First day in Beijing!

First day in Beijing!

After over 27 hours of traveling, we made it to Beijing. The flights were actually very good and we all slept. Mia continues to be an awesome traveler!  There are 11 families in our group from all over the country.  This is the first adoption for many of them, but quite a few of them have 3 or more kids at home. Several families brought their kids with them, so we have quite a fun group. The first couple we met have waited 6 years for the referral.  We feel very lucky to have met some amazing people already.

As we left the hotel Friday morning to go sightseeing, it started snowing!  Mia was so happy to finally see snow for the first time.  It was really beautiful, but freezing.  First, we went to tour the Hutong courtyards by way of rickshaw.  This is how many of the residents used to live before Beijing became so modernized.  We went inside one and toured the rooms, that all open to a central courtyard.  There were about 7 rooms but no bathrooms- they go to the public toilet in the alleyway. Our guide told us that this courtyard's close location to Tianamen square made it worth 7 million American dollars!

We also went to a silk factory to see how silk is made. The kids loved seeing the silk worms and helping to stretch the silk fibers.

Next we had a traditional Chinese lunch, then went to tour Tianamen square and the Forbidden City.  Thankfully by this time it had stopped snowing. We were amazed at the size of the Forbidden City.

This sounds crazy, but so far Beijing hasn't been as crowded as I expected it to be- maybe the weather kept many people inside.

Tomorrow is our last Day in Beijing and we are heading to the Great Wall- Mia is so excited to finally see it in person.

All I have to say is thank goodness for layers- if we weren't prepared, we may have frozen to death!

Zai jian from China!