One year ago today this is what happened:

The Babies Arrive from my point of view.
Gocha! from team Farmers point of view.
The whole story by Team Farmer and me.

Team Farmer checks in from home.

Life is still upside down (thus a post at 3am). Yesterday I managed to walk out of the grocery store without one of my two bags of groceries and when drew a bath for myself I did it with cold water.
I can’t image making the transition back with a day job and children to care for.
CHINA
What an amazing place. I would go back in a heartbeat, even to live for a year. The people are open and friendly. Almost always willing to go the extra mile, with a smile. They tried their limited broken English to help me, when I had nothing but “hello” and “thank you” in their language.
One of my flights home I sat next to a man who has worked in China for the last 4 years. His only complaints about living there was the water and the air. Other wise it was great.
There are parts of the Chinese culture that developed three to five thousand years ago, well before the scientific method and the rational mind. It makes it a provocative place to do a little self-examination.
I would love to spend time studying something there. Acupuncture, the language, or one of the many forms of meditation and movement. Something. Anything.
FREEDOM
Can you open this link?
If you can, then you are not in China.
Over the last two decades China has made a number of strides towards the economic freedom of its people. 25 years ago, there was less than 5000 televisions in the whole country. The market was completely planed.
Today day it is different, but it far from free. Journalist and religious leads are regularly jailed, without trial (or what would be considered a fair trial).
The country has one of the worst human rights records in the world and the worst of the developed world. Most of the country is still under a one child policy.
I am a firm believer in free(fair) markets create free minds. In order to become a member of the WTO the Chinese government made a number of economic concession that move more and more business out of the hands of the government and into private hands (many time foreign, but private none the less).
With progress the thirst for freedom is only going to grow stronger. As more and more Chinese see what other have, they will demand it to.
Things can’t stay the same.
I can only see two paths. Ouster of the current regime or a lash back from the current regime (a la Tiananmen Sqr.) at those whoe demand more.
Both paths are going to cause disruption and pain.
Please pray for the Chinese people and their freedom.
MVP OF THE TRIP
I blew out one of my flip-flops a few days before heading to China.
I broke down and bought a pair of Crocks. They look ridiculous. Especially in a size 12.
But they were closed toed (a must in the developing world) and they are so comfortable.
If feeling comfortable and looking so silly is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
CHINESE PEOPLE
One of the dads on the trip told me he was going to go home and tell his oldest son, “You need to move to China, study for a year, and marry a Chinese woman.”
The Chinese would claim to have more than 50 races in their country. Something we would just call Chinese. After the time we were there I would believe it. Many, many different looks.
And they are beautiful people.
Absolutely stunning.
OH YEAH, ONE OTHER THING
I can’t not believe how blessed I am. I went to a place I never dreamed I would be. I saw things I never dreamed. (In the last two weeks I was in Tiananmen Sqr. And walked part of the Great Wall.)
As I have said, an amazing place I hope to return to.
But I experienced something more powerful.
I saw 14 families change forever.
I can put myself back in the hotel conference room as the first sets of babies came in. Tears and smiles and hugs and more tears.
As I was walking around the room during the second set of babies one of the moms said, “Gene, I would like you to meet my daughter.”
How cool is that.
It happens 50,000 times year with foreign families and 150,000 with local families. 13,000 from the US alone.
And I got to be there.
Many times I almost felt like I was an intruder in some private moment. More of burden than a help for what was going on.
I watched people open their lives and homes (especially two people who I love deeply and dearly).
It is easy (and fun) to give trip highlights and show off pictures and talk of squid on a stick.
None of that can touch choice those families made (three of them it was the second time).
Please keep all those families in your prayers. I know many of you checked the web sites daily (if not more), looking for pictures and news. It was great to know some many of you were involved in the Farmer journey. But just because Ava (and the other girls) are home and now US citizens, with loving families doesn’t mean the story is over.
It is just beginning.
If you have a moment from time to time, please offer a prayer for those girls, those families, those who feel abandoning their daughters is there only choice, those who work in the orphanages and are foster families in China, and that many more would be willing to open their hearts and homes to those everywhere who don’t have a home to call their own.

