Goodbye Chongqing, we'll miss you

June 21,2007
We leave Chongqing today and fly back to Beijing to complete our paperwork for the canadian government at the embassy. What a wonderful city and experience. We loved our time here. Our hotel is right next to the Yangtze; the 3rd largest river in the world after the amazon and the nile.Yesterday we went to the panda zoo and saw the oldest momma in the world. There was also an art gallery and training center on the grounds and we got a lecture about the training and history of the arts and to see some of the local artists and of course purchased a few things for our homes. We've seen many of the sites and sounds and experienced the culture here from the big city to the small villages. One of the interesting things we all noticed is the little boys peeing in the streets. If they have to go they just pull their pants down to their ankles and go; wherever! One little boy even did #2 once right on the street corner. The ladies all stared at him from the bus with amazement. We've come to Chongqinq on the 10th ann. of it's promotion from city in Sichuan to an independant municipality with it's own central gov't. There has been fireworks and celebrations going on all week. When we arrived here there was a red carpet and flowers and a lot of media coverage waiting at the dock for the plane. We thought this was really something, however....when the plane stopped the dignitaries were allowed to leave out the front door of the plane and we were scurried out the back and on to a shuttle and away to the depot. It wasn't for us!! LOL!! Chongqinq, including the main city where we are and all of the little towns and villages that are included is now roughly the size of Austria. Since we have the babies and as we travel the city we now feel as though WE are the celebrities and have been treated as such. We'll miss this place although there is a Ford plant just down the road from here and if things keep going the way they are back home we could be back sooner than we think. Ali is doing great and we are growing closer every day.