We made it to Guangzhou a little before noon and have checked into our room at the famous White Swan hotel.

Our guide is named Elvin. We’ve heard good things about Elvin so our last few days in China should go well.

Woohoo! The party is in our room! And let me tell you...it’s a nice room.

I’m preparing to put away the laptop as we pack up for the final leg of our journey.

We meet Amy in the lobby at 6:45 am for the 1-hour van ride to Beijing Capital International Airport. Our China Southern flight is at 9:15 am and the destination is Guangzhou in southern China. The flight is 3 hours long as the crow flies at 600 mph.

It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to Amy. She was absolutely wonderful and a better guide than we could possibly have imagined.

See you down South!

Today was another busy day that started with a visit to the Beijing Zoo. We didn’t visit the zoo in 2002.

This was the normal scene in our van as Eliana talked Amy’s ears off for the entire 30-minute trip.

How about a 3-point road turn in the middle of a busy street by a bus?

The main attraction is, of course, the pandas.

Funny sign at the panda compound.

Come here, mom!

We passed an ice cream stand and just had to stop. Carmi started out giving Karys just a taste of her ice cream and the Littlest Empress decided she wanted the whole thing.

This is what happens when the ice cream runs out.

There were Red Pandas.

I’ll be darned if Godzilla wasn’t there too. I guess he swam over from Japan.

6-1/2 hours later and we finally were checked into our hotel room in Beijing. As a matter of fact, we’re in the same room from last weekend.

All five of us are so tired we can’t see straight.

As soon as we settled into the room, Carmi gave the two girls a bath and I put them straight to bed. I’ll bet it didn’t take two minutes before they were both sound asleep. Carmi and I have had our showers and I’ll bet it won’t take us two minutes either.

We have an early start tomorrow and a full day starting with the Great Wall!

G’night.

Karys had a slight fever this morning so we gave her some medicine and she fell asleep again after breakfast.

Even though I’m sure she’s not feeling well today, we’ve had an abundance of smiles and laughs since lunch and a major poop job. Guess that would make most anyone feel better.

We leave for the train station in 30 minutes for a return trip to Beijing. I wonder if Karys is as happy to be leaving Shijiazhuang as we are?

The girls watch Mulan after breakfast while we wait to meet Amy at 11:00.

We did have a scare preparing to leave the temple.

Carmi could not find the fanny pack with her driver’s license and credit card in it. Those items were actually of no consequence but the pack also contained Karys’ passport.

We practically tore the van apart. The driver took us back to the restaurant where we had lunch but no one had seen a fanny pack in the dining area or the bathroom. A return trip to the temple turned up empty looking over the area where our driver parked the van while we toured. We started going over the van again when Amy shouted, “He found it!” The driver discovered the fanny pack lodged to the side of his seat between the seat and the door.

Our last stop for the day was Zhaozhou Bridge.

On the way there, Karys passed out and Eliana soon followed after this picture was snapped. Eliana was doing some serious snoring.

Zhaozhou Bridge was constructed in the years 595-605 during the Sui Dynasty by Li Chun and is the oldest existing stone arch bridge in China. It has withstood 10 floods, eight battles, and many earthquakes including a 7.2 degree earthquake in 1966.

Amy was to meet us at 10:00 this morning but called around 9:30 to say that Karys’ passport was not quite ready.

“No problems.”, she assured us. “Just taking a little longer than expected.”

At 11:15, our room’s doorbell rang and Amy was standing in the hall with passport in hand. We can bring Karys home!

Since we were slightly delayed in getting started, we went ahead and drove to Zhengding for lunch before heading for Longxing Temple.

Here was a huge jade carving in the lobby of the restaurant where we ate.

This is a main entrance to the Longxing Temple compound. We were not permitted to take photographs inside any of the buildings. A lot of Asian tourists were taking photos, though. I wanted to tattle.

Before we started in, a monk came out. Amy told us that monks still reside there.

Once inside, we found the temple compound to be a very peaceful and serene place.

This is an area where incense is burned.

We weren’t sure if this was permissable or not but opted to let Eliana straddle a dragon’s child.

At this small stand, you can buy a strip of red ribbon on which to write your name.

You then place your ribbon on this “Good Wishes” tree to realize your greatest desires.

The Longxing Temple, known as the No. l Temple to the South of Beijing, is famous for the tallest copper Buddha in China. The Temple was built in 586 and covers an area of 82,000 square meters.

This tree is one of several that are 800 years old.

Amy loves Karys (and Eliana) to death.

The first time Carmi tried to give Karys a bath, she was not a happy camper. She cried big ol’ crocodile tears and whimpered while being washed.

Tonight, it was like we had a different child. When Carmi had the water ready, Karys stood at the side of the tub with her little arms stretched up and couldn’t wait to get in. Carmi even washed her hair and I didn’t hear a peep.

Another surprise is that Karys very willingly lets us brush her teeth.

This journal offers a peek inside the Henderson home where you'll find two Little Empresses. Eliana stole our hearts on October 29, 2002 and Karys forever became a part of our family on September 17, 2007. Is a Little Emperor in the future?