Home. Safe. Don’t know which ways it up.
Today I went to mass, a movie, and then was going to make a phone call or two to catch up.
But I fell asleep for a short nap.
Then it was 1030pm.
I guess I am still on China time.
BROKEN LINKS
In my last post there was two links that didn’t work (because I didn’t add them).
Astro Boy: Cartoon from the 60′s which is making a come back both in the US and it’s homeland Japan. I bought the coolest t-shirt ever.
red magic: The coolest action figures/art ever!
HONG KONG PHOTOS
Here a few photos of Hong Kong. Photos taken on cheap/dieing digital camera don’t do the city’s energy justice.

Full trip in review to come next.

Found free wi-fi in the Tokyo airport. Here is a recap of yesterday.
NOTE: While trying to upload pictures I broke my card reading. Photos of Hong Kong will come in a few days.
The wake up call came early. Too early. By 15 min. I guess our guides didn’t trust us to get up on our own. So the phone rang at 4:30.
It was a restless night sleep. Early morning fro travel have a tendency to be that way. Not wanting to over sleep wakes you every 45min.
The flight from Guangzhou was uneventful. Lots of families heading home with new member. Not just folks from our group.
I was in row 6, so I was one of the first people off the plane. I counted 25 babies on the flight. Only 6 or 7 were from Brad and Joia’s group.
I hugged the Farmers and my new friends good bye and headed for customes.
Because our flight was mostly transfers, most of the luggage was also transferred to other flights. My bag got mixed up in them. It took almost 90 min. to track down.
But it was found, again with friendly, helpful, smiley people.
I waked to the hotel (attached to the airport) and check in.
WHAT TO DO
I sat down at the desk in the hotel room trying to decided what to do with my one day in Hong Kong. It came down to seeing the city or spend the full day to get to the country to see a 200 ft. tall golden Buddha stature outside a temple and monastery.
It was a hard choice, but in the end I decided to hit the city. I was tried and needed food. I knew I could find food and could get back to the hotel easily if I needed to.
The day was planned in three acts.
So I headed to the express train from the airport to down town.
LUNCH
I was just short of noon when I got down town. I oriented myself to my map and the city.
I hadn’t eat anything all day, so food was the first order. The train station downtown was also a high-end mall. It had lots of restaurants, but they were all going to cost $25. It was my last day, so I thought I should still go native.
Leaving the station/mall I found myself in the business district. I wondered into a local fast food restaurant, which wasn’t really fast food. It was Chinese food, but of much higher quality than Panda Express or something you would find in a US mall.
Even though the restaurant only had small tables, the seating was still family style. You found an empty seat, not an empty table. It was the only way we would. The place was buzzing and packed.
Two things worth noting at lunch. First, the managers wore paper hats. Men in suits and ties were wearing old school McDonald’s style paper hats which read manager in English and Chinese.
Second, a British man in front of my threw a hissy fit over his drink. I was behind him when he and he female companion ordered. They got the order right, he might have miss understood what he was ordering.
The man screamed and yelled and threw a temper tantrum a 5 year old would have been proud of. The manager came over and accommodated him immediately.
Thoughts that went through my head in the order they came: The people working here can’t be paid enough to have to deal with this. Customer service here (like in the main land) is amazing. I’m glad it is a British guy acting like an ass, not an American.
I thanked the people giving me my food in English and both poorly pronounced Mandarin and Cantonese. And I smiled extra big.
THE TRAM (ACT I)
The first stop of the day was the tram. Hong Kong is spread of a could of very hilly islands. There is a 120 year old tram that runs 1500 feet up one of the hills at a pitch of 14-30 degrees. The guild book said to see the city from that vantage point.
