Day Three- Part Two & Day Four-Part One

After the Hutong Tour, Rocky took us to an amazing dumpling house. We asked him to take us to his favorite and he was happy to do so. We were starving and excited to eat some of this delicacy we’d been looking forward to.

I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to eat because my nerves started really acting up. In just a matter of a couple of hours, we’d be on a train headed to Shanghai! Wow!!

Here is the outside of the restaurant.

Right as we walked in, we saw the ladies making the dumplings through this window.

Here was our table. This place was fancy! It was just so beautiful to see all the crystal, and the vibrant red and gold colors everywhere.

Taking pictures of our food was an afterthought at this meal :) They brought the different dumplings we ordered to our table plate by plate and we started eating them right when they brought them to us so we could enjoy them while they were still hot.

We really enjoyed everything we ordered. There was a beef and carrot dumpling that none of us were brave enough to eat except for Scott. The meat looked pink and WAY undercooked, but we were assured that’s how it was supposed to look. Um… no thanks :)

Our favorites were the noodles we ordered- way different from any noodles we’ve ever eaten here but SO delicious! My favorite dumpling was the fried pork and leek dumplings. They also served us the most deliciously tangy and thick soy sauce I’ve ever encountered. The fried dumplings dipped in the delicious, rich sauce was heavenly. By far, my favorite thing we’d eaten since we’d been in China! The meal was also surprisingly affordable considering how fancy the restaurant was. It was a wonderful experience. If I ever find myself in Beijing again, I will have Rocky bring me here again!

After we finished eating, it was time to head to the train station. It was a short 20 minute drive to the train station. The station was large, modern and clean. And we were the only Westerners in sight! Also, very few, if any, of the signs were in English. Thankfully, Rocky went through security with us and walked us to our gate before he left. We had about 1 hour before our train would be boarding, we all took turns going to the restroom and finding snacks. Low and behold! We found a Starbucks! We cleaned them out of their sandwiches and desserts in their cold case to take with us on the train and got some yummy-licious coffee, of course! They had a limited coffee menu compared to what we’re used to here, so they didn’t have my “usual” drink. But a vanilla latte did the trick nicely.

The announcements for boarding calls, etc. were being made constantly but none of the announcements were in English! About 30 minutes before our train was to begin boarding, we saw people starting to line up, so we decided to go ahead and get in line so we didn’t get left behind at some point.

They began boarding and we made our way through the ticket gate and to our train. We had no idea if there was assigned seating or if it was first come/first serve on the train… a great question we should’ve asked Rocky before he left. The tickets were written totally in Chinese and there wasn’t a soul that could speak English as far as we had discovered anyway.

We made our way to the car that we thought we were supposed to be on, stowed our HUGE duffel bags and carry ons and sat down just in time to have someone gesturing that we were in their seats. We began to look at our tickets and try to figure it out. Best we could tell, we were supposed to be on car 4 and we were on car 7. So, we gathered up all of our stuff and headed for car 4. By this time, there were people EVERYWHERE and it was hard to get through. We found an attendant, showed her our tickets and asked for help. She escorted us to our seats. Come to find out, we were in First Class! The seats were much bigger and there were less of them in the car. Jackpot!!! We stowed our luggage again and sat down. Scott and Rachel were several rows in front of us. As soon as they sat down, a young lady gestured that they were in her seats. What?! The attendant showed us where our seats were! Well, sure enough… the attendant was wrong and they were in the wrong car! They were supposed to be in car 17! By this time, there was less than 30 minutes until the train would be leaving! We were all a bit flustered and confused, but they quickly grabbed their luggage and took off looking for their car. We were in the right car, thankfully, so I just stayed in my seat while Jason went to help them find their car . A few minutes after Jason had arrived back to his seat, I looked at Jason and said, “I hope they grabbed the right bags.” He didn’t respond for a minute or two, then he gave me that “look” and headed up to the front of the car to inspect the luggage. Sure enough, in all of the stressed haste, they had grabbed one of our bags and one of theirs (you see, we all had the same duffel bags! We didn’t realize it would be a problem with all of us ordering the same bags!) Jason grabbed their bag and exited the train to high tail it back to their car. I had a mini panic attack in the meantime…. realizing that if we were separated, we would have no way of communicating with each other! I was so upset and nervous! And I couldn’t believe we weren’t all in the same car together like we were supposed to be!

With LESS than 5 MINUTES to spare Jason, sweating and breathless, slid into his chair next to me. Apparently, their car was no less than 1/2 mile back and he’d lugged a 50 lb duffel bag both ways! Whew! I started to calm down but it took nearly the first hour for my heart rate to return to normal!

