Zao An! (Good Morning!)

Today, we toured Old Town. It was actually pretty cold outside, so we made it kind of short. There are lots of shops up and down the alleyways, vendors selling just about everything. Mae gave us some interesting history about ChongQing.

Here they are making "suckers" out of brown sugar. Very facinating to watch! AnLi got a butterfly and thought it was pretty tasty!

Brian was brave and tried spiced mutton. And he really liked it! People stand in line for a very long time to get "the best" fried doughs. They actually were pretty good.

There was also a Buddhist Temple along the route.

At the end of the alleyways is the harbor. You can see where we took the picture from way up high, atop some steps. On July 17th, 2007, ChongQing had a major flood and the water was well over where we were standing for the picture. Over 20.42 people were directly affected from this flood and an estimated 2 billion rats invaded 22 counties around the Dongting Lake in Hunan Province and along the Yangtze River, after their homes on islands in the lake were flooded.

Along the harbor there was a carnival going on. However, the BIG purchase of the day were these gross little rubber mice that Brian and AnLi have been having a great time with. They splat on the table and are truly disgusting, but they sure are enjoying "scaring" mom with them!

Compared to the other places we've been, ChongQing is very, very clean. There are no bikes here because it's too hilly. Mae told us the locals say "You don't ride your bike in ChongQing, your bike rides you!" We're having a good time, but getting anxious to meet Carli!

Here’s the scoop… On Sunday, January 20th, we meet Mae at 11:15AM to do the paperwork. Carli and her nanny are leaving the orphanage around 8:30AM and should be here around 12:30PM (10:30PM CST, Saturday, January 19th). They will bring her right up to our room!

We will post as soon as we can...stay tuned. ; ) Have a great weekend, all! Wan An. (Good night)