So off I went.
When I had gotten downtown I was tired and very hot. It was the hottest day I encountered in China (and we had lots of very hot days). Being on the cost, it was also much more humid. I wasn’t sure how long I was going to last.
But then came the energy. It was one part lunch and three parts downtown.
I felt like I was in mid-town Manhattan. I love big cities. The energy. The life. Tens of thousands of people packed together. Just awesome.
When traffic was allowed to cross the street, it did from all directions. For someone who is enjoying being quiet, inside myself more and more as time passes, I love this sort of thing more and more.
I also saw my first Bentley being driven. Beautiful car. (If anyone is looking for an early Christmas present, I wouldn’t say no.)
Found the tram. Bought a ticket. Up I went.
Hong Kong is a beautiful city. 6.5 million people is a space smaller than Manhattan island.
The pictures don’t do it justice.
PACIFIC MALL(ACT II)
Stop number two was a huge fashion mall. It was about a 45 minute wall. It is amazing, things look much simpler in a handheld, flat map.
The city on, the other hand, is a little bigger and not flat.
It was a good walk, a hard walk, but a good walk.
By the time I got to the mall I was exhausted.
And very very sweaty. I wasn’t wearing my micro fiber shirt. Instead it was cotton. Clinging to every bit of sweat.
I sat for a few minutes and finished off my oolong tea. (Side note: I love the fact that oolong is in my spell check.)
The mall was very high end. Polo, D&G, and lots of other stores I would have been very impressed by if I knew anything about fashion.
It was the type of place you could spend $100 on a t-shirt.
I went into a number of the men’s business wear stores. The clothing just sung. The fabric was beautiful. It was like going into the Prada, looking at the painting.
All I could do was shake my head and smile.
In my sweaty state I didn’t touch anything. I am not sure if the attention I received in the stores was because of the high level of customer service or if they feared I would soil their clothing.
THE NIGHT MARKET
The last stop was to the Taylor street night market. It was only 2:00p and the market (according to my guide book) would open at 4pm.
I hopped on the subway. I figured I would get the lay of the land and grab a bite and a cold drink.
I found the neighbor hood. Wandered for 30 minutes.
Once again, very hot and sweaty. Found some French bread stuffed with tuna and baked and a cold malted beverage.
It was only 330p at this point. Looking at the map, there were two other street markets close by. I was off.
School had just gotten out, so the streets and stores were filled with high school students. The stores amazing. I would have been fun to be a teeny-bopper girl with a small hand full of cash.
I wondered for close to two hours.
My second favorite section was a group of toy stores. Really they were action figure stores. The Chinese and Japanese do toys, comics, and cartoons so whimsically. I ended up buying some. The coolest figures ever. See the store’s web site: red magic.
My favorite place was a group of photo kiosks. You know the kind where you climb in to have your picture taken. They were computerized. After you took a bunch of pictures you could chose which pictures you wanted and dress them up.
You could add heats, starts, and write words. (Ex. I saw: Friends forever, true love)
This places was packed with high school kids. Very fun.
I then bought a few bootleg >Astro Boy watches from the street vendors for 2 dollars each. If they are working by the time I get home I will be amazed.
I returned to the Night Market at 630p only to see they were just setting up and it was going to be underwhelming in comparison to what I just left.
I decided to head to another part of down town. Walked around for an hour. Window shopping.
Then back to the hotel.
After stopping in airport for a little food it was back to hotel.
Asleep by ten.
Alarm at 600a.
Off to the airport.

