Traveling to Guangzhou (6-28-2008)

No sightseeing today... And I only took 78 pictures (I've been averaging about 390 per day for the past several days). Today was travel day and started with the usual great company and great food.



All of the families are splitting up today and flying to the province where they will pick up thier children. We are going directly to Guangzhou (took me forever to remember how to spell that!). After about a week, all of the families will be meeting up with us in Guangzhou to finalize the adoption paperwork. Since we are going there right away, we will be settling in to our hotel for quite a long stay.

The Beijing airport is shaped like a turtle, long life, as many things here are built and decorated with symbology in mind.

When we went to check in, our flight for Noon had been cancelled and they moved us up to a 11am departure, so we were already running late. We were expedited through security and rode a cart to the "gate." When we got to the gate, we found ourselves on the third floor, "shopping areas," floor 2 looked like the gate waiting area and the actual gate was on the 1st floor. After checking in at the gate, we actually got on a bus and waited for a while, then we drove for a while and ended up out on the tarmac, parked right beside our plane.

At this point, we are getting very excited about getting E.V. We are less than 24 hrs out and are on the plane ride to her province.

Of course, it couldn't be that easy. Apparently, there was a typhoon that hit Hong Kong yesterday and now Guangzhou is getting some of the weather. We were diverted to Guitin, a city about an hours flight northwest of Guangzhou. When we landed there, the pilot came back and talked to everyone, but he didn't speak much English, so we were judging what was going on mostly by the reactions of the people around us. Of course, CHI would know we had been diverted and would react accordingly. After sitting for about an hour, we took back off and landed in Guangzhou. Our original flight was supposed to be from Noon - 3pm and we ended up flying from 11am - 5:30pm.... Bottom Line: We are in Guangzhou and that is all that matters... just another adventure.

We were met at the airport by the CHI representative, Elsie, and taken by bus to the hotel for check-in.

This hotel is very nice and the room is set up very interestingly. The bathroom and shower are all part of one waterproof room and you just shower whether you are in or out of the tub. Also, the wall between this tub/shower area and the beds is glass, so you can see right through. Pretty cool, but not huge on privacy. Yes, there is a little powered curtain thing that you can bring down if you want some privacy.

There is a little play-crib in our room and the hotel staff left a little stuffed bear for E.V.! Very cute.

Since we arrived a little late and have been eating so much lately, we decided to just have a little snack and go for a massage for our last night without a child. We went to a massage house and got a 2 hour full body massage for both of us, with a really good tip for about $45 total. Why not spoil ourselves... that is about what you would pay for one 30min massage at home.

After the massage, it was back to the room where we spent a little time unpacking and setting up the room for the arrival of baby E.V.

When we get up tomorrow.... It will be GOTCHA DAY!!!

-Darrell

The Great Wall and Other Great Stuff (6-27-2008)

We met up with even more members of the group today. This morning I woke up at 3am, then went back to sleep for another couple of hours. Since I was up, I typed up yesterday's blog at 5am... I am not a morning person in the US, so I guess I had to come half-way around the world to change my sleep habits. Breakfast was great... again.... I love these all-you-can eat full breakfasts! Ok, so I'm easily entertained. There are 39 people in our group today and here we are, getting going in the morning.

Today, we are going to Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. For lunch, we will be having Peking Duck at a nice authentic restraunt. Michelle is our guide again today, she goes by several names. Today, we are calling her Grace. She moved to Beijing in 2004. She just told us the story of the first time that she led a large week-long tour. Apparently, throughout the week, she would be explaining to the group how the Emperor's cucumbers were beautiful and that after 3 nights following the wedding, the Emperor would start to chose cucumbers to sleep with, instead of the Emperess. Someone asked about the cucumbers and she said that China has the most beautiful cucumbers in the world. Yes, this whole time, she meant to be saying concubine... not cucumber. Our first stop of the day was Tiananmen Square. Here are several photos of the area. The Chinese characters on the building with the photo of Chairman Mao mean longevity for the Chinese and longevity for people of the world.

Next, we were on to the Forbidden City. We walked about 8km from Tiananmen square through the Forbidden City. Here are some photos of the Forbidden City.

While we were walking, I got the chance to practice my negotiating skills. A lady tried to sell me a fan for 100 Chinese money. I talked her down to getting two fans for 70. Well, I was feeling pretty good till the next lady's starting offer was one fan for 30. And I probably could have even talked her down from that.... Oh well, 70 is only about $10 anyway. We like the fans anyway. The picture of the Turtle/Dragon above symbolizes long life and longevity and is a common symbol. Next up... Lunch

The lunch was great, and Tammy was happy to be in a restraunt full of people who could appreciate her desire to eat all the duck fat and skin possible. Tammy and I are always the last one's eating... I am noticing a pattern. I think I'm going to gain some weight while we are here. After lunch, it was on to the Great Wall. Tammy and I started together, but split up, so that I could walk farther up. The guide explained that we had a choice... we could walk up the difficult route or the more difficult route. Apparently, the better pictures were along the more difficult route, so that is what we took. Tammy walked to the 2nd level and I walked to the 5th. It was very high and although it was misty, it was beautiful.

This picture is of the squatting toilet near the top of where I walked. It was the most disgusting toilet I've ever seen, but I guess you can't get too many janitorial services up there.

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to take a photo outside the hotel, then go out to get a "foot massage." We paid about $32 total for both of us to get a 90 min massage that included arms, hands, legs, back and a ton of time on our feet.... very nice.

After the massage, it was back to the hotel and to bed for the night.... Tomorrow it is time to fly to Guangzhou to go get E.V. -Darrell

Meeting E.V.

