Ladybug Adventures

Originally posted on Monday, September 1, 2003 7:24 AM CDT

Ni Hao!!

We have had quite a busy day today. We started out early with breakfast in the hotel restaurant. They have a breakfast buffet that has both western and chinese dishes. They even had Congee (chinese overcooked rice) on the buffet which we just had to try since that is one thing we know Emilie has had a lot of. And after tasting it, Steve says he now understands why Emilie is not smiling in any of her pictures. :) Congee is definite not something we particularly enjoy. Everything else was very good.



After breakfast we met our guide, Tom in the lobby to start our day of sight seeing. We took a 2 hour bus ride to the northwest of Beijing to climb the Great Wall. It was a beautiful sight. According to the Chinese we are now "heros" for having walked on the Great Wall. I must confess, Steve made it much further up the wall than I did, but we both had a wonderful time. While Steve was climbing the wall I became a celebrity with all the Chinese people who wanted to have their picture taken with myself and Dolores (one of the other ladies in our travel group).



After the Great Wall adventure we made our way back into Beijing where we had lunch at a restaurant / friendship store. After lunch we were able to walk around the store and see all the beautiful items they had for sale. One thing I am having trouble getting used to is their high pressure sales people. They are very adament that you purchase nearly every item in the store. Steve's not doing too bad at the bargaining so far though.

We then went to a pearl store / factory. We received a very nice presentation from one of the girls and then had time to shop for pearl necklaces, earrings, etc. Although the girls were extremely high pressure here (they follow you around the store), we chose not to purchase anything here, as we want to wait till we get to Guangxi Province before we purchase too many items.



From the pearl store we walked over to catch a ferry boat over to the Summer Palace. It was a very nice relaxing ride. The Summer Palace was quite an amazing site. It was very large with extremely ornate paintings and woodworking on all the buildings and walkways. It has the longest covered walkway in China at I think 700+ meters. Our guide Tom has been very good. He has been very good at filling us in on much of the history of China dealing with the sites we have visited so far.



This evening we just returned from a restaurant near our hotel where we got to experience Peking Roasted Duck. We all tried it and liked it, but it isn't something we would care to have too often. The rest of the dishes that Tom ordered were wonderful as usual.

Tomorrow morning we check out of our hotel here in Beijing before we leave to tour the Forbidden City. Tom said we would stop by McDonald's for a quick lunch on the way to the airport to catch our flight to Nanning. The flight to Nanning leaves at 1:10 pm and arrives at 4:20 pm. Tom said we will probably meet Emilie by 7:00 pm or so tomorrow evening. :) We can't wait!!

God Bless,
Steve and Lisa

Originally posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 6:33 AM CDT

Greetings from Beijing, China.

We arrived here at the hotel around 3:45 pm local time after a rather uneventful 12 and a half hour flight. We left Fort Wayne and 6:00 am and arrived in Chicago about 6:45. We had no problem finding the other two couples we are traveling with, the Murrays and the Hagans. They are both really nice couples and we think we are going to have a really good time with our small travel group.

Our guide, Tom, met us at the airport, helped us get our bags onto a bus and brought us to our hotel where he helped us get checked in. He then met all of us in the lobby at 6:00 pm this evening and took us to dinner at a local restaurant. Tom ordered a variety of dishes for us, which were served on a lazy suzanne in the center of the table so we could all try each dish. The food was excellent!

So far the weather here in Beijing has been very nice. When we arrived the temperature was 84 degrees with 5 mph winds. It was a little humid, but not too bad. Seems very much like the weather we just left behind in Indiana. This evening while walking back to the hotel from dinner it has cooled down a little with a really nice breeze. We may take a short walk a little later.

Tomorrow Tom is meeting us at 9:00 am to take us sightseeing for the day. We will first go to the Great Wall and then to the Pearl Market next to the Summer Palace and then we tour the Summer Palace.

Just in case we don't get to post again for a couple days, on Tuesday morning we will get to tour the Forbidden City. Then in the afternoon we will be flying to Nanning to meet Emilie!! :)

Hope you are all doing well.

God Bless,
Steve and Lisa

Originally posted on Friday, August 22, 2003 11:19 PM CDT

Ni Hao ("Hello" in Mandarin) Family and Friends!

We can finally announce our complete itinerary for our trip to China to get Emilie. On Wednesday we received our airline tickets, passports and visa's from Sunshine Travel. And today we recieved our itinerary for all of our in China travels. Our schedule looks like this:

Aug. 30
*United Airlines Flight 7519
Depart Ft. Wayne, IN 6:05 am
Arrive Chicago O'Hare 7:11 am
*** Meet our travel mates, Murray and Hagans families
*United Airlines Flight 851
Depart Chicago O'Hare 11:55 am
Arrive Beijing, China 2:35 pm (Aug. 31 - local time)

Aug. 31
Check into the Peace Hotel in Beijing, China (website for Peace Hotel= http://www.asiatravel.com/china/beijing/novetel/index.html)

Sept. 1
Tour the Great Wall and Summer Palace

Sept. 2
Tour the Forbidden City in the morning, then depart Beijing on Flight CZ8722
Depart Beijing 1:10 pm
Arrive Nanning 4:20 pm
***Check into the Majestic Hotel in Nanning and MEET EMILIE!!!!!
(Website for Majestic Hotel = http://www.nn-myxd.com/index_en.htm)

Sept. 3
Adoption paperwork (Registration and Notarization)

Sept. 4 - 7
Sightseeing in and around Nanning, Guangxi Province, China

Sept. 8
Get Emilie's Chinese Passport

Sept. 9
Fly to Guangzhou on flight CZ3308
Depart Nanning 10:30 am
Arrive Guangzhou 11:20 am
*** Check into the White Swan Hotel
*** Take Emilie for her Visa medical examination and get Visa photos taken.
(Web site for White Swan Hotel = http://www.whiteswanhotel.com/eng/Public/index.asp)

Sept. 10
Visa appointment at U.S. Consulate General 9:30 am

Sept. 11
Pick up Emilie's Visa at U.S. Consulate

Sept. 12
*Fly to Hong Kong on Flight CZ301
Depart Guangzhou 8:35 am
Arrive Hong Kong 9:20 am
** Hang out in Hong Kong airport for a few hours.
United Airlines Flight 896
Depart Hong Kong 12:40 pm
Arrive Chicago 2:15 pm (local time)
*** Clear Customs and hang out in O'Hare for a short time.
*United Airlines Flight 7522
Depart Chicago 4:26 pm
Arrive Ft. Wayne 5:25 pm

Here is one last website that you can visit if you are interested in seeing more pictures of Nanning where Emilie is currently residing. It also has pictures of the Nanning Social Welfare Institute, where she has spent some time and so much more wonderful infomation and photos. Have fun viewing: http://guangxi.crosswinds.net/Directory1/

Hope to arrive home around 7:30 pm to hopefully colapse into bed after and exhausting day of flying. However, Emilie may have other ideas at that point. :)

Just a reminder, if anyone would like to send us an e-mail while we are in China, we will be checking e-mail as often as possible at hoosier925@hotmail.com

Would appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers during our trip. Please pray that we all have a safe journey and that Emilie and the other two girls in our group will have an easy time adjusting to their new parents, homes and lives.