We took a one and a half hour van ride to the Wall parking lot entrance. We bought our tickets and then took a shuttle bus to the chair lift. The chair lift took us up to the top of one section of the wall. From there our guide told us we had two options: we could go left and take "the easy path" that was flatter or go right and take a path that was "very steep but more beautiful". Of course the photographer in me wanted the more beautiful option, so we went to the right. I'm pretty sure we climbed about 8 MILLION steps to get to the highest lookout point. And when I say steps, I mean rocks of various shapes, sizes and heights layed by soldiers over 2000 years ago. But man, when we finally made it to the top, it was worth every step. The view was something that was right out of the history books and was absolutely breath taking. While the wall is not a "natural" wonder like the Grand Canyon, it is still an unbelievable site to see.
After hiking to the highest lookout point and then back to where we started, we got to take a tabogon ride slide down to the bottom of the wall. That was really fun and in true Casey fashion, as soon as we hit the bottom he says, "I want to do that again, mommy!"
On our way out, we stopped for lunch at Burger King of all places. Since leaving Detroit, we had not seen an American meal and Casey and I have not been keen on the Chinese cuisine. I've never been so happy to eat a cheeseburger in my life!
It was now time to head to the train station. At my request, the driver was kind enough to take the route that would allow us to pass the 2008 Olympic Stadium known as the "The Bird's Nest". It was pretty cool to see.
Once we got settled on the train, it was time to say good-bye to Candy. She was an awesome guide and Casey was sad that she couldn't be with us the whole time.
It was now time to travel to Wuhan. Wuhan is the capital city of the Hubei Province - Cheyenne's province. All adoptions take place in the provincial capital. We took the bullet train from Beijing to Wuhan. It got up to 305 km/hr which is just under 200 miles per hour! The train ride was about 5 hours and gave us a great view of the China country side. Once we arrived in Wuhan (around 9:30pm) our new guide, Helen, met us at the exit. She and the driver escorted us to the hotel where we will be spending the next four nights. On the way to the hotel, she told us that she would meet us at 9:30am in the hotel lobby to take us to the adoption center. I said, "I thought we weren't scheduled until 3:00?" Then she told us the adoption center moved us up to 10:00am! THAT is when the nerves kicked in for me. I instantly felt like I wanted to throw up!
Once we made it to the hotel room, the boys passed out. It was a long day and a big day for them and we will all have an even bigger day tomorrow. Kevin and I had to prepare the gifts for the orphanage staff and a few other things we thought we would have time to do on Monday before meeting Cheyenne. Once that was complete, it was finally time to attempt to get some sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment