Beijing - Day 4

First stop today was The Summer Palace and Lake Kunming.









On the way to lunch we passed by the stadium they are building for the 2008 Beijing Oplympics opening ceremony. There are many buildings under construction in preparation for the Olympics.



We had a special treat this afternoon. We went to the home of Frank and Marilyn and their son Jiawen. Frank and Marilyn were our guides when we traveled to China the first time. Our first trip was Marilyn's last trip before she had their son. She said she remembered us and the way Lin-Ley cried all night one night at the hotel. They told us that they were also hospitalized after returning from that trip with SARS symptoms. Mary (our current Beijing guide) and Marilyn are sisters.



Marilyn's mother, two of her sisters and two nieces were there as well. Her mother was rolling the small dough pieces for Chinese dumplings and we helped fill the dumplings. Well we tried to help. All of their dumplings were perfect. Mary told me that my dumplings looked like rabbits! Then they cooked the dumplings and we ate them. All of this was supposed to be for Lin-Ley but she was much too busy playing! It was lots of fun and Lin-Ley had a great time. She and Jaiwen were instant friends. At one point Jaiwen told his parents that he had a new sister. When we finally had to leave Lin-Ley was very sad because she told me she wanted to stay there forever.

We leave Beijing tomorrow (Sunday). We will leave the hotel, go see the Giant Pandas, do a little shopping and then it is on to the airport.

We fly to Lanzhou were we will finally meet Tru on Monday!!

I will post again once we become a family of four!!