Last Day in China......Best for Last!

I'm writing this from our gorgeous "Executive Room" at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. We have decided this is our most luxurious room of all. Mia and I are now on our own and tomorrow we begin our 24 hour journey home! We are more than ready. We have had a wonderful trip and seen a good variety of sites in China. We have soaked up our share of the local culture from North to South.......city, country and everything in between. We are loving being here tonight though because it is the most "Western" area we have been since we arrived and we needed it! We had an 8am flight from Zhanjiang which meant getting up at 5:45am. Everything went very smooth and our guide "Yorkie" got us to the airport and off without a hitch. I must say all the guides we have had through OCDF (the tour company) have been excellent and so accommodating and nice. I remember from my first trip to China how "service-oriented" the people are everywhere. That still holds true.



When we arrived in Guangzhou, we were met by our guide Ling and she took us on a tour of Guangzhou. I must admit the thought of another "city tour" was not exactly thrilling for Mia and I, but since it was already scheduled/paid for/planned, I didn't say anything and just went along. Mia gave me a look of "are you kidding me??????". But it actually turned out to be quick, painless and pretty interesting. We saw a beautiful park, a large pagoda (which I had visited and climbed on my first trip) and an art museum. They no longer allow you to climb the pagoda because it is now leaning to the left. The art museum was very interesting because it is outside and is over 100 years old. The structure is being restored because they are holding the Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010.





After the tour, we came to the hotel and we were both so hot and tired we just ordered room service and have not left the room! It is a very nice room and hotel. Everyone speaks very good English and we were thrilled to have a REAL Western lunch! Mia finally had spaghetti with actual tomato sauce. She was sooooo happy!!!! I had a delicious salmon steak and "jacket potato" (baked potato). I say "real" because on several occasions we have been told a restaurant serves "western" food and it is NOT our idea of western food. We are very tired of the food here and so ready to have the food we are used to! Mia liked the spaghetti so much, I let her get it again for dinner. They advise you not to eat any fresh vegetables that are not cooked due to the water issue, so I haven't had a fresh salad for almost two weeks and that is one of my favorite meals.

We are both excited and dreading tomorrow because we know it will be a LOOOOONG day of travel, but we are really anxious to get home. We are not relishing the 13 hour flight from Beijing to Chicago, but we'll make it. Hopefully all the flights will be on time!



Mia has really been a great traveler (for the most part....she's reading over my shoulder....LOL). I am very proud of her. At times, it was very physically demanding and not all of the activities were "kid-friendly". She informed me tonight that some of the tours were "boring" and frankly if I were 11 years old I would have thought they were boring too. And they definitely jammed a lot into a short amount of time. But overall, I'm very pleased with everything. Bottom line......we got what we came here for!!!!

Mia just said "It wasn't really a vacation, it was a tour". I asked her if she enjoyed it and she said "yes". She said her favorite part was "The Market" because "we got to buy things" and "people were all over you". That is true. I personally did not enjoy it. If you even looked at something, they would practically grab you and try hard to talk you into it. Of course, Mia didn't help matters, because she looks at and wants everything :) ! She enjoyed watching me negotiate for things, which is the process.

I'm attaching a few pictures that I found interesting such as the "Do Not Smoke In Bed" sign. Smoking over here is still very prevalent among men. I remember that was the case 10 years ago and it still is. It's interesting you do not see women smoking. I thought it was funny that it's OK to smoke in the room, but they ask you not to in the bed! There was also a sign in the Gao Zhou Hotel elevator that said "Please Don't Smoking". Sometimes something is literally lost in the translation. Also a picture is indeed worth a l000 words and until you see one of the "squat pots" you can't really appreciate them. These are the traditional Chinese toilets, however most of the time where we went you could find a Western toilet. But there were occasions when we had no choice but to do the Eastern thing. Mia tried to hold out as long as possible which I found amusing because she sits like that ALL the time at home while playing on the laptop, which we keep on the ottoman. I tried to drink so much water, I had to succumb pretty and after the first couple of times it's no big deal.







The girls got a big kick out of the "Wahaha Water". As most of you know, you have to drink bottled water while in China, so that became a staple while here and this was the most common water we drank.





On the road from Gaozhou back to Zhanjiang, we stopped and got some Longan fruit, which is similar to grapes. Mia loved this. You have to peel it, but the fruit inside is very good.



