Beijing

What a wonderful and long day. We went to bed last night at 7pm but were awakened by a phone call from our guide, Michael, at 8:15pm. After that I didn't fall asleep again until after 10. Eric and I were both wide awake around 1:30. We forced ourselves to stay in bed and managed to get some more sleep on and off until about 5am. We left for our Beijing tour at 8:30 and just got back a few minutes ago. Today we saw Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. The picture above is from Tianamen Square as is the one below of the child in split pants. All of us in the group have noticed that many families have little girls. The preference for boys does not appear to extend to Beijing.
My intentions of going through China squat-potty free ended quickly in the Forbidden City. Note to future travelers...go to the bathroom in the Forbidden City. They are the cleanest restrooms you will see all day. They do have Western style toilets too, but since there is no such thing as a line in China you just have to push through and get what you get. Once you do it once, it's no big deal. I actually find it harder to keep my mouth closed in the shower than I do to use a squat potty. Do make sure you bring tons of Purell and tissue though. I also would advise against open toed shoes :) All the bathrooms today did have doors. Flushing is apparently at user discretion :)
So to all you 10/28ers..the gauntlet has been thrown. Eric and I and our fellow travelers made it to the 5th tower on the Great Wall. Let us know how far you make it next month.....when it's hotter. The Great Wall is a misnomer. It should actually be called the Great Steps. Holy Cow! My legs are burning. Use the restroom right before you start climbing the wall. Your legs will be so shaky after you climb up and down that using the squat potty will be much harder :) I can't describe how amazing it is to be in China and actually be on the Great Wall. Unfortuantely there is so much pollution in Beijing that even on a "clear" day, everything looks pretty hazy. We did the tour today with everyone who will be traveing to Nanchang tomorrow. They separate you in to groups based on your orphanage. It's really great though since we did spend about 10 hours getting to know everyone before we all get our babies tomorrow. Everyone we're traveling with is so nice, we're very fortunate.

Our room service just arrived. We're going to eat dinner and watch some of the NCIS DVDs we brought with us. Our last night as just a couple. I'll post again after getting Zoe settled tomorrow night (if I'm not too exhausted).