August 17th

Proverbs 3:5,6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart & lean not on your own understanding, think about Him in all your ways & He will guide you.

We slept so good last night! I woke up at 5am and Mark soon after. We ate at the Breakfast Buffet here in our hotel. It was fabulous! Anything you want was on that buffet. Everyone who has been to China always talks about how wonderful the breakfast is and they were right! At 830am we met our group in the lobby and met our guide for the day, Dennis from CHI. He was alot of fun, and his english was very good. We boarded a bus to head to the Summer Palace. Our ride over was very exciting. Driving anywhere is exciting in itself, but this just added to it. First we are driving along and all of a sudden we hear a loud noise and notice that our bus hit something, breaking the side mirror. Which does not phase the driver of course, and we are not sure what he hit, hopefully not anyone on a bike! A little while later, we are pulled over, by the police who jump on board and start speaking in Chinese, and then take our driver off the bus. As we sit there they get our guide off the bus. Then the police come back on and start asking us for our passports, how much we paid for our tour, etc.. We must have all had frightened looks on our faces, because he soon brought us a list of questions and told us they were just checking things out to make sure we were being treated safe. Then they wanted us to all get off the bus so they could get our pictures. I guess what the issue was is that bus drivers have to have certain license to drive tour groups and this guy had the wrong thing? Still not quite sure we understood what was going on, but we do know we did not see that bus or driver again! We toured the Summer Palace which took a few hours. It was a very beautiful place. It was built in 853 as a vacation spot for the emperors. We did alot of walking and were able to ride a boat out and around. Dennis was able to share lots of great facts about the palace. What I find most interesting though is the Chinese People. I love to just watch, and listen to them. I may have said this yesterday, but one thing I find so odd is that I never see babies. Some kids, but not alot of babies. But oh when we do see a baby, you know we are all staring! After the palace we went to lunch at the Mongolian Hot Pot. Named for the mongolian army who made their meals in their helmets. And boy, was it HOT!! We had a private room, and they brought in a little pot for each of us. A very steamy hot pot! We all had our facials through that meal, and teased Dennis that we now knew why the Chinese were so skinny, they sweat off all they are eating! That or it was the Chinese joke on Americans to torture them during lunch! besides how hot it was, we had alot of fun. They bring out all this "raw" food and set it in the center of your table that spins. You cook your own food similar to our Melting Pot, but it was not the same food, and we did not end w/ chocolate. They had chicken, which was these real long very thin pieces, dumplings w/ mutton inside ( if you don't know what mutton is, don't ask!) tofu, fish balls, noodles, ox stomach, and a variety of things we have no idea about! And rice, we all love rice! Plus all you get to eat w/ is chopsticks. Maybe I will lose weight this trip! Actually I tried most of it, and it was not bad. Rice was still my favorite, and I left full! After lunch they dropped us off at our hotel and we headed out w/ the Gove family to shop. Someone had given me the name of a store you could purchase american girl dolls, so we wanted to check that out. We are getting pretty good at getting around in taxi's! We found the shop and had fun w/ the dolls. I bought 1 doll, 2 bitty babies, and close to around 20 outfits w/ a few accesories for $100.00. Now, how I am getting them home, is a good question, as you know my luggage was already filled to the brim! But it was such a good deal. And for those of you who asked me about the dolls, i have good news! She gave me her email and said she will ship them! She was super nice and very helpful. Just write me when I get home and I can send you the details. There was not a huge selection, but obviously not bad! The weather today is warm, but overall pretty good. The high was only high 80s so that is a huge praise. The hot pot was hot, but really it was not bad touring. Hopefully the rest of the time will be like that! This evening we went to a Chinese Acrobat Show. This was not a set tour for us, but I had heard others talk about how wonderful it was so we really wanted to go. We were pretty tired, but you know Mark and I, we don't sit! And we figured if we did not go, we would regret it. I am so glad we did! First we took a taxi again, this time we were by ourselves. The driving here is just, wow! No one has the right of way, yet EVERYONE has the right of way! There are not really lanes, they just drive wherever they want to! Yesterday I could hardly watch, but by tonight, I have relaxed and just figure i have yet to see an accident, so they must know what they are doing. The cost of a cab ride is $2.00, and that takes you all the way across town. The show was incredible. We have seen the Chinese Acrobats before, but there is something to be said about seeing them in your daughters homeland compared to Branson, Missouri! We found it so amusing, when we were sitting in the theatre waiting for the show to start the music playing was the Carpenters! During intermission we were chatting w/ a couple behind us from Australia who are here for something similar to the Jr Olympics. Tonight as we drove home we were able to see the city at night. Everything is so bright and lit up. And busy! People everywhere. They walk, they pile on buses, they ride bikes. It gets dark here very early, making it feel so much later to us. I am still adjusting to the time change and jet lag. Still a little dizzy on and off. I am so glad we are here early to adjust. Tomorrow is a full day of touring, and it will be exciting as our fellow CHI families will be arriving. Saturday our entire group of 30 families(i think?) will be touring together which will be so great to meet everyone. Oh one last thing from today, had me wishing i had learned some chinese! We brought a converter, but it does not work in these plugs for some reason. So they do have 1 american plug in in your room. But it is not by the bathroom. So I have been trying to use my flat iron by looking in the tv screen! Which by the way, I have been able to use my CHI, and I have not blown it up yet, so that is a good thing! Anyways, in the hotel information book it says that the Radison provides adapters. So I call down today and ask them if they have a converter. I talked to 4 different people before they could finally, and I could finally understand each other. And the conclusion was no, they do not have extra converters, just the one in your wall. It is so strange to have such a hard time communicating. Most people do speak english, or at least a little. But some really don't know much at all. And I can't say anything in Chinese! Well, Mark just ordered room service. Potato Skins and Ceasar Salad! Thank you again for all your prayers! We loved getting up today and reading all the notes, keep them coming!