April 10th

We got up this morning, packed for our trip to the Great Wall and had breakfast. We left the hotel at 9am.

Our first stop was the largest Jade Factory in Beijing, where we purchased a few items for Lilah’s birthday list and a keepsake that Kendra was looking for. Lily said this one had the largest selection, but in looking for a Jade Monkey statue, we only found one that was to our liking and in our price range. Even then I had to do some sweet negotiating to get it in our range. I remember that the Jade factory was pricey during our last visit, but I thought this one might be even more so than the last. Anyhow, we got what we needed and headed back to the bus.

I had heard from friends of ours who had Lily as a guide previously that she had taken then to a smoother section of the wall, so we made a request on behalf of our group that we go there, rather than the steep section most groups go to. When we got to the Badaling section, we found that it was a much easier, although still difficult climb. The view was more spectacular and Naomi was able to make it to the top. All the way up she was looking for a camel and for Big Bird (she has a Big Bird in China video at home). While we didn’t find Big Bird, we did discover that at the top of this section there is a camel. The man wanted 100 RMB to take a photo, we negotiated him down to 20 and my dad’s Canada baseball hat to take our own. Naomi got on top of the camel and was absolutely beaming. Well worth the price! Joel had a beer in his hand (of course he always finds beer in the wildest places around here) and Lilah on his front. The camel is actually trying to get his beer, not Lilah in the photo below! Naomi did great on her climb. She walked all the way up and most of the way down. It obviously burned off some of her pent up energy because she then slept all the way to and during our lunch at a friendship store/restaurant combination. The bargains at the store that I remembered from our previous visit seemed to be gone – too many tourists, so we didn’t buy anything.

We arrived back at our hotel at 4:30pm, did some photocopying for our appointments on Monday with immigration, gave the girls some playtime and Lilah her dreaded bath. Lilah just about rolled over and was able to sit leaning on a chair for a few minutes this evening. Both firsts for her. She’s getting stronger everyday and also more lively. She’s quite a giggler and loves to play pat-a-cake. She’s teething right now, so sometimes she gets a little more irritable but it’s rare to find her in a bad mood. She is also a great sleeper thus far, and was in bed by 6:45pm. She is so easy to put to sleep, sometimes I can’t believe that she’s for real. I’m still waiting for reality to set in.

Lilah’s early bedtime afforded Naomi and I an opportunity to check out one of our new DVD’s. We had movie night together with Maya from next door, ate licorice and watched Pooh’s Grand Adventures. Every time I send Joel or my dad to get groceries they come home with a few more DVD’s because there are booths of bootleggers set up all around the store. One of them even said, “not for legal sale outside Canada or the USA”. Made me chuckle.

Tomorrow we’re off to the babies’ medical appointments and leave at 7:50am. We shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours, then we’re going to the Pearl Market. We still need to find some time to head back to Yashow to finish our shopping there, and go to the shoe place I heard of from Glen McGregor. Perhaps tomorrow when the rest of our group goes to Forbidden City.