And yesterday we were so happy to see a McDonald's in Zhanjiang. Mia was excited to get chicken mcnuggets after all the chinese food she had been having. McDonald's isn't my favorite, but I got a double cheeseburger and just ate the meat and it tasted like a steak! We all got ice cream too. It's obvious all the franchises use the same formulas because everything tasted exactly the same in China as it does in the US. We even saw a Wal-Mart and I'm sure if my Mom had been with us, she would have wanted to stop :). Since I don't shop Wal-Mart at home, I had no desire to shop one in China!

As I mentioned, we are ready to get back to the conveniences and comforts of our homeland.....bathrooms with toilet paper, water you can drink right out of the faucet, napkins in the restaurants (you almost always have to ask), "normal" food, air conditioning you can control that truly cools you down, traffic lights and not feeling like you take your life in your hands every time you are in a motorized vehicle and most of all, it will be nice not to be constantly stared at! I knew we would be looked at some, but I was not prepared to literally be gawked at and then sometimes pointed at and pictures taken of ALL the time. Mia became very self conscious of it and I did too. I don't mind being a minority, but I do mind having my child stared at as though she was some type of weirdo. I honestly don't think it was meant that way, but it felt that way a lot of the time. Some people were friendly about it, but many people would literally just stare us down. They would be looking at us and whispering something to their companion. It seemed very rude. I had warned Mia beforehand that while the Chinese could be very friendly and service-oriented, the public at large lacked a lot of the social graces we as Americans take for granted. She was very grossed out by all the hacking and spitting she saw, both indoors and out! I guess due to the vast numbers of people they deal with on a regular basis, they do not think twice about bumping into you and they don't move to get out of the way. They are very aggressive when it comes to crowding and lines and as I just mentioned, they do not hesitate to stare when they see something they perceive as "different". The literature the tour company had given to us said that while some people in China are familiar with international adoption, there is a large portion of the population that is not, especially in the areas where we were going to be, so we should be prepared to be looked at and possibly questioned. But I was still a little taken aback. Mia didn't mind when we were in the group, but when it was just her and I, I could tell it bothered her.

So we are ready to click our heels and go home......thanks for following our journey!!!! Melinda and Mia

The Road to Gaozhou.....

I lost my internet connection for awhile. Not sure what happened, but after lots of tinkering I got it up and running again. I didn't have my tech expert, BK, to call for help, but somehow I fixed it :). Amazing what you can do when you are desperate!

Anyway.....the last two days have been interesting. We have definitely seen all sides of life in China. Beijing, Xi'an and Chengdu are very progressive and upscale and Zhanjiang is even a nice city in and of itself, although much smaller. It is called the "pearl of the south" and parts of it look a lot like Florida. But our "road trip" to Gaozhou allowed us to see a rural side of China where life is still very "unprogressive". Even though there are almost three million people living there, it is considered a "village" and it is the "country". We saw farmers with single water buffalo drawn plows working in the rice fields. People walking with huge jugs of water and other liquids or grains hanging from a bar across their shoulders. But our accommodations were very good and we stayed at the 4 star Gao Zhou Hotel, which was just as nice as our previous hotels.

Upon arrival, we had lunch with the Vice Director/Doctor of the Gaozhou Social Welfare Institute, Mr. Wu. He seemed very pleasant and although he didn't speak English, our guide/interpretor was able to facilitate the conversation. He did bring along a bound book of files/papers from when Mia and Cat were adopted and it had all the documents from their adoptions. It did not have any information or documents we did not already have, however we were pleased to see they did keep some type of record of the girls' arrival at the SWI as well as their adoptions. We did not get to visit the SWI but we did visit each girls' finding site. I had received pictures of Mia's site from two different sources, one of which was a native Gaozhuren. It is a popular, well-traveled bridge at the base of a large pagoda-like tower. It looked just like the pictures and afterwards we got lychee seed necklaces, a popular tradition in Gaozhou. Lychee is a fruit that Gaozhou is known for producing and the seed is extremely hard. They represent "protection" and "good fortune". I didn't quite understand what the guide was telling us, but it is somehow connected to the tower. You can have anything you want carved on the seed, such as your name, your Chinese zodiac or other Chinese symbol. Mia had her name and an Ox (her Chinese Zodiac) carved on hers. I had her Chinese name and the symbol for "love" on mine.

I would like to think her birth mother/parents placed her by the bridge and tower for the dual purpose of knowing she would be seen quickly as it is a well-traveled bridge and the symbolism of the tower being they wished her " protection" and "good fortune", both of which I feel came to her :).

