Anne LiJie Rose Wilson: Travel Journal

Travel Journal

March 18, 2013

We had a very full day today. The day started earlier than expected when Dayna woke up before 5 am (and therefore, Dan & Alaina were up that early as well.) But as the sun came up...wait...what's that? The sun? With blue sky? We knew that some of you must have been praying. Today's air quality was as low as 19. They say this is the best air quality Beijing has experienced in over 3 years. We were also able to see the mountains around Beijing.

There was a bit of adventure as we were waiting for the driver to show up. Once we were finally on the road, it took us a little over an hour to reach the Great Wall.

But before we tackled this new adventure, Alaina had to face something she managed to completely avoid the first time we came to China. The dreaded squatty. (If you're not sure what we're talking about, you might want to do a Google Image search for a squatty potty.) Once this new adventure was faced, we were ready to experience the Wall.

Elaine took us to a place along the Great Wall that would require less walking for Alaina. It also happened to feature a cable car ride up the mountain and an alpine-style toboggan slide back down. It was a considerable amount of walking. Up steps. Down steps. Up some more steps. And down again. We managed to hike for about 2 hours and saw some spectacular views. The great air quality today also allowed for some really good pictures.

Once back in Beijing, we were all pretty tired. Alaina's ankle indeed help up well for the afternoon, but a little ice and elevation were in order at this point.

Cailian wanted to experience traditional Hot Pot with us for dinner. We went, along with Scott and Elaine's family, and had another new experience. We've heard of Hot Pot, but never eaten that style before. You have 2 simmering broths with oil; one spicy, one mild. In this bubbling mixtures, you add thinly sliced meat (we had lamb and beef), vegetables (we had sweet potatoes, seaweed and golden mushrooms), seafood (shrimp paste) and noodles (we had a vermicelli and a thick glutinous rice noodle.) The food kept coming, and we kept eating.

After dinner, it was time to say "Zai Jian" to Katherine and Cailian. We had a tearful farewell back in October, and we're so blessed to have been given another chance to see them. But it's still hard to say goodbye.

Now, we're all getting pretty sleepy, and trying to figure out the game plan for tomorrow. We're all getting a bit tired, but there are still things to see!!!! We're hoping for a good night's sleep so we can regroup in the morning.

Prayer requests:

• Pray for Dayna's heart that's hurting after saying goodbye to her friend.

Praises:

• Alaina's ankle held up today.

• The air quality was better.

• The wonderful times we've had with good friends.