After we visited the Great Wall, we went to a Cloisonne factory and Jade market. Even though Cloisonne originated in France, this is one of the crafts mastered in Beijing. Very intricate and time consuming. Somehow I don't have a picture, but they make designs with delicate metal, paint and fire it and make beautiful pieces. We had a traditional Chinese lunch. It is amazing how much food they put out and how inexpensive. On the way out, we found a gentleman who painted Daniel's name for us with Chinese animals and characters. The fat budda is solid Jade and must weigh ton.
We then met up back at the hotel with our travel partners Liz and Steve to continue our journey.
Not everyone travels with other families. But I am glad we did!! They are so nice and they are adopting a 23 month old little boy from the same orphanage as Daniel.
The difference in pollution once we arrived in Taiyuan was unbelievable. It looks like it is cloudy and raining in this picture, right? Wrong. Unbelievable air pollution. When we walked from the elevator to our rooms, it was chokingly bad. Made me not want to take a breath. Smoking is still pretty common in China and there are no restrictions on where people may smoke. Add this to the regular smog and it is overwhelming. They don't have air conditioners in the hotel here. Guess it doesn't get that hot in the summer. We are in a mountainous region. We had to open our window to get any relief.
Tomorrow, Monday we will be united with the boys!!!! It is hard to believe that the moment has arrived.
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