The train began moving and it was such a relief! We were all on the train, with all of our luggage! AND next stop! Shanghai!!!!!

Despite the stress and the lessons learned, we are so glad we took the train. We were able to ride in great comfort and see so much of the China countryside. It was amazing. We tried to take some pictures, but with the High Speed Train zooming along at over 300 kilometers per hour, it was quite difficult.

Here is our car. I am on the back row to the left. Rachel had made her way up to our car after the train got on its way so we could exchange contact info and say our goodbyes for the week. They would be exiting the train about an hour before us and we wouldn’t see them again for a week when we met up again in Guangzhou.

We were so nervous and excited! The next morning we would be meeting our babies!!!

The trip from Beijing to Shanghai was just about 5 hours.

Some pictures of scenery along the route.

We were not able to get any pictures of the city as we approached Shanghai. We could see all the lights but it was totally dark by the time we reached our destination. We exited the train and just went off of instinct as to where to go and we found our driver holding a sign with our names on it. Apparently he and our guide, Ming Ming, weren’t sure which entrance to the terminal we would come into, so they had positioned themselves one at each so they wouldn’t miss us. We went to the other side and found Ming Ming, then we were on our way to our hotel.

It was about a 45 minute drive from the train station to our hotel in the center of town. We stayed at the Marriott Puxi. When we arrived, we were happy to find that this was a gorgeous, fancy hotel. The hotel in Beijing was nice, but it smelled of cigarette smoke (like so much of the city did) and my allergies and scratchy throat were getting worse by the minute there. Here in Shanghai, I could already tell that I could breathe easier and this hotel was very modern, clean and did not smell like smoke at all. They even gave us hot water to drink upon our arrival. It soothed my throat and was just heavenly. There was some drama when we tried to check in. Apparently, although we’d already paid for our room in advance and had this hotel on our itinerary, the reservation never actually got made for us… they were kind enough to go ahead and give us a room, but they made us leave a deposit to secure the room since they’d not received payment for it yet. The only problem was that we’d brought pretty much only cash for the trip and didn’t have a credit card that could be charged with that much on it! They wanted $1,200 US  as a deposit! Wow! Our guide did a great job explaining the situation and negotiated them down to $300 US since we assured them it would be taken care of in the morning.

Our room was very nice and we were just so exhausted and ready for bed! When I walked into the bathroom I did have a brief freak out moment when I realized there was no bathtub! Not only did I desperately want a hot bath, but how was I supposed to bathe a baby with no tub! We contemplated whether we’d try to get a different room ourselves even though Ming Ming was already gone, and then decided we’d just figure out how to make it work and it wasn’t worth the effort at that point.

We went down to the hotel lobby for dinner. We ordered chicken quesadillas and ice cold sprites! It was expensive, but it was quick, convenient and delicious in every way possible!!!

After we ate, we went back up to our room to begin unpacking. We would be leaving early the next morning to get Khloe, so we had to get the room in order, prepare our gifts for the officials, iron our clothes for the next day, etc.

We worked together as swiftly as possible, took quick showers, took our sleeping pills and hit the hay, praying for sweet slumber before our big day the next day.

Surprisingly, after we prayed together, I was able to fall asleep and I slept soundly for about 6 hours! Once I woke up about 4am, I was up, though. A ball of nerves and emotion.

We were able to connect with family via internet/skype and then went to breakfast. Once again, the breakfast buffet was amazing! To my great surprise, I had quite an appetite. Normally when I am really nervous, I can’t eat at all. I have such a horrible nervous stomach (I’ve struggled with this since middle school!) and I can hardly look at or smell food when I’m so nervous. But I was starving and my stomach didn’t feel bad at all! So I loaded up my plate and enjoyed quite a bit of my breakfast when it hit me. The nerves. Uh oh. Push plate away from me at the table and try to not ruin Jason’s breakfast by telling him I had to make a run for the room! I managed this successfully, but by the time we got back to our room, I was freaking out. My tummy was rolling and it was all I could do to keep my breakfast down. I was so worried that I would throw up right in the room in front of everyone at the social welfare center. Or in the car on the way. This really got my anxiety worked up! Finally, I decided I  had to throw up before we left or my worst nightmares would come true. I felt much better after following through with this decision and I was ready to go get my baby!

The diaper bag was packed. The cameras were charged, packed and ready. We were dressed. My tummy was no longer an issue. I was still a ball of nerves, for sure, but I was ready to go. Daddy and I gave each other some hugs and high fives and goofy smiles before we headed down to the lobby to meet Ming Ming and our driver.