Our guide also took us to some local tourist attractions in Gaozhou. The most meaningful one was the shrine of the "Xian Lady". She is a revered heroine in Gaozhou who lived about 1500 years ago and was the wife of one of the governors. She ended up being much more famous and respected than her husband because she is credited with uniting the people during a time of great division among the different districts. She also successfully devised a plan to thwart a takeover of the King by most of the other Governors in the area and was able to bring down the Governor behind it. Because of her efforts, peace was restored to the area. Deb and I loved that our girls' were from an area where a woman is practically worshipped and there is a whole "temple" built for her and people come and pray to her. Don't get me wrong, we don't believe they should, but it's amazing that a place like China where the male is held up in such high esteem that there is any place where a woman is a hero!

After one night there though, we were ready to return to Zhanjiang. At the Haibin, they have a very nice Hot Springs and Spa. The girls had a great time swimming. I attempted to get a more relaxing/normal massage, unfortunately they had no masseuse working.

All in all it was a good journey, but Mia and I both ready to head home. We miss our modern conveniences, comforts of home, family, friends and pets! M & m

More Planes....a Train, Automobiles, Vans, Pedicabs...even a Boat!

We made it to Zhanjiang today and it was no easy task. Deborah, Cat, Mia and I took off from the rest of the group, flew from Chengdu via Guangzhou and on to Zhanjiang. The challenge was we were on two different airlines and had to pick up bags in Guangzhou and recheck them. There were 2 hours between flights so we figured we had plenty of time. Well, flight was late and China Southern is in different terminal from China Air! Now I pride myself in being a seasoned traveler and have done a bit of international travel, however with few English speaking people and poorly signed airport, we barely made the connection. Deb's bags were over the weight limit, so that was a hiccup and while checking in, we were literally mobbed by Chinese people trying to cut in front of us. I had to let my assertive/aggressive side come out and just cut right back and fortunately the ticket counter clerk did not let them get their way! The weight limit in country for a bag is 20 kg's and both of mine were right at 19.8 and 19.6, so I lucked out big time!!!! Girls were starving and begging for us to get them food, but we were so afraid of missing flight we didn't dare. We got on plane 5 minutes before it was to take off, then of course it sat there for 30 minutes before pulling away from gate.

After breathing our huge sigh of relief when it finally took off, we had been in the air about 10 minutes (for our 50 minute flight) when they came on and told us twice to be sure and stay seated with seat belts fastened. I figured that wasn't a good sign. Sure enough, we hit probably the worst turbulence I have ever felt on an airplane. Again, I have flown a lot and it takes a pretty rough flight for me to truly be afraid, but I grabbed Deb's leg and took a pretty good hunk out of it! I immediately looked over at Mia and Cat, who were sitting across the aisle and Mia was looking at me to see if things were OK and I just said "that's why they told us to stay seated and keep seat belts on, it's just turbulence"....but I was still seeing the last part of my life flash before my eyes.....Fortunately the bumpy ride was very brief and it was smooth sailing from there.



We arrived in Zhanjiang after 6 airplanes, 1 train, a boat, 3 vans, a pedicab and countless shuttles. Zhanjiang is known as the "pearl of the south" and is a very nice resort town. It was once ruled by France and is the shortest route from China to Europe. The hotel is very nice and apparently hosts very wealthy Chinese businessmen. The rooms are modest, but there are "villas" on the property that are supposedly very upscale. There is a gorgeous Spa and Pool, which has a Hot Springs. We will be here a total of three nights, so I plan to get another massage, but will better communicate my preferred level of pressure this time.

Tomorrow we go to Gaozhou and we will visit each girl's "finding site", which is a nicer way of saying where they were "abandoned". We will also go to the current welfare institute (orphanage) and hopefully get to visit. It is not the one Mia and Cat stayed when they were babies, but I would like Mia to at least see the current one and we will ask for their "files", which they are supposed to keep, but we do not have high hopes they will still have them since they moved. And even if they do, there is no guarantee there will be a lot of information in the file. Sometimes there is a "finding ad" that is posted when a baby is found and if a note was left (which they often are), a copy or the original note is kept in the file. I would be thrilled to have either one of those, but again, I am not getting my hopes up. I am going to ask to drive by the old welfare institute so Mia can look at it and we can get pictures. I honestly don't know if it will mean anything to her, but we will at least see it and maybe in the future it will.


We will also tour the city and look around and just see the sites of Gaozhou. Today was a long day, but it ended well with the girls having a fun time in the pool. It is a little more challenging as not as many people speak English and we only have our guide during the day. Ordering dinner was lots of pointing at our little dictionary and even drawing. It was pretty funny. But the hotel staff is so nice. I have yet to see another white person though! Not normal to feel like the minority, but probably good to know what it's like for Mia :). Until next time.....m & M (Mia saw me signing something else and said "why don't you ever put me first?"...so...).

Panda Hugs!

