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| The kind of bus we took to Datong. |
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| The large round street area leaving Taiyuan...right in front of the train station. |
Once we got to Datong. We found our driver and Anna took us to the local police station to apply for Charlie's passport. Datong is another massive city with close to 3 million people. It is the most norther city in Shanxi province and it is very close to inner mongolia. On the drive we were able to see parts of the original sections of the great wall that are still intact. Datong has a long very long history and they are in the process of restoring/rebuilding some of the original features of the city. The city is heavily polluted and many people were wearing masks over their faces and scarves around their heads. It was very difficult to breath at times. This was Charlie's hometown so I tried to take in as much as possible while we were there.
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| Rebuilding the walled areas of the city center |
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| Datong bus station |
After the police station we decided to go directly to the orphanage for a tour. On the way there Anna asked if we would like to meet Charlie's foster families...he had 2. We agreed right away to meet them but we had no idea that he had ever stayed with a family! It was a lot to take in and in just a few short minutes we met the first woman who cared for him for the majority of the time he stayed there. It was a great opportunity to be able to talk with her and ask questions. She was very emotional when she saw him and it was really a very difficult time for all of us...and there were lots of tears from all! Even though it was very difficult, I am thankful for the experience so that I can share it with Charlie. When things calmed down we went on to tour the rest of the orphanage. The facility was clean and really a good place compared to what I have heard could be. The kids play in the orphanage by day and then the eat, sleep, & nap in the apartments of the foster families. Many foster families live in apartments in the orphanage complex. Some kids also stay in local villages. There are a total of 500 children in the care of the orphanage. There were only a few other kids waiting to be picked up by there families. The majority of the kids are waiting for homes!
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| Charlie's foster mom and us |
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| One of the classrooms at the orphanage |
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| Children in the room where Charlie would have played |
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| Charlie with some of the kids |
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| His 2nd set of foster parents |
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| Courtyard of the orphanage (apartments of foster parents are on the left) |
After we left we had dinner with Anna at a local restaurant and tried some hot pot with beef, lamb, veggies, & tofu. When we finished dinner we went to Datong airport to get ready for our flight. We already knew it would be a long night because our flight was to leave at 10:10 pm. Unfortunately we had a delay and didn't board our plane until after 12:00. Charlie had reached his limit at about 10:30 and spent most of his time in the airport screaming. It had been a really long day for all of us and he was really struggling with the long day and all the different experiences. Plus I think he had a big tummy ache. At one point the airport employees even ushered us to our own private baby room to help calm him down. He was able to relax and we finally made the 30 minute flight to Beijing. Tom our Beijing guided picked us up at the tiny airport and we finally made it to the hotel at around 2:00 am. Charlie fell asleep in the van and continued to sleep through the night at our new hotel. Our new hotel is very nice & we'll be here for the next 2 days.
1 comment:
Wow. Great blog post. Heart warming and heart breaking at the same time. Travel safe. Love you.
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