Days 1 & 2: Beijing

We had a whirlwind 24 hours to see Beijing. Our flight arrived around 2:30 Friday afternoon, and we caught the bullet train to Bean's city at 2:00pm today. It ended up being a fun overnight adventure.

Last night we took a long walk (mainly in an attempt to keep our jet-lagged selves awake later than 5:30pm). I'm kicking myself for not bringing my camera because we ended up at a super interesting food market. There was one stand selling kabobs unlike any I've ever seen. They had centipedes, snakes, bees, and tarantulas. Seriously. (No, I wasn't brave enough to try one.)

This morning we started off with a very authentic breakfast.

Try not to be jealous of our ability to adapt to a new culture so quickly. ;)

After breakfast, we took a walk to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was fun adventuring on our own. Of course, we had to take some selfies. Here we are outside the Forbidden City...

...and hanging out with a lion statue...

...and, um, just being our special selves.

On our way back to the hotel, we walked through several hutongs. These are traditional Chinese neighborhoods made up of alleys that connect courtyard residences. Some of them have been around for hundreds of years.

I love the hutongs. I think they are filled with personality and really unique architecture. The crazy thing about Beijing is the fact that a street like this...

...is literally just a minute's walk away from a street like this, where you can shop at stores like Tumi and Apple.

After our very American breakfast, we got brave and walked into a little Ch*nese restaurant for lunch. We managed to order lunch on our own, even though none of the employees spoke English. Best of all, everything we got was super yummy and our whole meal cost less than $10.

Our guide picked us up at noon to head to the railway station. We chose to take the bullet train to Bean's city instead of flying. It's less expensive, and we were excited about the opportunity to see rural Ch*na. Plus, the bullet train is pretty much the coolest method of transportation ever. Here we are in the train station.

The ride took about four-and-a-half hours, and we got to see lots of countryside and small villages. I tried to take a picture for you, but we were going a little too fast.

We arrived in Bean's city around 6:30pm. There's another adoptive family here this week who is working with our agency, so we get to travel together and share a guide. They are super sweet, and our guide is wonderful!

Our hotel is very nice, and it's located close to the center of the city. We can walk to lots of shops and restaurants (including DQ), as well as some interesting historical landmarks. Bean's city was the capital of Ch*na before Beijing, and they've worked hard to preserve the history of the city.

Here's the best part of our hotel room.

They had this sweet little crib ready for Bean..who we get to meet at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon!!! (For those of you at home, that's 2:00am Sunday morning.) We are so excited hold our baby girl! 

Alright...time for bed. I'll have pictures of Bean in my next post!