The families can see the finish line. We have just gotten back from our last group dinner.
The first group (including us) leaves the hotel at 5:45 tomorrow morning.
I am only flying to Hong Kong. I will spend the day there tomorrow and fly home Saturday.
The quote of the day came from Marisa the 4 year old. She was adopted about 3 years ago from the Hunan province. “I like China, but I like home more.”
A lot of people in our group would agree.
SHOPPING
The morning activity was shopping at the pearl market.
Many of the parents bought pearls for latter in their daughters lives.
We were in stores that hand tens of thousands of pearls. And it was store after store like this.
I didn’t buy anything, because I had no idea if I was being had. I know nothing of pearl quality. (I really I like silver much more than gems, stones, and pearls).
Most folks headed home after that. I wondered the shopping district.
Most stores have someone standing out front yelling about what they have in side, what is for sale, and why you should come in.
Words of English most of these people know: hi, hello, how are you, come inside, and hansom.
I was called hansom more times today than the rest of my life combined.
For all I know there could be some Chinese word that sounds like hansom, but means “big silly white boy”.
The prices were hard to wrap my head around. One store which would be equal to American Eagle or the Gap had a sale where stuff was 2 for 20 yuan (which is $2.50). I bought two t-shirts for $6.25.
It is more a cost of living thing than anything else. Most folks make less than $2000 a year and any sense of free market is less than 20 years old.
For $300 I could buy one of the coolest wardrobes ever (assuming I was 6 inches shorter).
I love looking at what others think is cool and trendy. Most of the shirts that had writing on them were in English. Part of that could be because we are less than 60 miles from the former British Protectorate Hong Kong.
I wanted to find stuff with Chinese characters on it. It was almost imposible.
LUNCH
While wondering the market I got one last squid on a stick.
On my way back to the hotel I needed something more substantial. I was looking for some rice or noodles.
A young man placed an add for a sushi place in my hands.
I looked at it for 30 seconds and thought, “Should I chance it?…I am only here two more days. Why not?”
So I ate raw fish.
And it was cheep.
And it was good.
And 7 hours out, I am doing great.
I didn’t venture too far from what I knew. I stayed away from anything that looked like it was made with mayonnaise.
Once again, a very friendly helpful staff, who dealt with my requests, which came through gestures and points.
There was a family sitting a cross from me, Parents and a 9 year old daughter. Laughing and having a great time.
At one point I caught the girl staring at me and got a big smile.
As she left the restaurant she walked over and gave me a big toothy grin and a very clear “Good bye” in English.
PRAYERS
Please pray for restful nights of sleep, on time flight, extra room on planes, easy customs, peaceful babies, and calm parents.
As this small journey is ending, new lives are beginning.
I can’t believe I got to be a part of it. An honor and a blessing.

Sitting down to recount today and I keep thinking to myself, “Did that happen today?”
It is defiantly the home stretch. Most of the families will be in their own beds in less than 48 hours.
They are ready to be home. And I don’t blame them.
PRAYER REQUEST
Please keep our friend Dana in your prayers. The group that did the family home study didn’t get all the paper work to her (which she just found out today), so she and her aunt have be scrambling here and her husband has been scrambling back in IL to get the necessary paper work.
MORNING DASH
I walked about 35 minutes this morning to the grocery store. There isn’t one close, which is sad. My mission, an anniversary cake. An awesome couple from GA celebrated their 10 wedding anniversary today.
The plan was to get a cake with their names on it, but I got to the store and no one was in the bakery. What was worse, I didn’t have my phrase book. This would have been so much fun to figure out. Who knows what I would have ended up with.
Instead they had little cakes for two (I hope they were for two). They looked just like birthday cakes with the frosting flowers. Not knowing what the plan for dinner was or how many were going to join us I bought 14 of them.
Me (looking like me) in the middle of the Chinese grocery store with a hand basket full of cakes for two.
People were pointing and laughing.
Nothing I could do, but smile and wave.
DAY TRIP
We went to a Buddhist temple today. One of the things that was suppose to happen was any family who wanted their baby blessed at the temple could.
We showed up during the daily service, which didn’t look like it was going to end any time soon. So we moved on.
You think they would have checked something like that ahead of time.
Then it was off to a museum which use to be a house (belonging to the Chen Family). Every inch carved or covered with statues.
Beautiful.
FUNNY MONEY
I was paying for dinner tonight and as we were getting ready to leave the waitress came back to me to say, “It is not real.”
I had passed her a fake 50 yuan. They have been warning us at every tern to look out for fake money.
I have not been on the look out.
I got burned.
So I now am the proud owner of a fake bill (which cost me $6.25).
GO SPEED RACER
Besides the car on the streets there are swarms of motorcycles and bike.
Makes sense. Hard to buy a car when you make $200 a month (and that would be lower middle class).
It is amazing to watch them move. It is like watching a flock of birds dart in and out of each other.
Today as I was crossing a street, I looked up to see a man in a motorized wheelchair out in the traffic with all the bikes and motorcycles. And he wasn’t moving to the sidewalk.
Just driving through traffic.
Pictures from the temple and the Chen house up tomorrow.

