The Great Wall Short Lived

Yesterday at last was the visit to the Great Wall alas cut short but first we had a chance to visit the Jade Factory as is the standard for all adoptive families and most likely other tourists. In the very beginning just past the entrance way was a man carving what I later found is the Family Ball. We did get one, it's a ball within a ball, quite interesting. Then we had a lecture on jade as our daughter sampled the different kinds of jade, some in form or smooth rocks and some with rough exterior. She was quite interested in the various textures. Of course jade is perfect for carving the many fire spitting dragons and many other items, other than jewellery, including a back roller, got one. My husband also surprised me with a beautiful ring and bracelet then we also got a necklace for each of the girls and a dragon for our son who was born in the year of the dragon. Maya is a rooster. Also got chop sticks and a couple of other things. It was quite a large room full of jade and we only got to see about the half of it. Maya wasn't interested in the little pearls, she wanted big pearls but I had no idea it can get that expensive but some items unfortunately were out of reach.

I'm only familiar with green jade or emerald but it appears there are many different colors of jade. I also like the many pinks. There was much jewellery with mixed colors.

At the end of this visit was a large ball rolling in water, had to put our hands on it just because it looked cool. After we were done at the Jade Factory it was time for the Great Wall. I also imagined this to be much larger and wider more curvy but it was narrow and just about straight up. Our guide Michael said you can put your foot on the first step and say you've been to the Great Wall, to each their own how much the will climb. My hubby said he was climbing the whole thing. My legs were sore even for the little bit that we did do, can't imagine doing he whole thing.

About here Maya started to separate from us because she really didn't want to go, she was mad that we were going anyway. You would think that she would be soaking up everything she's never seen before but that is not so. I even think that Maya thought as soon as we picked her up on Gotcha Day we would be taking her to Canada and now we are wasting time in China. She kept saying she was hot and her feet were sore because she was wearing flip flops but that is what she wanted over more sturdy sandals. She kept walking ahead of us, sometimes I let her and sometimes I took her by the hand and she didn't like it.

Here she snuck into this house where many people lingered in the shade and I couldn't see her.  I didn't like that because there were so many people there. When I got to the other side she was standing there so I took her hand and headed back to the bus. At first she wouldn't sit with us but eventually relented so we went to eat at a restaurant in town where Charlie got her this hat at one of the stands. We had lots of fun with this hat, joking and laughing in complete contrast of the time at the Wall. Below are photos by Maya of how the vases were done.

I wanted to get her name done this way but the wait was just too long and we were not in the mood for waiting. 

This photo shoot ended up being more photos of me than of her. Thank goodness for digital, half can be removed, lol. We were suppose to make a stop at the Olympic Stadium but everyone was too tired and ready to get back to the hotel for some rest so we just did a drive by, we were glad for that.  It takes a lot of energy to cram in all the sight seeing alongside all the paperwork and appointments that still need to be done  and keep a nine year old entertained to her satisfaction in the meantime.

OK it got a little goofy in the end whipping those beads around.

There is this wonderful sitting area in our hotel but you can't sit in it unless you order a drink or something so not much sitting going on here, it's mostly empty, otherwise there's no where else to sit in the lobby.  That's just silly I say.