Beijing Tour Day 1

There are photos posted to the Dropshots site....look to the right-hand column for the link.
Yesterday was fun, we met more Children's Hope adoptive families and toured as a group the Temple of Heaven, and Old Beijing. This is where you see the old traditional homes of Beijing. Think zero lot lines where the houses touch to form courtyards, no front yards, and the only way in is on a narrow sidewalk. The number of stars above your door indicates your status in Chinese society, and you share a bathroom with your entire neighborhood. These are called hutongs. Our tour included a visit to a family's home. Modern Beijing is mowing these things down to make room for high rise apartments.
The Temple of Heaven was also interesting. Twenty plus Emperors used it for ceremonies honoring ancestors and various Gods. The area around the Temple was a huge park where there were thousands (it seemed) of people exercising, singing, playing cards, talking, and trying to sell tourist stuff to us.
My observations: The heat and humidity remind me of Houston. The smog is indescribable. The Chinses people drive agressively and politely all at the same time. If this were Texas, there would be daily shoot-outs between motorists. The Chinese are very friendly people. They seem to dote on their children. Beijing is under construction. We have observed so many Western businesses like 7-11, Starbucks(there was one in the airport), KFC, Pizza Hut. Half the bars have signs advertising Budweiser and the oddest sighting was a Century 21 Real Estate Office. That was strange.
Lisa and I miss the boys. Mom and dad have everything under control and many thanks to all our friends helping them out. It means so much. We have a cell phone here and it sounds like they are next door it is so good.
Being around the other families has been a blast. I will try to post other families websites for those who want to visit other family stories. Like, the story of the families who were here one day prior to us, where their tour bus was pulled over and the driver was arrested(taken away) by the police for not operating with the proper credentials. Evidently the bus was not licensed for tourists, it was supposed to be a better bus. Anyway, the police were very nice and even got everyone out for a group photo. This is a different country.
We will post when we can....the important posts come around Monday morning, Monday evening U.S. time.
DAy 2 of touring is The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, The Great Wall, and CHI offices in Beijing.