This tour is call "Panda Hugs" and I didn't really know what that meant. As you can see from one of the photos, we actually got to have our photo taken with a real, live baby Panda! It almost looks like a stuffed animal, but he really and truly is alive. They kept feeding him honey and fruit to keep him happy during the photo shoots, but he was sooooooooooo cute. He is a few months old and was very calm. We had to wear a plastic glove on the hand in contact with him and were told not to touch the face, back or stomach. We were also specifically told not to wear bright colors like red, royal blue, gold or orange because the Pandas do not like bright colors, but prefer pale colors. It was our lucky day because normally the photo ops are with the "teenager" Panda, which is about 6 years old and larger. She was not feeling well today and because of the good relationship our local guide has with the Reserve, they allowed us to have our photo taken with the baby :).

The entire park was beautiful and full of Pandas and did not disappoint. As promised, we saw one of the week old twin baby Pandas. It was in the incubator and did not even have fur yet! It was about 5 inches long and its eyes were still closed. We were not allowed to take photos but were literally inches away from viewing it......very special! There was also several areas of large Pandas to view, as well as a "Kindergarten" Panda play area. It had four smaller Pandas playing which were a lot of fun to watch while taking pics and video. We also saw "Red Pandas" that looked like a cross between a Racoon and a Lemur. Needless to say, the kids (and adults) thoroughly enjoyed it.

This afternoon we visited a Silk Brocade Shop, where they explained how they produce silk comforters, wall hangings and tapestries. Kind of a let down for the kids after the Panda Reserve :), but it was interesting.

This evening, we will have our last dinner as a group, then in the morning we all disperse to different areas of China to go to our daughters' orphanage cities. Mia and I will head to deep south China, along with Deborah and Cat.

We have really enjoyed getting to know the other families and Mia has already said she doesn't want to split up from the other children. We will miss being with them.

The next few days will be very different, but the truth is, the orphanage and hometown visit is our main purpose of the trip. Mia seems to have no feelings one way or another about it. I'm not sure if that will change over the next few days. More to come.....M & m

A Few More Pic's

Chengdu...Day of Rest?????

They keep saying we are going to have an "easy" day, and I guess today was much more laid back than previous days. However, it was still exhausting! We flew from Xi'an to Chengdu. We had to have our luggage out by 6:30 a.m. and at 6:25, the porter was knocking on our door! They are very strict about times here. Fortunately it was ready, I just hadn't put it out yet.

Yesterday was interesting. We saw the Terracotta Warriors, the main attraction of Xi'an. I had heard about it, but was unfamiliar with the whole story. Too much to write about it, but it is fascinating. It rained most of the day, but that was preferable to the previous days of 100+ degrees and was actually quite pleasant.

In the evening, we saw the "Tang Dynasty Show" which was a dinner theatre. The theatre was beautiful and the girls were all given traditional silk Chinese dresses to wear along with a special jade necklace, pearl bracelet and red fan. They looked so beautiful all dressed "to the teeth", as our local guide Lily called it. The show itself wasn't exactly our "cup of tea", but apparently it is a very famous and popular show. The girls got to go up on stage afterwards and have their pictures taken with some of the performers. It had been such a long day, Mia barely stayed awake for the entire performance (me too!).

After flying to Chengdu this morning, we had lunch, then had our choice of a full body massage or foot massage at the local massage school. Almost everyone chose the full body massage. Now those who know me are aware I LOVE a good massage, but this was not your basic, run-of-the-mill massage! I also like a firm massage and have a high pain threshold. BUT this woman had me in pain a few times. I had to tell her on more than one occasion to lighten it up. I know I was tense and needed my muscles relaxed, but YEEOOOOWW!!! It was Mia's first experience with a professional massage and she must have enjoyed it because she slept through most of it :).

Afterwards we went to a local park and Tea House. In Beijing and Xi'an, we certainly got our fair share of gawks and stares (Caucasians with Chinese girls and one Thai boy). But her in Chengdu, the locals are much more obvious about their fascination with us. They literally come up and gather around us and take pictures. It's more the experience we had when I was here on the adoption trip. When we went out in public with the babies in Guangzhou, oftentimes the locals would crowd around us and ask the babies names and pat them, etc. A couple of people today gave us thumbs up saying they liked us.

At the park, the kids (and one adult, me) got a traditional lollipop made with carmelized sugar. You spin a wheel and whatever sign of the Chinese zodiac it lands on, the vendor makes the lollipop right then for you. The dragon is the largest and "luckiest" one. I said I wanted to get that one and lo and behold I did!!! Our local guide said I was the first adult of any of their groups who had ever spun a dragon :). Of course, Mia begged and begged me to trade her rooster for it. It looked better than it actually tasted.

