saturday march 10 the summer palace

yesterday we started the morning out with official paperwork. In Beijing, we do the sponsorship and Visa side of things. Noah will need a physical done on Monday by a doctor.

In the afternoon we travelled to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was built outside Beijing by an emperor to escape Beijing's summer heat. A man made lake was added for extra cooling and beauty. By its size it is hard to believe it is man made. The lake also delivered the emperors right to their palace gates. In the center of the lake an appealing temple was built for the dragon of water. This dragon was thought to control the rivers and rain so during droughts or floods the emperor would bring sacrifices for this powerful dragon.


The longest corridor in the world was constructed so the emperors could travel under a roof from the palace to some of the palace gardens. The corridor is over 720m long. It contains thousands of paintings. No two paintings are the same.

The gaurds asked me if Noah was our son, we said of course "yes". They were quite enamoured with him, and it allowed for a great photo opportunity. It caused great concern to our guide who thought we were in trouble.

The emperor's ship symbolized the emperor's relationship to the people. The emperor was like the ship and the people like the water supporting the ship. One arrogant emperor built a stone ship in the lake to say he did not need the people. He was simply above them.

To end the day off, we went to a local restaraunt and had wonderful food. We had duck, including the bill and all parts. And to finish deep fried banana. Noah continues to impress us with his appetite. He is a very hungry little boy.

Noah's personality is emerging, as a sweet, humorous, even tempered little boy. We also realize, Noah needs to learn how to play, although they said he played with toys at the orphanage, it seems he has had little exposure to them. He enjoys wrestling with his dad, and truly enjoys playing, eating and bathing!!!