Friday, October 18, 2013

First Day in China...AMAZING!!!!

Oh my stars...we have had such an amazing day here in China!!! For one, this was totally a God thing... Tim and I were the only ones in our travel group who opted for the 2 full days of touring, so for today, we were treated to a whole day of our own driver and private guide!!! We have had so much fun!! Our guide was the same guide that travelled with the missions trip that went to Ellie's orphanage and she got to see her and is so excited for us!!! Our guide Summer is soooo sweet, and we have had so much fun!! We needed this time away together, and we feel so incredibly blessed to have it!! We have taken a lot of pictures and have tried to even capture a lot of the everyday life here in China!!

Some things we are growing accustomed to are: the horrific smell of smoke... I feel very blessed that California has the laws they do about smoking...that is certainly not the case here! We are also getting used to the way people drive...no seatbelts, and really not many traffic laws. The traffic is pretty much the same as LA traffic, but the difference is that Chinese drivers are way more chill about everything...it is the insane-ness without the stress!! We are also having fun practicing our Chinese...Tim is having way too much fun with it!!

So here's some pictures of our day...the Summer Palace and Buddhist Temple as well as the Olympic village and 2 amazing Chinese meals!!! Enjoy...






Here we are at the Summer's Palace...this is our guide, Summer...she says it's "her" Palace :-)!! Please pray for Summer...she has no belief system right now and working for our agency, she is constantly being a guide for Christians...pray that we will be able to show her love and have a deep impact on her life!!




This was sooo hilarious...in the lake at the Summer Palace was this giant rubber ducky...Summer says it is new to being here and it has made quite the attraction for tourists...it isn't even Chinese, she said...we checked out the price of buying a small rubber ducky souvenir, and the cost was around $30 USD...I told Summer you could find them for a dollar here in America...lol!!!






We hiked up at least one hundred stairs to get to the top of the Buddhist temple in the temple...it was a beautiful view despite the smog!!! Believe it or not, behind this temple is a giant lake with lots of boats on it!!!




This is us on the "Dragon boat..." We walked a large distance of the Summer Palace grounds and opted to take this really cool boat back to the entrance!




Time for the Olympic Park...we saw the huge "Bird's Nest" where the opening ceremonies were held, and we also saw the Gymnastics center, and the Aquatic Center!






While at Olympic Park, we also saw some fun things unique to China...







Oh my stars...the food is AMAZING!!!! We have had quite the feast!!!

More fun to come tomorrow...one day closer to Ellie!!!

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