I am traveling to China to meet my new baby sister Elizabeth YunDan. She was born on January 21, 2008. I'm going on November 19th and getting back on December 5th. I'm traveling with my family. I'm going to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and 2008 Olympics.
Today, we went to a Buddhist Temple that has statues of 3 Buddha's. This temple has been around for over 1,500 years. There was a man there who led us to the middle of the temple and we knelt and he performed a chant and sprinkled cool water on our heads. He was hitting a small hollow wooden instrument in the ceremony. The blessing was to make the babies safe along with their parents and brothers and sisters. After the ceremony, there was a group photo of everyone taken.
Today we went to the Guangzhou Safari Park. My favorite animal was the White Tiger because it is really rare. I got to feed the Bengal Tigers some raw meat. They only have them in Las Vegas and China. I liked it on the mobile train as it took us around the Safari Park. We saw Black Bears, Zebras, Wilde Beasts, Giraffes, Lions, Elephants, Hippos and Tigers. We saw an Asian Elephant and you can tell the difference by their ear size. The African Elephant has bigger ears because he has to stay cooler than the Asian Elephant. China is famous for its Giant Pandas. Giant Pandas only eat bamboo and they eat a lot. We also saw 12 Koala Bears at the zoo. Koalas only eat Eucalyptus leaves. Eucalyptus is poisonous to most animals, but not the koala.
Today, we went to the Sea of China and spent time on the beach. One thing we did on the beach was go on a horse ride. It cost 10 Yuan per person (about $1.50 US Dollars). After the beach we went back to the White Swan Hotel. We stopped for lunch and visited a store that had all sorts of knives, blades, nunchucks and big butcher knives. My dad bought me an 8 piece torture tool. China has a lot of agriculture and the farmers work really hard to grow their crops and sell them for money for their family. They use a lot of bamboo in construction projects because it is better for the environment and it can be re-used. They use bamboo from 6 to 12 stories high.
We went to the Orphanage today and gave the Director and Assistant Director presents such as toothbrushes and clothes. For the nannies we gave them lipstick. We fed the older babies candies. I felt really sad because this is all they have in their life. We saw a lot of older children with cleft palates and they need surgery and families to adopt them. Cleft palate is a condition where the roof of the mouth doesn't come together completely which leaves a hole between the mouth and the nasal sinuses. While we were at the orphanage, we received Dan-Dan's finding clothes. These are clothes she was wearing when they found her. We also visited Dan-Dan's finding place which used to be a wedding picture studio, but they moved about a month ago.
Today we went to the Jade Factory. It was really exciting because they taught us how to tell the difference between real and fake jade. Real jade has a cloudy look that they call the Jade Flower and fake jade has air bubbles. I got a figure of an ox because I was born in the Year of the Ox. I saw a huge eagle made out of jade. It cost over $200,000 to buy. The Great Wall is over 3,000 miles long and the astronauts said it is the only man made thing they can see from the moon. It was built over 2,000 years ago. I only climbed a portion of the wall. I had to rest a lot and had no water for the climb. I finally got some water when I made it to the top. It must've taken the workers a very long time to build it. The portion of the wall that we climbed is built on a mountain. After lunch we went to learn about the history of different types of tea in China. There are five different types of hot tea. I really love the Oolong tea because it gave me a lot of energy. Teas are used to heal people and help the body in many ways. After the tea lesson, we went to see the Chinese Acrobat show. I liked the finale best.
