Sunday, March 22, 2009

Another Great Day in Beijing!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

We had another great day of diverse adventure in Beijing! We began our day with a tour of the Living Hope International Orphan Training Center, and we were treated to an outstanding performance by the young people. They shared some traditional dances, and we enjoyed lunch with them as well as a tour of the facility. Emmy even got an extra special treat of playing with two new friend--Abby, the daughter of one of the missionaries, and Noreen, the daughter of one of the other guests to the center. Wow--a play date in China :)


We then traveled to the Great Wall. The climb up the mountain was much steeper than we had anticipated, but we all made it up! What a view from the top (as well as a peek into history)! After we took the "easy way" back down the mountain, the girls had a chance to take a short ride on a camel. (Okay, we don't know what a camel has to do with the Great Wall either, but it was in the parking lot, and we thought that it was too good of a photo op to pass up!) However, Britti and Chelsea joked that the highlight of their day was when a guy asked them--not Emmy-- to pose for a picture with his girlfriend :)

We stopped at the 2008 Olympic Stadium on our way to dinner, snapping a picture in front of the Bird's Nest. (Yes, Emmy got asked to be in still more photos!) After dinner at a traditional Chinese restaurant, we all fell asleep in the van on the way to the hotel. What a busy day... helping us to pass the time until we can get on that flight to Kunming to meet Ellie-Kate!