Saturday, February 21, 2015

Beijing


Now that we are home, I want to try to start posting a few of my pictures. I am sorry for the delay. We have had our hands full! 

Our first stop in China was Beijing. The purpose in being there was  understanding Chinese heritage. They like you too have a good understanding of the country your child comes from. After experiencing it, I feel like the knowledge and experience we gained will be very important for us to be able to share with Michal.

We went to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and we climbed the great wall of China! 


Tiananmen Square
A symbol of modern-day China.

We also went for a rickshaw ride and ate at a traditional Chinese home. 

Later, we went to a jade factory and route through Olympic Park.

Our time in Beijing was extremely cold!

The Forbidden City! 
A symbol of ancient China.

I was really amazed by the Forbidden City. It is a huge palace with over 8000 rooms still in existence. It originally had 9999 1/2 rooms. The Emperor didn't want to outdo his father who had a palace with 1000 rooms! It is called the Forbidden City because common people were not allowed to enter.


The rickshaw ride was so cold it was almost miserable. Then we followed that with lunch at a traditional Chinese home. It was colder inside the house than it was outside. They don't have heat and insulation like Westerners are used to in most Chinese homes.

At night we walked on the streets of the city some. This was one shopping area near our hotel.


We looked at the street food but we did not eat it. We wanted to make sure we stayed healthy to be able to get and take care of Michal!

The Great Wall was amazing! 
It was cold there too, and quite the workout! It was really amazing to see it with my own eyes! As we drove to it, I could not believe we were going to see the real Great Wall of China. Then, there it was. It is HUGE and beautiful! It was a really cool experience. 

Just in case you were wondering, they have squatty potties there too!

It is hard for me to believe I actually took this picture with my phone!


We also got to visit a jade factory & market. Jade is more precious to the Chinese than gold. 

We bought some special gift to give Michal when she turns 16 and when she gets married.

This ship is made completely of Jade.


We even rode through Olympic Village. 
The ice looking building is where they held the swimming competitions and the birds nest is the building where they held the gymnastics competition back when the Olympics were in China.


That is a quick look at our trip to Beijing China! 

I will create post with the other cities soon.