Chongqing

Well today we actually got to see some of Chongqing with the sunshine. It has been pretty foggy and wet since we arrived on Sunday and I think it is supposed to be foggy and wet the rest of the week....but today we lucked up and received one day of sun. We took full advantage of it and started out our day with a trip to the Chongqing zoo. We mainly went to see the Panda bears.....and there were a lot of them....baby Pandas, mother Pandas, male Pandas and they were all doing something different. Some were sleeping, some were playing, some were eating....they were very cute. I think Colin was most fascinated with the slide that was in one of the bear's areas....it looked like one from a child's playground and Colin asked our guide if the Pandas really play on it....she says they do at times but we didn't stay long enough to find out. The boys spotted a "scarey" ride, much like a haunted house at a fair in the US....of course, they wanted to ride it and I kind of wanted to know just what a Chinese haunted house was like....so we went....it was fun, at times it would get very dark for a moment and we could not see where we were going (I don't like that kind of thing) and it was at those moments that I would wonder exactly what I would do if the thing broke in the middle....I mean, it isn't like you can scream "help" around here and people will come running....they would not know what I was saying....but, alas, we made it out in one piece and the boys loved it! One interesting fact about the zoo is that it is located in the middle of city.....it was strange to see the giraffes whose living area was overlooked by several high rise apartment buildings....kind of like living at Disney's Animal Kingdom. After the zoo trip, we went to an actual Wal Mart...not WuMart like in Beijing, but Wal Mart....probably the most amazing thing in there was the "seafood"....every kind of fish dead or alive, packed in ice or not....then just past the seafood were the chicken feet....it was disgusting....they were just all hanging out of this metal bin....the boys were told they could purchase a toy there....right off the bat, they spotted this ginormous 747 jet....Ryan told them they could not have it so they came to me....I couldn't resist....they have been so good and they are in love with 747s....so we got it, now how it makes it back to the US is another story....after Wal Mart we came back to the hotel for a few minutes to gather our passports and then we were off again to do the final paperwork in Chongqing....so, at this moment, it is official our little Mason-Kate is officially ours....we signed on the appropriate dotted lines, took a pix with her and off we went....something I found interesting was that while we were doing the paperwork at the Civil Affairs office today, I saw 2 women and 1 man holding this baby girl....I assumed she was there to meet her forever family because they were all sitting on the same couch where we first met Mason-Kate...anyway, I asked our guide and she said that the baby was being adopted by a Chinese couple....I asked her if they were allowed to choose what area of China they wish to adopt from and she told me that recently the govt. has been trying to encourage the Chinese to adopt their own children so they allow them to actually pick an orphanage where they want a child from, go there and choose a specific child and then they proceed with the adoption....an interesting tidbit on Chongqing....Chongqing is very mountainous....we were noticing yesterday that there are a lot of shops built back into a mountain....our guide told us that those shops were originally built as bomb shelters to protect the Chinese people from the Japanese....just a little unsettling....on another note, we got attacked by the clothing police today....MK was wearing her Clemson dress.....legs were showing....oh no....several women in different places came up to me, they would rub MK's legs and tell me "no"......it was kind of funny to see how puzzled they looked over the whole "bare skin" legs....MK has had a good day today....she slept well....we hope this will continue....we were told that she slept with her foster mother while in foster care....uh oh....she has begun to tolerate me....she doesn't like me persay but she tolerates my existance....she does not like strangers one bit....she loves bananas....she loves to eat....she is a chunky monkey....tell Nannie that I finally have a child that she doesn't have to worry about whether or not they are getting enough to eat....the boys love her....Pryce has said several times today that he "loves this little girl"....Colin and Pryce are big helpers with playing and pushing the stroller....she is very strong and loud.....and she is high maintenance....I think the last two basically describe the so called "spicy girl" temperment....by the way, not sure if I mentioned it or not but the Chongqing girls are called "spicy girls" and they are known for their strong personalities....uh oh....tomorrow we visit the orphanage. The orphanage will be a special place for us to see....MK was found on the front steps when she was only a day old and it is where she spent the majority of her first year of life...enjoy the pix.