The race is done. I am EXHAUSTED. It has been a whirlwind. We got back to the hotel with enough time to shower and meet the rest of the group for dinner. We went to a an amazing restaurant where they served us family style. There were so many different kinds of food, I tried everything-even fish which I am not a fan of. They had a show while we were waiting for our food and several performers came out.
After dinner we were all so tired we headed to the hotel and to bed. I was still a bit off from the time change but soooo tired.
The next day was a bit of a free day. I got the opportunity to go visit an orphanage. The place was pretty amazing. They really take care of the children and even some adults. There were a lot of special needs children and they had lots of activities for them and the complex was very nice. They also have apartments for those adults that need assisted living. Below pics are of the compound and the director.
When I got back I ate lunch with Bernard (our lead handler) and waited for the rest of the group to return. While we were eating the race director came in and we got to chat with him about the race. He was nice enough to give us some extra goodies to take home to the Columbus Race Director and members of the Sister Cities Organization.
Up next, change into our nice gear and off to a tea party and dinner with our Sister City Hefei team.
More pics!!! The tea was amazing (I Love green tea and tried black tea). It was a much more formal ceremony than what I expected and I learned quite a bit.
Next stop was the dinner. This was our most formal point of the trip and we were finally introduced to the Sister City Organization of Hefei. The dinner was fantastic!!
It was another exhausting night so we heading back to the hotel but then decided we needed to adventure out. So off we went to see what we could find! We roamed around and found a street fair with food, vendors and tons of people.
Our last in Hefei we all headed our separate ways and I was headed to Beijing on the Bullet Train! I met my cousin at our hotel and the next leg of my China adventure started.
We hit the Great Wall and it was the perfect time and perfect day we were the only people in site. Views were amazing and I don’t know that my pics do it justice.
We had quite a few adventures which I won’t go into all of them BUT one.
I was adamant I wanted to find a wholesale shopping, local stuff not chain stores. I did a ton of research prior to coming and found a couple areas. We spoke to the concierge at the hotel and he didn’t know of one and the other he said wasn’t in a safe area. But he gave a suggestion of another one.
We got a taxi and gave him the address. We pulled up and the building was HUGE. It took up an entire square block. Below is a pic of one of the entries.
My cousin was not prepared for my style of shopping. Each floor was a different department. So below was the coat floor:
It said no photos (after this pic) so unfortunately I could take any more photos.
We hit the toy floor to look for some fun Christmas items for the kiddos. I was negotiating like a mad woman and my cousin had to go sit down and take a break😂
I was trying to get a deal on “Legos” (use that term loosely) and I must have seriously offended the guy bc he slammed down his calculator and pointed to get out of the store, followed me and said something to the other stores and none would talk to me-oops!!!!
So after hours of shopping I hauled my stash to the hotel.
Check it out!!!
It was a great trip, amazing food, fantastic company and an unforgettable race!!!!!
The Later Tater Momma 