Our day in Beijing

My day started super early because I kept waking up all night. I finally gave in and got up. I kept smelling a strong charcoal odor. It turns out they use coal for heating here so there is a strong smell to go with it.

The beds here are very unlike those in the US. They are super-hard by our regular hotel standards. It's almost like sleeping on just a box spring only they don't bounce! It didn't bother me to sleep on them though. We like a firm bed anyway. This hotel as very cosy down comforters to sleep under. Ron has been out like a hibernating bear all night.

We are supposed to go down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I saw them setting out dinner last night and it looked very good. In the restaurants here the server dress very fancy. I want to get a picture of them while we are out.

One thing that has really surprised me so far is how tall everyone is. I mean they aren't tall by U.S. standards but they are taller than us! Most of the women seem to be about 5'5 and the men aroun 5'8. I feel slightly cheated by this. I came halfway across the world and I'm still shorter than everyone! It doesn't really bother me - I find it very amusing.

I asked Tom if he had trouble getting around our accents. He said just a little but he is very fluent. I've been trying to speak slowly for him. Ron told him yesterday while we were waiting for our room, "We'll just hang out here. It's no biggie." I could see frowning trying to decipher what was just said to him. hee hee We will have to watch our Okie talk.

Today we get to walk on the Great Wall of China! I'm so excited!

We are in Beijing!

It was a long day of traveling but we are here! The city is not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be but Tom, our guide says that tomorrow when we visit the Forbidden City it will be very crowded. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant and it was wonderful! Ron is already asleep. I'm not far behind him.


Next to me on the plane was Li You who is a professor at Georgia Tech. His family lives in China and he is going home for a visit. He makes this flight several times a year. Yikes! Our flight was overbooked and there wasn't an empty seat. Other than being so long, it was fine. We had an uneventful flight to Chicago from OKC. Li You was very friendly and asked us all about our trip. He was very excited to hear about our adoption. He stayed with us as we got through customs and was going to take us home if our guide wasn't there. He gave us his emai address and wants to see picturs of Nathan.









When we got to our hotel room we couldn't get any of the lights to come on. We had to have it explained that our door card has to be inserted into a slot before the lights will work. I've never seen this before but I found it ingenious.