We woke up to monsoonal rain. So, we abandoned thoughts of a swim that morning. Instead, we packed, ate another sumptuous breakfast and headed to the train station for our trip to Guangzhou. It was a two hour train ride to Guangzhou, in mainland China. We were beginning to get our travel clocks adjusted to the 12 hour time difference between Boston and China! Initially the scenery out the window was luscious and green, however, the closer we got to Guangzhou, the more industrial it got. At 3pm, we arrived and were met by our guide Winnie. Winnie was delightful and she quickly engaged all of us! On our 40 minute ride to the White Swan Hotel, we recited Chinese numbers, sang a Chinese children's song our girls learned in Chinese class, discussed our Zodiac signs and learned the population of the largest cities in China - Chunqing (33 million), Beijing (20 million), Shanghai (18million) and Guangzhou (13million).
We were also told about the Qingping Market (very famous and large) on Shamian Island, where scorpions, snakes, turtles, and baby alligators were available to purchase to cook and eat. Winnie assured us that the puppies, kittens, bunnies, and chipmunks we eould see were for sale as pets (and not eating) at the Qingping Market. Elsewhere, these animals are not sold as pets, but for delicacies to eat!
We were staying for the night at the 5-star White Swan hotel (the first 5-star hotel in China). Famous guests have included Queen Elizabeth II, Presidents Nixon and Bush, Deng Xioping, and Bill Gates. It also is known to the adoption community as the "baby hotel", as it is where most Americans (including Ginger and I) stay while we await the final stages of the adoption process, before we fly home to the US. It is located right next to the old US Consulate, where US IR3 stamps (temporary evidence of lawful admission to the U.S. for permanent residence) were placed in our adopted daughters' Chinese passports, after they have received medical clearance, and all the Chinese adoption paperwork is verified. The US Consulate has been relocated (in 2004) to the newer financial/business center of Guangzhou, although the old compound is still used for consulate housing. Shamian Island was the center of the international consulates/embassies beginning in 1910, and the beautiful western architecture (reminiscent of parts of Paris), is very lovely.
The girls were delighted by the luxury of the hotel. After checking in, we toured the old haunts to give the girls a sense of their history here. We visited the "red couch" where all the babies were gathered and photographed for the signature picture of this last stay in China. We took photos of the girls on the red couch, as well as in front of the large bamboo bird cage (holding various beautiful parrakeets), in front of the Coi fish pond and waterfall, and the various carved jade statues of a 1800s merchant ship, a classic Chinese pagoda, and life-size statues of tigers, rams and horses. We showed them the very elegant dining room, where our little girls had there their introduction to an incredible variety of food. I remember Elizabeth and Rebecca being ravenous to try all the foods, and the waitresses laughing at Elizabeth's buddha-belly as she gobbled down everything she could get her hands on!
We walked to the old US Consulate, where IR3 status was granted, allowing our girls to enter the US as American citizens as soon as they landed on US soil (Elizabeth in LA, Rebecca in Chicago). Then we showed them the park where they played, and the shops where we bought them their Chinese dresses. Then we brought them to the famous Qingping Market. Elizabeth and Hannah took pictures of everything, and the girls were all delighted to see, the expansive offerings of vegetables, grains, mushrooms, beans, noodles, herbs, fish, snakes, eels, and scorpions (big and small). This market shows the variety of foods Cantonese eat ("everything is eaten by the Cantonese", says Winnie)! The girls loved seeing the great variety of puppies, kittens, rabbits, chipmunks, fish and turtles, the Cantonese select as pets.
We then had dinner at the Thai restaurant (the "Cow and Bridge") Ginger and I remember dining at when we were last in Guangzhou. Then back to the White Swan Hotel. We spoke with several new adoptive parents, with little babies in tow. Since the slowdown in the amount of adoptions, the White Swan seems eerily quiet when compared to the huge numbers of parents adopting in the 2000-2005 period. We went to bed at 9pm, as we had a 4:30am wake-up call to be ready for leaving the hotel at 6am for the new Guangzhou Airport (second largest in the world, after the new Beijing International Airport). Our flight to Zhanjiang, in Southern China, was to leave at 8:15am and take an hour to arrive.
