Summer Palace

Our touring of Beijing has truly been amazing, insightful and amazing. Although we don't love doing the tour company thing, we were able to see a large amount of sights in a short amount of time. We are forever grateful for the experience. Our tour guide, "Sally", taught us a lot about Beijing and China as a whole. She had some interesting thoughts on adoption, and was so taken aback that an American family would want to adopt from her country. She shared about the one child policy, and the pressure that young women are under to NOT have children.

Our last stop today was the Summer Palace. It is yet another amazing sight. This was the home of "The Dragon Queen". It is located on a beautiful lake, so we had the opportunity to take a boat ride to see it all quickly. The architecture is unique, colorful and ornate.

At every sight that we have visited, it has been fascinating to observe the Chinese people. To begin, the crowds can be crushing. The number of people everywhere is overwhelming. We love the way that people congregate to play cards, play music, dance, and just sit together outdoors. On every corner, there are crowds of people spending time in community. We have seen the face of Claire in some many little Chinese girls. Our thoughts go to her every time we see a little dark haired, dark eyed face.

Jet lag and exhaustion REALLY hit us today. We hit a wall in a major way. Tonight we are in our hotel room, resting and preparing to fly out of Beijing tomorrow AM. In just a few short hours, we will take a major step closer to Claire in Chengdu!