We are in Taiyuan, the capital city of the Shanxi province which is the province Chloe is from. It is a city of about 3 million people. It looks very much like New York City to me, with lots of high rise apartments. The streets are always bustling with activity with people, bikes, cars and buses. They have some really neat looking suspension bridges. There is a ton of construction going on here which of course is interesting to my husband the real estate guy. There seems to be cranes everywhere building huge high rise apartment complexes. It is kind of mind boggling to think that that many more people will be moving into the city.
In the morning yesterday, we toured the Jinci Temple with our guide. Here is a little history about it from Wikipedia: Jinci Temple is Shanxi’s most famous temple complex. It is located 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Taiyuan at the foot of Xuanweng Mountain at the Jin Springs. It was founded about 1,400 years ago and expanded during the following centuries, resulting in a diverse collection of more than 100 sculptures, buildings, terraces, and bridges. The best known structure at Jinci is the Hall of the Holy Mother, which was constructed in 1032. It has carved wooden dragons coiled around the eight pillars that support its upward-curving double-eave roof. The complex includes a classical garden with a 3,000-year old cypress dating from the Zhou Dynasty. Next to Jinci is the Wang Family Hall, a private villa built in 1532 for Wang Qiong, a high ranking official during the Ming Dynasty.
Out by the temple is seemed a little more remote. There were significantly less people than the tours in Beijing. Caleb was only asked to take his picture once there. He is such a good sport.
In the afternoon, we decided to venture out by ourselves and explore the area around our hotel. There is a big park a few blocks from our hotel. It is like a mini Central Park. There were lots of walkways, a large pond/lake and an amusement park. We were definitely the only foreigners in the park which caused a lot of head turning. They had little boats you could rent to tour the pond. We decided that would be a fun thing to do, so we found the boat rental place. Unfortunately, the worker there did not speak much English. There were both motor boats and paddle boats and we wanted to make sure we got the motor kind. With some pantomime and her saying numbers in English, we were able to determine that it was 50 Yuan for 1 hour with a 50 Yuan deposit that was returnable if we were back in one hour. While out on the water, we again caused a lot of head turning. All the boats going by would look at us sort of strangely and then say hello. It was fun. After we were done we went to a drink stand to get some drinks which again they did not speak English. We just had to point to tell her which drinks we wanted. Then when we asked how much she could not say numbers in English and so Kevin just gave her money that would be more than enough and she gave us change. We thought it was funny because the drink stand was red with a big Coke sign and they sold Pepsi! We had looked all over because I am having a hard time finding diet Coke (I guess that is something I should have packed!). Last night we decided to go eat at Pizza Hut that we saw on the way to the park. Again, they did not speak English. They serve way more than pizza at the Pizza Hut there. They also had a bunch of unusual looking pizzas like shrimp on pizza. We were able to order by pointing to things on the menu. The food was very good and tasted just like in the USA.
So today in about 4 hours we get Chloe. There is a sense of nervous anticipation. I still can’t believe this is real. We are so excited about the future but feel a little nervous about how this encounter will go. I know this is one step out of a lifetime of memories. I am reflecting again that the day we met Caleb (when he was born) it was not a good day, but yet look how wonderful our life is now! So I know whatever happens today (whether good or bad) will eventually turn into something wonderful. We just need to be patient and let this miracle work in our lives. Thanks for all the prayers, support and words of encouragement!
I am hoping to post some pictures again, but had some trouble the first time. So if I can’t do it, I’ll send them to my Dad who uploaded them last time.
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