish my packing now - everyone is passed out and I'm ready to crash! 
Hopefully we'll have wifi in Beijing. 
Love 
Barbara