Both of us had a rough night of sleep, waking up multiple times and having a tough time getting back to sleep. Despite the lack of sleep the excitement of being in China and the parental energy of knowing Alia is just one plane flight away propelled us through the rest of the day...cat naps on the bus helped too!
We started out at the free hotel breakfast...don't think American hotel continental breakfast...think buffet feast breakfast. It was an interesting combination of fruit, yogurt, but mostly Chinese plates...noodles, congee, dumplings, pastries (not as sweet as in US), fried bananas, egg omlets and more! We've stuck to drinking just bottled waters and drinks, but felt comfortable with the many breakfast juices too...so far we're not sick, haha!
After breakfast we boarded the bus for a 45 minute trip through the city to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is where the emporers and empresses would travel for vacation and rest. We'll be describing it to our girls as Mulan's castle. It is a series of houses and large buildings around a beautiful lake. Kunming lake is huge and interestingly parts of it were hand dug by a group of 100,000 manual laborers hundreds of years ago.
It was a hot day today, so as we walked we were taking rest stops to regather our group and to drink water. Many of the buildings were rebuilt since being destroyed by French and English troops during the Opium Wars in the early 1900s, but wether rebuilt or original they were beautiful. Although the Summer Palace is massive in size, it is intricate in detail. Every ceiling and building was meticulously painted with amazing artwork. Simply beautiful.
We ended up climbing a good sized hill to the top of a beautiful Buddhist temple. Most of the tourists we saw (the Summer Palace was packed like Disney) were Chinese and many would offer prayers at the temple. There was even a 1.5liter Coke and a large fruit offered up to their "gods." As beautiful as the sights were, and as kind as the people were, this was a sad stop at the temple as it was a reminder that their prayers, offerings, and religious pursuits are an empty and hopeless pursuit. We pray that these people come to know the one, true, living God who made the only perfect and sufficient sacrifice in His Son Jesus Christ on the cross.
"This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:11-12
After descending down the hills and rocks we returned to our bus via a "dragon boat" ride across Kunming Lake, saying goodby to beautiful Summer Palace. For our next stop we journeyed to the Olympic Park, best know for the "bird's nest" stadium and "the cube" aquatic center from the 2008 Olympics. Although you could pay to go into the buildings, most of us were satisfied by a quick visit with a few pictures. We then hung out for awhile eating ice cream and chatting with some of the locals. Our group has several American children of ages 3-12 so the kids bring a lot of attention.
On our way back to the hotel we made an impromptu stop at a large tea house called Dr. Tea. It was a fun experience (they didn't let us take pictures of the tea service itself) of being served four types of tea and learning their different uses and cooking techniques. Fruit tea and Jasmine tea seemed to be the favorites.
Our lunch and dinner meals were great experiences too! We dined in different spots but the format and food was very similar. We ate fish, beef, chicken, pork and lots of rice, noodles, and veggies. We stayed away from the cold, unpeeled fruits (danger of getting sick) but enjoyed the many other foods along with many glasses of Coke! Some of our group members were more adventurous than others, but the favorite plates seemed to be the fish, crispy pork rolls, peanut chicken, rice, and beef strips. The fish is served differently here, with the head and tail on the platter. Since it was grossing out the kids we made a joke of it and named the fish Samuel. By the end of the meal, Samuel still has his eye on us, but he must've felt several pounds lighter haha! They also had an in-restaurant aquarium (think Red Lobster tanks times 10) with turtles, snails, fish, flounders, and shrimp. It appeared that the aquarium mortality rate was hovering around 50% but maybe keeping dead fish in a tank kept them fresher? It was better to see that post-meal, ignorance is bliss!
Well, in about 24 hours we will be headed to Guiyang, Guizhou to pick up our Alia (who lives in an orphanage in Anshun, Guizhou). We can't wait to meet her. It is hard to do tourism when you are so ready to hold your child, but we know this time is a good time for adjusting our bodies to the time change and we are thoroughly enjoying learning about the amazing Chinese culture.
On the way in to the Olympic Park we noticed a disabled man (missing an arm) who was visibly poor, dirty, and begging for sustenance. We couldn't help but wonder his story. Had he been an orphan, abandoned because of his differences? Had he had difficulty finding work because of his is disabilities? Would this have been our daughter's future with her arm differences? All of our group members are adopting children with special needs, an amazing picture of Christ's love in going after children in their time of need.
Today was also a great day of story-sharing, about our adoptive kids, ours families, and our friends back home who have prayerfully, financially, and lovingly sacrificed to come alongside us in our adoption journey. It was so encouraging to hear of God's provision, protection, love and direction towards each of these families. Thank you to all of you who have helped pray, support, and encourage us and others in adoption. We are overwhelmed by God's love through you. There are 150 million orphans in our world...an overwhelming number. Let's keep making a difference, one by one, little by little. These little lives need us...and we desperately desire them!
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