Hi everyone! We have arrived in Changsha and are settled into the posh Dolton Hotel - I'll try to get some pictures together, but I can't seem to get them posted directly. It was another packed day of activity - the Cloisonne Factory, lunch there and shopping followed by a brutally hot climb of the Great Wall...we didn't make it past the first tower, but in photos you can see how steep of a climb it is. It was very crowded, to the point where you couldn't really stop to rest due to the great wall of bodies surrounding you! Swallow Cliff has nothing on the Great Wall of China! I think we were dangerously close to heat stroke when we finished the climb - even though we drank a ton of water. Also, sunscreen seems fairly useless as it sweats right off; now I know why everyone carries umbrellas or wears long pants! We had a relatively uneventful trip to the airport and a flight that was only delayed by about 20 minutes. We actually found our guide, Wendy, with no problems and she whisked us over to the hotel.

So, tomorrow is the big day! I will meet the guide at 10 tomorrow morning (overnight for you readers) and see Junie for the first time. It is sure to be a crazy, emotional day. Our guide here seems very nice and has everything organized for tomorrow, so as long as Junie doesn't "slap me and run away" as Tom joked she might, I guess we'll be okay ; ) Stay tuned!