Life in Beijing

Many people in Beijing wear masks on the streets as it can get quite smoggy here.
During busy times of the day, roads get very full and traffic is a big problem. Many people travel on motorised push bikes, scooters, rickshaws and tuk tuks! Taxis are very cheap but so many people use bikes. Its so interesting to watch daily life here!

This is Mr Zhou (pronounced Mr Joe!) He has been our personal chauffer all week. He doesn't speak English but smiles so much and requested that we sing English songs to him in his car....Bruno Mars was his favourite. What a lovely guy.  Goodbye Mr Zhou!! X

Mr Dixon - one of these gifts is yours from Mrs Jiang. Looks good? Enjoy the picture because its coming home without the packaging!

Well, we're here. We are in the airport hotel having spent 5 hrs on the bullet train, 1 hour eating noodles in the station and 45 minutes in a taxi. If we can just fit 8 handbags, 5 purses, 6 Tins of green tea, 5 silk scarves, 2 Beijing football kits, 206 dragon festival bracelets and a Qingdao uniform in our case without exceeding our weight allowance - we'll be laughing. Zai Jian!!

A whirlwind of a day began with our first lie in...(until 8am!) We had our last breakfast of egg fried rice and watermelon before a quick shopping trip and packing our cases. We were picked up by the fabulous Mr Zhou who has been our driver all week, Miss Ding and the lovely heather, our translator. They took us to Pizza Hut for lunch where we also met some of the other lovely ladies from the Bureau who we got know this week. Sophia's mum popped in to thank us for looking after Sophia so well when she was in England and gave us a gift to bring back for Tierney who hosted her!

After lunch we headed over to the train station and said Tai Jian to our Qingdao buddies. They made us feel so welcome and so special we can't thank them enough. Once they were happy we were in our seats with bags stowed, they waved a final farewell. We have started our journey home. Love to all x

Qingdao Beach

Before tea this evening we were taken to the beach on the east coast of Qingdao. The air was clear and the landscape was beautiful! With the Laoshang mountains in the background we dipped our toes in the yellow sea! After searching for shells we wrote our names in the sand. What a beautiful place. 
2 sleeps to go. X

Jodie's letter.

This afternoon we read the letter Jodie wrote for Mrs Jiang. It explained how much Jodie enjoyed their visit and how much she learnt about Chinese culture. Mrs Jiang was so touched by the offer of a 'friendship forever' that she shed a tear! She has promised to write back and would love some of our children to visit her school next year!