We didn't check into our hotel until almost 5. The kids swam and Mia and I ended up just ordering room service tonight and taking it easy. She fell asleep early and I won't be long behind her. We are really looking forward to tomorrow. It is the highlight of the trip for the kids. They get to literally "Hug a Panda" (the name of our tour). We are going to a Panda breeding farm where there are about 80 Pandas. The really cool thing is twins were born there just few weeks ago and we should get to see them. They are still in the incubator and pink!
We have to leave the hotel by 8 a.m. So we'll be up early. Talk to you soon!
Zai Jian!
Melinda

All Aboard....off to Xian!

First of all, a big shout out to my brother, Bill, for uploading these posts for me. As expected, I cannot access Facebook, my blog or any type of "public" website while in China. So I am e-mailing him and he is doing it for me....:)

The last few days have been non-stop!!!! Friday we got up early, had our luggage packed and ready first thing, then took off for another day of sightseeing. The highlight was Tianamen Square. It was much larger than I expected and very stark and somber. It was hard not to think of the massacre/protest that occurred in 1989. We attempted to fly kites, but were stopped just as the girls were getting their kites up in the air by the many policeman running through the square. Apparently it is a popular past time, but technically forbidden. However, people do it when they can get away with it. Poor Mia is so afraid of getting in trouble she was worried sick even though our guide kept telling them to go ahead and try and the worst thing that would happen is the police would tell them to stop. Sure enough just as Mia was getting hers up, a big police car came roaring down the square, lights blaring and with a big bull horn telling them to stop. Mia was scared to death! I think she thought they were going to be arrested. I guess it's good she has that much respect for the law, but I felt bad she was so traumatized :).

We also visited a local "Hutong", which is basically a "house/home" where several families live vs. a high rise apartment. Beijing has grown so much (13 million people) they have to build up (much like NYC), so the Hutong's are not very common now and are more valuable. We also saw a Silk Carpet Weaving demonstration and I must say, I REALLY appreciate the work, time and effort that goes into making one of those now. They are worth every penny you pay for them! The children also visited a local day center for developmentally disabled adults and spent time "playing" with some of the residents. It was a good experience and the people there make crafts to raise money. Some of them are very talented. The girls made cards and we all bought some of the jewelry and other items for souvenirs.

Then last night was the long awaited overnight train ride. We took a sleeper train from Beijing to Xi'an which took 11 hours. We stayed in a sleeper car for four. Fortunately we knew everyone in our car, which consisted of two bunk type compartments and a small table in between. There was a bathroom down the hall and we just slept, got up the next morning and went to the hotel. The kids got together for awhile and played and visited, but everyone was so exhausted from the previous few days, we crashed pretty quickly after the train left the station at 9:18 p.m.

We arrived at our hotel in Xi'an about 9 a.m., had breakfast, checked into our rooms, showered and then were off again....today was supposedly an "easy" day, but by the end of it at 5 p.m., we were all wondering what was "easy" about it? We visited an art gallery, a Muslim Mosque, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and had Xi'an Jiaozi dumplings for lunch. This is supposed to be a place that is famous for their dumplings. Unfortunately I can't eat any of them due to my celiac, so they fixed me some "special" dishes. But frankly, I am really getting tired of Chinese food. That's exactly how I felt 10 years ago. It's good, but too much of anything isn't necessarily a good thing. Even Mia said today she hates the smell of China and the food. She said "I dont' like breathing or eating here!". I had to chuckle because that pretty much spoils a lot for you. The fact is, she is enjoying herself and she loves the new friends she is making. But I do not think she has ANY desire to "return to her roots". And the fact is, we haven't even made it to the really rural area that she is from. Beijing was VERY modern and progressive. Xi'an is not as large ("only" 8 million people...considered small by China standards), but her hometown Gaozhou is considered a "rural village" of only 2-3 million.

A few things I had forgotten since last trip. The "BYOTP" rule of many public toilets...."bring your own toilet paper". They live by such a code of scarcity here that most pubic bathrooms have no TP, so you have to bring your own. You are rarely given a napkin in a restaurant and have to ask. In the hotels, they do not replenish things like towels and toiletries unless you request it. However, when we eat we are given SO much food it's ridiculous! We always have way more than we can eat. So it's very dichotomous!

Well, it's late here and we will be up bright and early tomorrow. Mia konked out long ago.....she has been doing great as far as keeping up and doing her fair share of lugging stuff and being a trooper. I am very proud of her :). Until I get a chance to write next time..... M & m