(Note from Karyn)

In just 45 minutes Tammy and Darrell will be meeting their new daughter, E.V., for the very first time. It will be 2:00 pm on Monday, June 29th.

Welcome, E.V.!!!!!

The Summer Palace and much more...

(Written about June 24, 2009 U.S. / June 25, 2009 China)

The morning started at 0600 (yes, the clock is set to show a 24 hr display). The breakfast at the hotel was fabulous! There was a mix of American and Chinese food... from waffles to fish and steamed buns. Of course, Tammy loves those steamed buns. To be honest, so do I. I made a pig of myself, but I didn't feel too stuffed, so it was great. The coffee was very strong and welcome. Then, we were ready to go.



Then it as off to the Summer Palace. We had it great... we were the only one's on the tour and our tour guide, Michele, spoke English very well. It was a personalized tour and we got to talk about everything and ask all kinds of questions. On the transportation we were able to just talk about the city and people and all kinds of stuff. Here is a picture on the ride... that is the Olypmic torch building in the background. I believe it was the media center during the Olympics.


Random Note: Because of our issues with trying to order "spicy," but not too spicy food, Michele gave us a translation. Bu Tia La = "Little Spicy"

The summer palace was great. I will not go into all the information she gaqve us, but will touch a on a couple of things and add some photos. Apparently, this whole area was the property of royalty forever, but was destroyed by the farmer soldiers and rebuilt by ruler that they called "The Dragon Lady." She was never the official ruler, but always picked weak-willed rulers, so that she could sit "behind the curtain" and make all the decisions. She used much needed money from the country to completely rebuild, beautify, and expand the summer palace the way she wanted it. Here are some photos of the palace. The lady with Tammy is Michele.







The huge rocks were hand-carried from the south of China.... Amazing.

The pictures of what looks like a really long hallway is an outdoor hallway that is the longest in the world. I believe she said that there are 547 hand-painted pictures across the top and some are being restored. Michele took a moment to talk about one picture that just happened to be in front of us. The story was about the Monkey King. This is a story that we have read the boy's several times. She said it was interesting talking to us because of Tammy's Chinese background and that we were already slightly knowledgable and appeciative of what we were seeing.... nice complement :)

By the time we made it though the summer palace, it


Next up, Michele asked the driver to drop us off down town by the Bird's Nest (the Olympics area). The first place we went was a grocery store. If you know Tammy, you know she loves food! We were enthralled by the variety available at the store and we could have stayed in there longer, just checking everything out.



But eventually, we continued on. We found a Nike store and thought we went into it, just to see what prices were like. However, we actually walked into a store right next to the Nike store, which was almost identical and even had shoes with a symbol that looked almost exactly like the Nike symbol. It took us a moment to realize that it was some Nike-like Chinese place.

Then on we went to another grocery store. We decided to just pick up some food from the store and eat it out on the street as a snack, so we could keep walking around. I like to try different foods, so I ended up getting the only drink that had NO English words and NO pictures of anything to be able to tell what it was...


Well, this drink was TERRIBLE!!! It tasted like it was made with some type of root. Oh well, I drank it all. Tammy was joking that maybe it was some type of male vitality drink, as we only saw men drinking it. Probably just a coincidence, but you never know. The bottle looked a lot like the famous Grandpa Richard "fix everything" medicine rub.

We also stopped at a really nice tea store and bought some Jasmine tea. The staff was very attentive. It was hard to get used to. If Tammy pointed to something on the shelf to ask me a question, before we knew it, a lady would show up with a sample.

While eating our snack, we met Daniel, who was from Germany. He is a pediatrician, specializing in oncology. He is in Beijing for a conference, but was skipping the meetings to see the city.... Busted!

Next, we walked down to the Olympic Village and went into the Bird's Nest. Michele said that they really do call it the Bird's Nest, even in Chinese. I thought maybe it was just what Americans called it.


After seeing the Bird's Nest, we went over to the Water Cube. They have built up a whole industry around the Water Cube. They have water cube fashion, jewelery, etc.


We bought a collector's coin with all the 2008 Olympic cartoon guys on it. The boys will think they are pretty cute.

After leaving the Water Cube, it was time to hit the subway. But on the way, we walked across the grounds of the Olympic Village and took some photos of some of the statues. Like the one in the picture below. I'm not sure who this guy is, but I'm sure there is probably a story we will need to look up. (Maybe someone will comment on this post and tell us who he is)


Then on to the subway. Michelle had told us that the subway had been around for a while (like the early 1990
's), which I thought sounded pretty new. But the outer loops and the line specifically to the Olympic Village and the one to the Airport were just completed for the Olympics in 2008. It was very nice.


And this was our exit to walk back to the hotel.


We went up to the room for a moment and Tammy made a quick check of the internet.


Then it was off to dinner. We just wanted to have some simple Chinese noodles, but once again, we found out that it is very hard to communicate with Charades. I'm sure we looked crazy pointing at other people's food. I need to figure out how to say, "I'll take an order of that." It ended up that the place we were at did have noodles, but when we showed them our picture translation book for noodles, they wanted to make sure we understood that they sold only "like-noodles." What they had were made from rice, not flour... which didn't bother us at all. Good thing a nice girl heard us trying to talk and offered up translation services. They also didn't understand that we just wanted noodles. We also needed to tell them what we wanted in our noodles.... Who could have known it would be so challenging to get noodles for dinner. Anyway, after eating for a while, I saw a refrigerator in the corner with beer. I'm not sure if I was supposed to ask for it or get it myself, but I wasn't taking any chances. I walked over and got one myself and said "Thank You" in Chinese. Well the whole meal was about $3.50, including the beer.....


With the final meal of the day down, we headed back to the hotel and got some sleep.... SEE YOU TOMORROW!

-Darrell