Journey2Chelsea: Beijing Day 2 First Leg is a Wrap

The time change is proving to be difficult. It is very common for Michael or Myriam to be up between midnight and 4:00 AM. Unable to sleep we toil away attempting to access the internet. Myriam seems to have better luck accessing her company e-mail. It would appear blogging and uploading photos is a competitive event in China. Facebook and most Google functions such as Gmail and Google Translate do not work over here. The internet appears to be much more restrictive now than when we were here in 2006 getting Sophie. Speaking of Sophie she is sitting here quietly playing Bingo with herself at 4:30 in the morning wide awake with nothing to do for at least another four hours.

Today we will take the bullet train to Chelsea’s province. It is one step closer to our goal. Nolan is going to miss Beijing. He gives it 10 out of 10. He has decided that he will live in a big city when he is older. He loves the hustle and bustle the activity and the organization mixed with chaos. Sophie also liked Beijing giving it 9 out of 10. Had we done more shopping I am sure she would have upped her score. Sophie does not feel the need to live in the big city. She would be happy just living at the mall. Some of the bigger ones have bedding stores so she would have a place to sleep and new shopping adventures every day. Now Chase... Chase likes Bonney Lake, Specifically our house in Bonney Lake and more specifically his room in our house in Bonne Lake. The crowds, noise and smell do not exist there; although I am certain I have caught a whiff of the latter of those three emanating from his room in the past. Chase does not like to be bothered...with anything. He handled the locals taking pics of him pretty well. Not sure he smiled but they were not fascinated with his teeth it was the fair skin and blonde hair that caught the eye. His afternoon was a struggle. One of the first intersections we encountered (sidewalk and alley street) we warned the kids to watch because cars do not stop. Chase saw his opportunity with the green flashing pedestrian and made a break for it. As I have said earlier running in Beijing only makes you a higher valued target. A car had to quickly slow and a bike screeched its tires and Chase made it across the street. That incident rated Beijing a 1. As we moved closer to the square and the crowds increase Chase’s sore dropped I think to a low of 0.4. By the time we made it back to the hotel we were upping the score with every successful street crossing. At the end of the day we had made it all the way to 5; essentially saying eh I can take it or leave it. That is a monumental move for Chase.

Moving on today via the bullet train will without a doubt bring more challenges. Our driver can take us to the train station but is not allowed to help us with the bags. So 15 – 17 bags will be divided up between the 7 of us and off we go for a three hour ride. I am just assuming the internet will be even spottier in the rural parts of China but time will tell.