Up to this point in our trip, we have had a great time, overall. There have definitely been stressful times, but our surroundings and hotels have been clean, safe, and comforting. Florie has moved to fully preferring me, so we will have a lot of work to do when we get home....she is fine with William as long as I am holding her, but, obviously, it is very HARD on him when she cries/screams when he holds her for a bit. Please pray that this will resolve soon.
When we arrived in Beijing, we came to our hotel. We had picked it based on recommendations by the travel service that we used for the rest of the trip....we chose it because it has connecting rooms (an absolute MUST for us right now with all the kids), and for the non-smoking status, and for the pool so the boys could blow off steam while Florie napped/chilled.....they have done very well being patient with EVERYTHING and the pool is a big reward for them.
We get here...yep, no pool...okay, we can figure that out. Get to the floor...there is smoke everywhere. Even Jack says why does it stink here....but, the only connecting rooms are on this floor, which is clearly smoking. Our room has ash trays and asks that we not smoke in our beds. The hotel has a cancellation policy, and our guide said we could move to two non connecting rooms, but that is not an option....for any of the kids. So, we open the windows, trying to make the best of things (lemonade out of lemons, not the other :)), We sleep poorly because of the traffic and honking and street noises, but still try to be positive. The breakfast buffet is OKAY...but positive.
Then we leave for the entire day yesterday...and last night come home to one of our bags missing, It is the bag with the chargers for our cameras, itouches, wires, and the boys' fuel batteries we ordered for this trip so they could charge their itouches on the plane. They are big and look a lot like iphones, so I suspect that someone thought they were getting the iphone. Fortunately, nothing fully valuable was taken, like Florie's papers, but still, we feel very unsafe. The hotel is looking at the video from the hallway, and our guide wants to come again this morning to go through all of our things (believe me, we went through everything..it is NOT a small bag!) to make sure we did not misplace it. For me, this was the last straw. I cannot stay here, wondering next what will /might happen.....we have asked our guide to find another hotel, non-smoking, CONNECTIng rooms, for us. I am sure we will have to pay more money.....we will see what happens.
I just hate this for this part of our trip. We wanted to have a great ending in Beijing...seeing all of the rich history, enjoying family time, getting a few more gifts (there just has not been enough time yet!). Instead, we have had this hotel issue, plus our guide who seems to be pleasant, but took us to the "most scenic" portion of the Great Wall, aka the most very crowded section where it was really hard to even get a pic of the boys, then to one of the Friendship Stores (which I had asked to NOT go to) for lunch, leaving us to be there for over 2 hours...ugh! I have also asked to go to ToysRUs for a few minutes to get Legos for Ben's birthday (the CHinese ones are supposed to be great!), but she says we can either take two taxis, or maybe the driver will drop us off and we can walk the 20-25 minutes home.....our other experiences have been that our guides have been so helpful in the other provinces....just a little isolating here.
Ok, thank you for letting me vent...it will be okay, we are all together and everyone is healthy. We have our passports on us at all times, and now will have Florie's stuff out of the safe as well. Hopefully things will go well today. We are supposed to go to Forbidden City adn Tiannamen Square, and I hope we can still do that. I guess we will also pay up to go to Toys RUs...sweet Ben has not complained at all about no presents on his birthday!
Hope you all are well!
Love,
Eve
6 comments:
OH Eve!!! I'm so sorry! I know you must be so frustrated and annoyed. I hope they can get you into a better hotel ASAP! There are PLENTY of nice hotels in Beijing This is unacceptable! I know Florie will come around quickly back to William. E did that too for a little while but once we got to the states she was into him again. I'm so glad you didn't have your cameras stolen! I hope the hotel does something to compensate you!
Hang in there....very soon you will be home! I can't wait!!
Hopefully this will allow me to leave a comment. I have had problems as it's not posting my comments.
I'm sorry for all of your troubles today. I hope that you have your Jesus Calling and have read...
DO NOT SEARCH FOR SECURITY in the world you inhabit. Fix your eyes not on what is seen (your circumstances), but what is unseen (My Presence).
How perfect for today!
We are thinking and praying for you that things turn around, that you are able to get a new hotel, that your bag is found, and that you are able to make that trip to Toys R Us. It looks like it has been a wonderful trip. We just can't wait for you to get home and to meet sweet Florie!
Love you!
The Rosenthals
Thinking of you and hope that it all is resolved soon, so you can truly enjoy the rest of your trip. I have little boys who would love to get legos in China, so let us know if you get some and if they are worth it!
I'm sorry that this has been your experience. We stayed at the very pricey Hotel New Otani in Beijing and it was worth every single penny.
Ruby
Eve,
I am so sorry that this part of your trip has been so difficult. I can't believe in a city as big a Beijing, the travel company wouldn't have you in a great hotel, I hope you were able to move to a better place today, where you all feel safe and comfortable. We didn't love our guide in Guangzhou, she was efficient for paperwork and not much help for anything else. We were so spoiled after Nanning. This sounds terrible though! Taking to places you specifically ask NOT to go?
Michael and I will specifically be praying about Florie and her Daddy. As you know Vivian,did the same thing. It was HARD! Michael tried so hard, and she would take food from him or sometimes let him hold her hand, but only if I was holding her. It was so difficult for him to be constantly rejected, and exhausting and stressful for me to have no break. It will get better, praying her heart softens soon! Loving all thepictures.
Where is Lily when you need her the most???? Hopefully you are in a new hotel by now. What a helpless feeling.... I hate that you all have had to experience this. Almost home!.....
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