…anther layer of skin.
My face keeps pealing, but it is feeling better.
I just look really gross. (As was pointed out to me today by 4 differnt people.)
TRAVEL DAY
Yesterday we flew for the first time will all the babies.
It was a really good day. Everyone had lots of energy. I think that is because it was the first time in a few days that the families really felt like they were doing something. Not just waiting for paper work.
The progress was obvious. All the moms and dads were energized by this. Home is getting that much closer.
I was asked to carry all the important travel documents by our guide to the next stop. And it wasn’t like I just happened to be standing next to Marie before we headed through security. She sought me out and asked if I would carry them on.
One of the fathers thought it was interesting that the person who had the least stake in all of this was trusted with the consulate documents.
I resisted the temptation to hold the documents hostage for a ransom.
The travel was painless enough. A little delay because of rain.
They made a choice on the plane, I don’t I would have made. They handed out newspapers in English with the latest news and pictures of KY.
By the time luggage arrived (11pm) everyone was spent from the excitement and the travel.
HOTEL
The hotel is very nice. It is a 5 star hotel by China standards, (which would be a 4 or 4 1/2 in Europe). It is the nicest of the three hotels we have stayed in.
Each floor has an attendant who hits the elevator call button for you, and greets you when you exit the elevator.
The staff (like everywhere we have been in China) is very nice, and they speak more English than Chongqing.
At dinner last night I even received a great recommendation from my waitress (and it was one of the cheapest things on the menu), which was awesome.
Normally when I use the description I am about to use, I would mean it in pejorative way. That is not the case now, but it the best and maybe only way I feel in the new hotel.
I feel like I am at a Disney Resort.
For the last week, we have been really the only international tourists anywhere. Communication has been hard, if not impossible. It was very obvious we were in a very different place than our own. That is not to say we weren’t welcome, but it was just foreign.
Here, most of the hotel guests are American, British, or Australian. There are 88 families at the hotel just from the agency that Brad and Joia are using. Families everywhere.
Which is very cool.
There are lots of “theme” restaurants in the hotel, from different parts of the world. All of the staff at each place are in appropriate costumes.
The atrium of the hotel has a large waterfall and faux Chinese building.
The only time I have ever been in a hotel with such a friendly and attentive staff is in a Disney hotel.
One of the two swimming pools is an odd squiggly shape.
It almost feels like we are in the Chinese part of Epcot.
Not that any of that is bad. The part of the city we are in use to be a British protectorate. Many of the people in our hotel are international business professionals. (The conversation going on at the table next to me at breakfast was amazing.) It is just very different.
It is almost culture shock; very similar to what I feel when I get home from foreign travel.
I needed to go for a walk this morning, into the market, where I encounter two double size sheet covered with scorpions drying in the sun, to feel at home.
BUT very different.

