The Life We Imagine

Today was Sunday here in Changsha. We took it really slow this morning and didn't venture forth until noon. Our hotel is walking distance to Mt. Yuelu so we decided to head there. Mt. Yuelu has significance here for several reasons. It is the home of Yuelu Academy, one of the world's oldest university's, built in 976 AD. The mountain is also home to both a Taoist and Buddist temple. Finally, Mao Tse Tung spent time studying there. Mai's home village is very near Changsha and so many Chinese travel here to see it. We had a nice, looooong hike on the mountain. Thankfully, there was a cable car to take us up a good portion of the mountain. It was really beautiful as we were literally walking in the clouds. After we headed back for some pizza!

We actually had a decent night sleep on the train. Upon arrival it seemed that our train station experience would be as crazy and horrific as the Beijing experience, then Peter arrived. Peter was an English speaking taxi driver sent from heaven to get us through Xi'an.  We loaded our luggage in his minivan and headed to the hotel. On the way he mentioned he'd be willing to drive us out to the Terra Cotta warriors. We decided there was no time like the present and we changed courses. On the way Peter took us to the workshop where they make replicas of the warriors and we were able to see each step of the process. Arriving at the warriors we were able to meet one of the farmers who discovered them in 1974. Then it was in to see the warriors. They are as impressive as we expected. As impressive as the warriors are, the boys will tell you that the highlight of the trip was the apartment we stayed in for the night. It is called the Xian Warriors Apartment. Despite being nearly impos...

Okay, so we'd been told to expect people to ask to take photos with us, etc. And we did expect that we might get more than the usual amount of attention due to the racial diversity in our family. BUT we were in no way prepared for what happened. When I say that Blaise drew crowds, I mean crowds. Seriously, we're standing in China's most famous places and the crowds are gathered around the boys! Don't believe me? Here are the first few days... (And these are only after the crowds were small enough for me to get close again) Our tour group spent half the day waiting for the paparazzi to let them walk away! IN TIANAMEN SQUARE AT THE FORBIDDEN CITY ON THE STREET AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM AT THE TERRA COTTA WARRIORS ON THE STREET IN CHANGSHA ON THE TOP OF MT. YUELU He decided to disguise himself... Didn't work.

IWell, we hit the ground running in China! We arrived at the Beijing airport at 4:30 am local time. We were able to get our hotel room early and checked in by 6am. First, I want to say we have enjoyed amazing, clear beautiful weather here in Beijing. No pollution, a cool breeze, perfect! Also, China is nothing at all what we expected-nothing. Beijing isn't dirty; there is plenty of religious expression, including Christianity; it's enormous and has tons of people but is somehow not horribly crowded; and almost every public restroom we've been in has had at least one western toilet! The people are very friendly and helpful; they help as much as they can or find someone who can. But anyway, back to our first day... By 8:30 we were headed out on our first tour. We started out by heading to the Beijing Zoo Panda house. We saw several pandas including this one having a snack. Then we headed over to the Bird's nest and Olympic grounds. After that we headed to the old part of ...