On to Tianjin!

Today we left Beijing around 10:00 to head toward Tianjin. Ten minutes into the ride, I realized I had left my camera back at the hotel so we had to turn around! Oh well! Once my camera was retrieved we hit the road again and made it to Tianjin an hour and a half later. Tianjin is another big city, like Beijing. I don't have any pictures coming into Tianjin because it was raining and we couldn't see much. Then we got lost because the driver had never taken a family to the hotel we requested to stay at. Normally the CHI families would stay at one of a few hotels in one part of town. We were going to be the only family staying in Tianjin this trip so we requested to stay at the Marriott because Paul gets special privileges there, like free Internet. But, unlike an American man, this guy stopped to ask for directions! In the end, he paid a cab driver to show us the way! We got to see lots of downtown Tianjin in the mean time.

After getting checked in we went to lunch at a local restaurant with our CHI coordinator. We had spicey Chicken Kung Pow, but that is not what the Chinese people call it! We are getting much better at using chop sticks!

As we came into the city we saw our first Super Walmart! I thought that was funny but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of it. We will probably take a cab over there one day to see if it is anything like our Super Walmart!

Since I did not have any pictures from today I am posting some others from our time in Beijing.

These are called mystery animals. They are on the four corners of the roofs of buildings in the Forbidden City and other Chinese buildings.

Another picture of the Great Wall

Women playing a traditional Chinese instrument. It had a flute like sound.

Tomorrow is Claire Day! We will meet our CHI coordinator, Jessie, downstairs at 9:00AM and we are supposed to be at the orphanage to get Claire by 10:00AM. Jessie wants us to get there a little early so we can take some pictures of the facility. She says the government will not let us take a tour and we can not stay long once we get the baby. So, my next post will be with our new family member! I can't wait to see her!