Day 2...

Hello All...
First I have to say that we are unable to view Mina's blog from the hotel in Beijing. I’m not sure why but we can't. I can post messages and pictures, well I could post pictures. We will continue to keep you all updated but as with most things in China it seems it is a challenge. Please continue to post replies and we will read them all when we get a chance.

We have run into a little snag with the laptop. I brought a converter (220v to 110v) but I didn’t get a "Heavy Duty" one. The laptop is drawing too much power so my converter is not working. I have depleted both of my batteries and had to resort to the hotel computer. That is why you will not get any photos today. We will try again tomorrow when we get to Nanning.

Today was a sightseeing day. Aunt Kati joined us for the day and we had a great time with her. We started the day going to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. These two sites are sort of connected together. Unfortunately, it was poring down raining and continued to rain all day. This is a monsoon rain. Steady and hard with gray sky’s. It was sort of hard to see much with all the rain and umbrella’s. The compounds are huge. We spent about 3 hours just walking from one end to the other, in the poring rain. We all tried to be good sports but it was a challenge. We next went to lunch at a traditional Chinese dinner. Dim Sum style. It was excellent. Not like the Chinese food in the US. Similar dishes but much lighter and wilder tasking, good though. The day ran way later than they had expected. We had to go to a short "orientation" at the adoption agency office and by the time we got done it was 3:30. Everyone wanted to get the chance to see the Great Wall so we trekked off to see it... IN THE POORING RAIN... It’s over an hour drive so by the time we got there it was 4:30. We only had a short time to look around and do a short hike up the wall. Its a very difficult climb. All the steps are stone carved and uneven. Every step is a different height. It was very beautiful though and I think I got some good photos.

After that we were just glad to get back and get dry. We spent what was left of the evening getting our paperwork organized for tomorrow. We head out to Nanning around 12 noon. We did get a little more info about Mina. She is in foster care and her weight is still stated at 16lbs. Other than that, we will just have to wait until we get her to find out more. We will get her on Monday but not until 5pm.

Well I guess that’s all for now. We are very tired and its been a crazy day. Thanks everyone for keeping up with us and we will try to keep you updated.

Love to all

Michael and Susan