We met them, hopped in the van and we headed to our girl. But first, we had to exchange money first, which was quite an adventure in itself.

I will pick up with that story in the next installment!

Day Three- Part One- Hutong Tour

We woke up EARLY again despite being so tired the night before and taking sleeping pills… thank you jet lag… :)

We didn’t have to meet our guide quite as early, so we hung out around our room for a bit, skyped with the kids (where we found out Braden had been sick and running a fever since the day before :(  and made arrangements for Me Me to pick him up so she could take care of him. He ended up running a fever and being sick for several days and missed 4 days of school, poor guy!!)

When it was late enough, we got dressed and went down to the restaurant to have some yummy breakfast. The breakfast buffets were really the food highlight of our whole trip, for sure! It was included in the price of the room and there was so much yummy food everywhere to be eaten!

We headed back up to our room to finish packing up because we were leaving the hotel for good today to head to our girls’ provinces! What an exciting day! I woke up with MAJOR butterflies in my tummy. The very short “vacation” part of this trip was nearing its end and the REAL reason for our trip was beginning.

After checking out of our hotel and loading up in the van, our first stop was the Hutong Tour. This tour took us through what  you might call the historic area of Beijing. This area is protected by the government and is being preserved. So much of Beijing has become high rises to be able to accommodate more people in less space, but this area is especially neat because it’s the same as it has been for hundreds of years!

Here we are on the rickshaw with our driver looking on.

We took lots of pictures as we rode along. Here you can see all the rickshaws lined up waiting for customers. This was only 1 street lined with them. There were at least 6 more long streets lined with them! There were so many rickshaws and drivers in this area!

One of the many hundreds of alley ways in the Hutong district.

As we rode along there was a beautiful lake with shopping and restaurants all alongside.

Here’s a row of restaurants and bars along one side. We were told by our guide that this is a trendy spot at night and on the weekends.

Here is our guide, Victor, telling us about the Hutong District. One cool fact about this lake is that it connects to the lake at the Summer Palace!

Looking across the lake towards the city high rises.

Construction was going on here. It had been completely gutted.

Walking along through some of the alleyways.

This Hutong had been renovated in recent years.

The highlight of our Hutong tour and perhaps of Beijing (for me) was getting to go inside a family’s home. This was just as we walked inside the front door and turned to our right. You can see the front door with windows on the left of the photo.

We even got to sit on the couches and visit with the sweet homeowner! This house has been in her husband’s family for 300 years!

On the other side of the living room area, was their back porch area.

Also across the living room, and to the left of the back porch, was another little room which was the kitchen. This is it! The lady in the red shirt is the homeowner’s sister who was there for their traditional Sunday dinner. They spend all day preparing the meal to enjoy in the evening.

Right across from the kitchen was the one and only bedroom.

The other room in the home was the homeowner’s studio. We found out that he was a national award winning artist! Wow! His original work was amazingly beautiful. One of the main items on our must buy list was original artwork. As I looked at his work in his studio I was SO wishing we could buy some of his paintings!

As we were looking around and taking pictures, the homeowner (artist) came in for a brief minute to say hi. He had been hanging out at the neighbor’s house. I got the feeling that he didn’t love the attention and showing people his home because after saying Hi briefly, he went back to the neighbor’s house :)

Here is his medal he won for being the National Artist of the Year. It was in a glass front bookcase in his studio.

As we finished looking around, the homeowner pulled out a box full of artwork for us to look at. And they let us buy some!! We were so excited! We knew we wanted to buy artwork, but to get to buy the artwork from an artist that we got to meet and see his home… it was just incredible! It took us a little while to look through all of them, decide how many we would buy and then pick out the ones we wanted. They were all so very beautiful!

Here we are with the homeowner. She was a very kind lady who warmly welcomed us into her home that she was obviously very proud of. Her husband had lived his whole life in  this exact home and she moved here with him when they were married. They have one daughter whom they raised in this home. She is now married and living in a high rise in the city, but she does come back to visit often.

After we left the family’s Hutong, we walked back to where our rickshaws were parked to ride back to where we started. We saw lots of neat sights along the way back.

Here we are posing with our guide at the end of our tour. He did a great job and we all enjoyed this tour very much!

Day Two- Part 5

After we left the Summer Palace, we made the 45-ish minute drive back into town. Rachel LOVES tea and had requested for our guide to take us to a tea house. Our amazing Rocky was happy to oblige! He took us to his favorite tea house.

We walked through these doors and up the stairs to go into the tea house.

Here’s the table we sat at.