Thanks for all the well wishes we have received from back home. I wanted to follow up with a few of the notes I have received.
From Brett K.:

From Winter K.:

A number of questions about my health have come in. Basically, I have been very healthy. I have not been attacked by snail, which is good. I have eaten lots of weird stuff with little effect.
About 5 or 6 days ago my face broke out into some sort of rash. It was a bit painful. After about two days the skin started to dry and split. This was painful to the touch and stung after being in the smoggy air (combined with sweat).
Yesterday it started to peal. Today I look like I have scales. Huge flakes of skin falling off. Very gross to look at, but feeling fine.
I should be back to normal by tomorrow.
MORE SEARCHING FOR ART
I met my first unhelpful person on the trip today, but I don’t blame her.
There is a “Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital” a few block away. The plan was to walk over and ask for someone who spoke English. From there I was going to show them the picture I was trying to find. Hopeful they would have a lead.
When I got to the hospital I went to the receiving window and ask, “Do you speak English?”
“Sorry.”
I pointed to the phrase in my book, “Is there someone else who speaks English?”
She thought for a moment and then she had this most amazing look. It said, “Yes there is, but I am not going to disturb them, so you can talk to them.”
Oh, well. I will try again at the next stop.
INTO TOWN
I needed to head down town for a few things. One, I needed to track down where the Catholic Church is for mass tomorrow. Two, my mother asked me to get her some local fabric.
Once again, with phrase book and dictionary in hand, I started with the bellboys.
After letting them know I was looking for fabric and not clothing, they asked if I wanted to head to the “ancient town”?
No, we were there yesterday. I want to buy stuff were locals buy, not tourist.
They tell me there is a market in town. Point to a general area on my map and hand me this piece of paper.

So I get in a cab and hand the note to the cab driver. He nods and we are off.
Side note: It is an amazing feeling to head into a city you don’t know, with a driver who you can’t communicate with, hoping to end up in the right place. All I could do was hang my arm out the window, bob my head to the music, and enjoy the skyline (and the sheer number of other cars and bus we are just missing).
I have been down downtown and can tell we are heading in the right direction. After 10 minutes, he stops and nods as to say, “We are here.”
I pay and get out. I was not prepared for what I would find.
Later I saw in my travel guide it is simple labeled “market”. That doesn’t do it justice.
It was 7 stories tall. Must have had 1500 little shops, some not much bigger than my hotel bathroom. The aisle was not more than three feet between stores. Stuff floor to ceiling. You could barely move.
It was so intoxicating.
Everything you could need for your home could be found. Fake flowers, school supplies, office supplies, toys, clothing, dishes, cleaning supplies, safety signs, and everything else.
Most stores specialized. Some to the point they carried only one thing. Like umbrellas. Yes a store with 600 umbrellas. Or tape. Floor to ceiling rolls and rolls of tape. Or tooth brushed. Thousands of them.
I would have liked to have taken pictures, but I felt a little self conscience taking pictures of peoples livelihood.
It took me hours to walk the whole thing. I bought a bunch of stuff I didn’t even know I needed.
Here are some of my favorites (and yes I really bought them and have no idea why)

After a few hours I realized that I was not going to find the fabric I had been in search of and moved on.
HAPPY ACCIDENT
I started heading for the center of town. The information that I was given led me to believe the Catholic Church was near the city center. As I trying to match my map to the street signs (which is hard to do when there are no Roman characters on the signs or the map). I find a sign for “Arhat Temple”.
Cool. I read about this and here it is.
It is a Buddhist temple. There are 20 or so monks in residents. It has stone carvings that are 1000 years old.
That is amazing for a number of reasons. 1) That is really old. 2) It is in the city center. There is an office building to one side and an apartment to the other. 3) A little thing called the cultural revolution.
I wish I knew more about what was going on. In the Buddhist tradition, an “arhat” is someone who has reached enlightenment. Siddhartha was the first to do so and is called the Buddha. As Buddhism changed and morphed as it moved through Asia it was believed that more and more people also reached enlighten. This temp was to 500 individuals who had done just that.
It had the same feel as Guadalupe (on a much smaller scale). Mostly locals visiting (me being the only exception). The vibe ranged from tourist to devout. Lots of candles and incenses being lit.
Again, much of it I didn’t understand. At point a woman gave a monk a red cloth. He took it up to an alter. He prayed. He lit incenses. He sprinkled water on the cloth in a specific fashion. After she received the fabric back she kneeled and bowed a three times holding her hands in the “first communion photo” prayer hands.
There is so much I don’t know.

