The Great Wall

Today was another exciting day here in Beijing. I started the day with another run up to Tienanmen Square. The weather was great for a run at about 5:30am this morning. By the afternoon though it was really hot. We had packed for cool weather here in Beijing, but it has been pretty hot. The last 2 days the temp has been around 91 for the high. It is also very dry here, very different from the hot and humid south we normally enjoy.
The highlight of today was the Great Wall. Landon has been looking forward to this for some time. It was a pretty amazing sight to see the wall snake along the top of the mountain.

We were at the Badaling portion of the wall and decided to hike up to the highest point of this section. It was steeper and more difficult to climb than we imagined. The kids wanted to climb to the top. I was very impressed when they reached the top. It was probably about 2 miles, but the fact that it was all incline and some parts were very steep made it extremely difficult. It was also a challenge that each step was a different size. One might be about 6 inches and the other about a foot. It is quite an impressive structure, especially when you consider it was done without modern tools, not to mention being on the side of a mountain.

After the Great Wall we had an authentic Chinese meal at a place called the Jade Palace. Below the restaurant was a market where they sold everything you could imagine that was carved out of jade. The food was really good. They served it family style on a super large lazy susan. 

After lunch we went to Hutong Lane where we took a tour in a rickshaw. It was pretty neat to ride down the narrow street. At one time this was how most of Beijing looked. The houses and shops were extremely small. It is hard to imagine a family living in such a small area. We visited one home and my guess is that between two floors it was 75-100 square feet. Most do not have their own bathroom. They share a community bathroom with many other families.

I think Landon's favorite part of the day was when Mr. Liu, the persons home we visited, gave us a little Kung Fu demonstration. He had a lot of pictures of his two sons who also know Kung Fu. Landon really liked it when he gave him the sword and showed him how to swing it.

 Another great day in Beijing. We are looking forward to Tienanmen Square tomorrow. Then Sunday morning we will fly to meet Addie for the first time. It will probably be Sunday afternoon for us, but very early Sunday morning for most of you when we get her. We have enjoyed our time here so far, but can not wait to hold her for the first time. We appreciate you praying for her and us.