6
Location: Datong
Today we woke up earlier than usual and ate a traditional Chinese breakfast that included dough balls and some American dishes that they laid out specially for us like bagged milk and cream filled bread. Soon after, we left for the bus ride to the government orphanage. It had rained the night before, and some of the streets looked like little rivers. Everyone ran to the front of the bus to watch cars almost floating in the “river.” At this point, the rain hadn’t given us any problems, but that changed as our trip continued. Once we arrived at the orphanage, we played with some of the children, but we were still very sad that they wouldn’t let us see the babies because China banned foreigners from going into orphanages (what haven’t they banned?). The children were fun, but the mood was dampened by the continuous rain, which prevented us from going outside. We still had a great time playing with the children, and we were sad to go when it was time for lunch, The rain ended up preventing us from going to the original noodle place, so we ended up going to a great local restaurant that was only five minutes away from the orphanage. We played games for a while then had an experience that we all will remember. The restaurant’s bathroom was just a pit in the ground with bricks around it, but that did not stop us. One person would hold an umbrella over the person in the brick ‘building,’ and then they would switch spots. Went beyond. We then took the bus to the entrance to the expressway where we stayed for a few hours because it was closed to buses. A few times, we doubted that we would make it here but eventually, the rain started to clear up, and we were on our way to Datong. The bus ride was pretty eventless, and we arrived a few hours later at our nice hotel like way nicer than anyone expected. Now we’re at the hotel about to get some DINNERRRRRRR– I hope its more Ramen.
-Chris