Saturday continued

Well, I made it down to the pool just in time to see Daddy and Lily drying off. The pool was a little cool so it did not take Lily long to have enough. John said even the hot tub was around 90 degrees. Lily seemed satisfied just to have the experience. She took a nice hot bath and is now peacefully sleeping, let's hope it lasts until around 5am.
I forgot to mention earlier a funny experience while dining. Mr. Meng brought out two small bottles of what he called, "white wine" and he wanted John to try it. John took a small sip and told me it basically tasted like grain alcohol(baijiu). According to the label it was 56% alcohol (some wine) Mr. Meng started the toasting and each round it was he and John drinking the "wine." At one point they asked me through Mr. Wong if it was ok for John to be drinking so much. I said as long as we were not
driving it was ok with me. The sips they took were very small and the bottles were probably about 1/2 pint. John felt no effect but they kept a close watch on him and marveled at his ability. We thought it was kind of funny. In Petter Hesssler's book "River Town" he describes having the same experience. Evidently the Chinese have a low threshold for alcohol, not sure of the scientific evidence to support that.
I know I mentioned the awful traffic earlier but another interesting point are the crosswalks. There are the typical white painted lines on the streets and they appear to be typical "safe" crossing zones. Don't believe it for a minute! Pedestrians do not have the right of way and it made me wonder why they even designate a spot to cross. I decided it is so the cars have a target to shoot for. You basically walk out one lane at a time and pause in the middle while bikes, buses, cars and scooters zoom around on all sides. So far I have not observed a single accident but it makes my heart pound just knowing I need to get to the other side.
Tomorrow is our flight to Urumqi. Our bags need to be ready to go at 6am and we leave for the airport at 6:30am. It is about a 4 hour flight. We are told we will meet Luke on Monday morning so we will have tomorrow afternoon to get settled in. I can tell Miss Lily is getting very excited to meet her new brother. We have talked extensively about what might happen and how Luke might feel and react. For a 4 year old Lily shows great empathy for others and how they might feel. She can't wait to get out all the toys I brought for her and Luke to play with together.
We have talked to Elsie our CHI guide and explained how much we wish to visit the orphanage and get the chance to meet Luke's foster Mother or at least have questions answered about his life up to this point. Elsie says it is a call the orphanage director makes but she will make the plea. The three other families traveling with us feel the same way and all four of our kids are within a year of each other and probably know each other from the orphanage preschool.
Time for bed so we are ready to make an early start. Next stop Urumqi or Wulumuqi (as the Chinese call it)