Our server was a very sweet guy. I thought his accent was so cute. You could tell that he had learned his English from a person from England because he had a British accent to it- mixed in with the Chinese accent. It was very unique and I thought it was a little funny too.

This was a flowering tea. It was so gorgeous when the flowers were all open.

I have to admit—I don’t love hot teas. I love me some sweet tea—yes! I do! But… all the different exotic, non sweet, hot teas… that’s another story. BUT… I wanted to embrace the whole experience. Jason was on the same page as me too. So we sat down around the table across from the server. He would brew it up and tell us about it and then pour us a little glass of the tea. The first one, he told us needed to be drank in one big gulp. So I did it! Oh, my, it wasn’t pleasing to my palate, but it wasn’t super disgusting… so I thought, I can do this! Then when the second one came around, we were supposed to sip it. Oh man… I managed about 3 small sips and I just couldn’t do it anymore! I had to pour my entire cup into the other small cup for the “leftovers”. By the time the 3rd one came around, Rachel and Scott were on the side of the table where they were served first and they were oooing and awwing over this one. I was so excited to try it! I took a big gulp and I kid you not I thought I was going to spit it out everywhere! I swear it tasted like flowery scented hand lotion! ICKKKKKYYYYY!!! I couldn’t believe they could actually love that tea so much. My little cup for the “leftovers” was already full, so I reached over and poured it into Scott’s empty “leftover” cup with a grin :) I didn’t like any of the rest of them to tell you the truth—but I did try them all. Jason did even better than I did, but by the time we were done, his “leftovers” cup was pretty much full too. :) It really was a neat experience and we knew how much Scott and especially Rachel enjoyed it, so we were glad to be there.

After we left the tea house, our driver took us straight to the Acrobat show that we had purchased tickets for. We were so incredibly tired by this time. We had all been up since about 3 or 4 am with the jet lag, we had been going NON-STOP ALL DAY and it was about 8pm when the show started.

We were hungry and tired, so after we found our seats, we went right to the snack stand! We got popcorn, which was just bags of microwave popcorn, and I also got some of my favorite Chinese candies. I forgot the name and I didn’t get a picture, but they are little mushroom shaped cookies. The stem is shortbread and the mushroom on top is milk chocolate. I can gobble down a box in no time! I also got a cold can of coke! yummy!! Jason was able to get a bottle of Mtn. Dew! Just like everything else that is “American” it had a different taste and is made from different ingredients.

We were starting to fade after we got our bellies full so we were anxious for the show to start.

It was difficult to get pictures from our seats with no flash with the lens we had on the camera this day, but we did get a few. The colors on the stage were really beautiful.

These are our little buddies. They introduced themselves to us before the show started and talked our ears off during the intermission. They were 3rd graders- all friends from the same school and were all there with their parents for a weekend outing. They were not shy at all and wanted to practice their English. We were SUPER impressed by their English! What was really cute and cool was when we asked them something they couldn’t understand or we couldn’t understand something they said, one little girl whipped out her ipod and typed it into a translate app then showed us the screen! Gotta love technology! AND SUPER smart and sweet kids! They were the highlight of the show for us!

Before intermission, I was really struggling to stay awake. It’s not that the show wasn’t good… but rather, that I was just so tired and it was warm and my belly was full of snacks. I finally gave in and let my eyes close. We were all struggling, but Scott and I seemed to feel it the worst at this part of the evening. At intermission, he went out to the snack stand and got us each a Red Bull! I decided that since I wanted to go to sleep as soon as we got back to the hotel, that I better not drink it, so Jason drank it instead :)

After the show was over around 9:30 pm, Rocky picked us up and took us a little bit down the road to a McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat. This was our first time to a Chinese McDonald’s, so we were actually excited about it! The menu was TOTALLY different than an American McDonald’s menu. I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture now, but I didn’t have my camera on me at the time. Since I had eaten so many snacks at the theater, I just got a small order of fries and a coke. The coke had ICE! Heaven! And the fries were delish, just not as salty as here at home.

That, my friends, is FINALLY the END of DAY Two—our first full day in Beijing. It was sure a doozy! But we wouldn’t have had it any other way! We wanted to make the MOST out of our small amount of time in the city and looking back on all that we accomplished in this one day, we can truly say that we made the most of it.

We had a blast and experienced so many once in a lifetime opportunities together. It was an amazing day!

As soon as our driver dropped us off at our hotel, we went straight to our room. Jason and I each took the world’s fastest showers, took a sleeping pill so hopefully we could get a full night’s sleep and went straight to bed. I don’t actually even remember my head hitting the pillow because I was so tired!