We were also told about the Qingping Market (very famous and large) on Shamian Island, where scorpions, snakes, turtles, and baby alligators were available to purchase to cook and eat. Winnie assured us that the puppies, kittens, bunnies, and chipmunks we eould see were for sale as pets (and not eating) at the Qingping Market. Elsewhere, these animals are not sold as pets, but for delicacies to eat!
We were staying for the night at the 5-star White Swan hotel (the first 5-star hotel in China). Famous guests have included Queen Elizabeth II, Presidents Nixon and Bush, Deng Xioping, and Bill Gates. It also is known to the adoption community as the "baby hotel", as it is where most Americans (including Ginger and I) stay while we await the final stages of the adoption process, before we fly home to the US. It is located right next to the old US Consulate, where US IR3 stamps (temporary evidence of lawful admission to the U.S. for permanent residence) were placed in our adopted daughters' Chinese passports, after they have received medical clearance, and all the Chinese adoption paperwork is verified. The US Consulate has been relocated (in 2004) to the newer financial/business center of Guangzhou, although the old compound is still used for consulate housing. Shamian Island was the center of the international consulates/embassies beginning in 1910, and the beautiful western architecture (reminiscent of parts of Paris), is very lovely.
The girls were delighted by the luxury of the hotel. After checking in, we toured the old haunts to give the girls a sense of their history here. We visited the "red couch" where all the babies were gathered and photographed for the signature picture of this last stay in China. We took photos of the girls on the red couch, as well as in front of the large bamboo bird cage (holding various beautiful parrakeets), in front of the Coi fish pond and waterfall, and the various carved jade statues of a 1800s merchant ship, a classic Chinese pagoda, and life-size statues of tigers, rams and horses. We showed them the very elegant dining room, where our little girls had there their introduction to an incredible variety of food. I remember Elizabeth and Rebecca being ravenous to try all the foods, and the waitresses laughing at Elizabeth's buddha-belly as she gobbled down everything she could get her hands on!
We walked to the old US Consulate, where IR3 status was granted, allowing our girls to enter the US as American citizens as soon as they landed on US soil (Elizabeth in LA, Rebecca in Chicago). Then we showed them the park where they played, and the shops where we bought them their Chinese dresses. Then we brought them to the famous Qingping Market. Elizabeth and Hannah took pictures of everything, and the girls were all delighted to see, the expansive offerings of vegetables, grains, mushrooms, beans, noodles, herbs, fish, snakes, eels, and scorpions (big and small). This market shows the variety of foods Cantonese eat ("everything is eaten by the Cantonese", says Winnie)! The girls loved seeing the great variety of puppies, kittens, rabbits, chipmunks, fish and turtles, the Cantonese select as pets.
We then had dinner at the Thai restaurant (the "Cow and Bridge") Ginger and I remember dining at when we were last in Guangzhou. Then back to the White Swan Hotel. We spoke with several new adoptive parents, with little babies in tow. Since the slowdown in the amount of adoptions, the White Swan seems eerily quiet when compared to the huge numbers of parents adopting in the 2000-2005 period. We went to bed at 9pm, as we had a 4:30am wake-up call to be ready for leaving the hotel at 6am for the new Guangzhou Airport (second largest in the world, after the new Beijing International Airport). Our flight to Zhanjiang, in Southern China, was to leave at 8:15am and take an hour to arrive.
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| Red Couch at White Swan - Rebecca, Hannah, Elizabeth, Ella, Olivia |
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| Bird Cage at White Swan - Olivia, Ella, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Hannah |
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| Pickled Snakes for Sale |
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| Scorpions For Sale |
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