The temple.

Candles

and incense.

1000 year old carvings.

I AM WEAK
I am sorry. I gave in. I am weak. I am a coward.
For lunch today I ate at “The Pizza Hut“.
Not because I needed American food.
Not because my stomach was having trouble with the local food.
I did it for the air conditioning. I am so ashamed.
Hours in the market. Walking around town. The temple. A peeling face. Not enough breakfast.
I couldn’t even look the hostess in the eyes when I told her “seating for one”.
Even worse…I ordered the “American” a small pepperoni pizza.
I apologize to my mom, my country, and my God.
I will do better the next time I promise.

PRAY FOR THEM
It is easy to forget, looking at pictures of smiling babies, that what is happening here is hard. Moms and dads have left children behind for two weeks. Little girls have had everything they have known for their whole life changed (in the long term for the great, in the short term hard). The food is different. The communication is hard.
Not that any of this is supper bad, and someday will just be more great family stories. Until then, it can be hard.
Please keep the 14 families (and their newest members) in your prayers.
STAY THERE
In the comment section of Brad and Joia’s blog, people are saying over and over again, “We can’t want for you to come home.”
Yesterday that sentiment changed a little with the comment,”But Gene will need to stay there…I really enjoy reading about his daily journeys into the unknown.”
I think that is a complement???
MORNING QIGONG
Out side are hotel is a park with a large square. Every morning a number of groups gather in the part to do their morning qigong. Qigong literally translate to energy (qi) practice (gong).
Qigong has been part of Chinese culture for over 2500 years. The belief is that we have a lifefore or energy flowing through us call qi (often spelled Chi). If the qi gets stagnate in out body (not flowing properly through out) we get sick, much like stagnate water.
By doing different breathing exercises or movements, we can insure that our qi moves properly keeping us healthy. Qigong was passed down from master to student in thousands of different ways over the last 2500 years.
Each morning people gather to do their particular type of pactice. Some with swards. Some with fans. Some just move their bodies. It is beautiful to watch.
If you click the picture below you will see a short video of the largest group that meets each morning. It is all women (minus on man) and they move for about 90 minutes to music. They move for 5 minutes then stop for a minute or two. They all do the same order of moments together.
The video is more than 12MB. I have set the link up to open in a new window, so you can keep reading here while the video loads.

ZOO
We spent the morning at the zoo. It is a very nice zoo. The highlight was obviously the Pandas. Pandas are native to this region. As a species they are over a million years old. There is only about 1000 left in the world.

Lots of Panda pictures
We were also very lucky to see the very rare Red Panda. I know, it looks nothing like the panda bear. Very cool animal from the Himalayas none the less.

Lots of Red Panda pictures
But the most popular animal in the park had to be the horse that was Uncle Gene. I spent most of the day with one older sibling or anther up on my shoulders.
Which was a lot of fun
SQUID ON A STICK
I was told there is one thing I need to do in China, by one of my roommates. Eat squid on a stick. Jason (one of our new friends) and myself headed off after the zoo to do just that. It was so good, we went back for seconds!

“FOOT MASSAGE”
We were told that we needed to go to this day spa to get a traditional foot massage. For about $7 it was 1 1/2 hours long.
How could you spend 1 1/2 on a foot massage? By also getting your legs, arms and back done.
I was done in three acts. Like nothing I have ever had before. Joia, Kendra (a new friend) and myself went.
There was no communication between us and the staff. We had no idea what was going on.
We tried to leave twice thinking we were done, only to be rushed back to get more work.
If felt awesome, but unusual.
I think it is better if I don’t go into a lot of detail.
Here is a picture of my feet in some herb bath, being rubbed.

As a side note, people in my life have always felt that I should give masseuses an extra tip because my feet are so big and it requires more work. The young woman who was working on me had to get a talker stool to get high enough to reach the top of my feet. (That is not a joke. It really happened).