23 hours and counting down

Yesterday was our last day in Beijing. We did the marathon sightseeing tour of Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, a cloisonne factory, the Great Wall, and finally a drive-by viewing of the Water Box and Bird's Nest stadiums. It was wonderful, historic, and exhausting. Devyn made fast friends with Cassie a little girl in our group; she is 6 years old, adopted from China at age 2. Her family is here to adopt a 2 year old boy, just like us. The two China girls talked a lot about their little brothers. We will see Cassie's family again at the White Swan, and I'm wondering if we'll be dragging the two little boys out of the carp ponds.

Eiley, Mia, and Devyn climbed the Great Wall to the 2nd tower. Scott and I opted to stop just past the first tower and take photos of them. They had some shaky legs by the time they got back down! Of course, we bought the universal souvenir: t shirts.

Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City were much more crowded this time than in 2005, partly due to the fact that the flower displays from the Olympics and Paralympics were still there for viewing and partly due to the National Holiday on October 12.

This morning we met in the lobby of the Poly Plaza at 5:30 AM and went to the airport. It was a very comfortable flight to Chongqing on China Southern, and we were met at the airport by our guide Sophie. Our little travel group is now 2 families, as all the families in Beijing have gone to their separate provinces to get their children. We will all reuinte in Guangzhou as a large travel group.

Chongqing is a huge mega-city, so large that it was promoted to a sub-provincial municipality, sort of piggybacked on the Sichuan province. It is very hilly and foggy here, much like San Francisco. Chongqing looks (and smells) like the China I remember from our previous trip, unlike the Westernized, beautified Beijing. There is still evidence of the destruction from May's earthquake, but there is also evidence of progress. A new monorail has been completed, and work is underway on a subway. Chongqing Municipality has a population of about 34 million, and the city center alone has a population of about 8 million.

Jon Wiley's SWI (orphanage) is about 75 miles from here. He will make the trip to Chongqing tomorrow, and I hope it won't upset him too much. The other family's daughter is in an orphanage just down the street! If I were in their shoes, it would make me crazy to know that she's right here, but that I have to wait until tomorrow to meet her.

Sophie told us that she had checked on both children, and she gave each family their child's finding ad. This is the newspaper ad that the government posts when an abandoned child is found. The finding ad for each child in Chongqing runs for 3 months, in search of the birth parents, before the child can be declared an orphan. Devyn's finding ad in Hunan ran for 6 months, perhaps due to the accusations of child snatching in that province. Jon Wiley is 2 days old in the photo for his finding ad and is described as very thin and weak. Apparently he's not so weak or sickly now. After telling the other family that their daughter was healthy and shy, Sophie told us, "Your son is very healthy, also very active. Director told me your son so active they have nickname for him. They call him Monkey Boy." Oh my. This could be very interesting.

The Holiday Inn Yangtze is quite nice, and I'm surprised by how large the rooms are. From our room and from the girls' room, there is a nice view of the Yangtze River. We walked to Trust Mart (a Wal-Mart partner) and bought some sprite, diet pepsi, noodle bowls, and yes, the Lays International Chips. I have finally found a flavor I don't like: lychee. I imagine a similar experience would be eating potato chips soaked in Mr. Clean.

When Scott and I walked into our room, we found that the hotel staff had already supplied us with a crib, a stroller, and a baby bathtub. Whoa. This is really happening.

Tonight we will eat dinner in a hotel restaurant -- either the Western restaurant or, more likely, the Sichuan restaurant. Tomorrow at 1:30 PM we meet Sophie in the lobby and proceed to the Civil Affairs office. The SWI staff will have Monkey Boy there by 2 PM, and after we meet him, they will give us 30 to 45 minutes to ask the SWI worker any questions we might have. I wish we could meet the foster parents, as I'm sure they have the real information we seek, but I'll take whatever I can get. We are preparing a written list of questions, because I know my mind and Scott's mind will go completely blank once we get there.