Guangzhou Sights

Today I realized the trip is already halfway over! I am very homesick and I miss the boys terribly, but I also want to experience as much of Zoe's birth country as possible. I realized I haven't posted our itinerary, so I swiped this from Melissa's website (Thanks Melissa!)

OUR ITINERARY

Thursday, 6/17 Depart for Beijing

Friday, 6/18 Arrive in Beijing

Saturday, 6/19 Sightseeing (Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace)

Sunday, 6/20 Sightseeing (Great Wall,Church Service)

Monday, 6/21 Fly to Guangzhou, meet Zoe Mei!

Tuesday, 6/22 Civil Affairs Appt.

Wednesday, 6/23 - Friday, 6/25 Sightseeing & Shopping

Saturday, 6/26 Medical Exam

Sunday, 6/27 Consulate Paperwork

Monday, 6/28 Consulate Appointment

Tuesday, 6/29 Oath-Taking Ceremony

Wednesday, 6/30 Pick up Zoe Mei's visa

Thursday, 7/1 Depart from Guangzhou

Friday, 7/2 Depart from Hong Kong/Arrive home!

Today is Friday, June 25th so as you can see we have had two days of sightseeing. Yesterday Kevin and I went out with Lucia to visit the folk art museum and do some shopping. This photo, taken at the front entrance, looks like it is out of a dream sequence. It is so humid here the camera fogged up when we took it out of the bag!

The museum is located in the ancestral hall of the hugely powerful Chen family. It was built in the late Qing dynasty (1894) and is also known as the Chen Classical Learning academy because it served as both an altar for ancestor-worship and a school to prepare students for the national civil service examination.

This temple has loads of frescoes, carved stone pillars, beautiful courtyards, vintage mahogany-furnished rooms, ornate woodworking, super-high ceilings, and of course the requisite souvenir and folk art shops. We watched an artist do these really cool hand-paintings. He used his palms, fingers, and fingernails to create the paintings (bought one). We had Zoe's Chinese name done in calligraphy on a floral scroll-like painting to place in her bedroom. We also bought her a little wooden table and chairs for the dollhouse that Aunt Marty and Aunt Marsha bought her a few years ago. But the thing that caught my eye was a gorgeous, colorful, and borderline tacky painting of a family of chickens. In the painting, you can see a rooster, a hen, TWIN chicks, and then another chick that looks a little different from the other two. So of course I had to have it. The characters spell something to the effect of "happy, auspicious, and prosperous family." Even though it was a government shop, I was able to haggle a little. You will soon see it proudly displayed in the stairwell to our basement, if Kevin can find a ladder tall enough! (could you change that bulb while you're at it, honey?) It was wicked hot at the museum, but Zoe was such a trooper! Guess she's used to the heat. We came back to the (ice cold!) hotel and then put her down for a nap.
That evening, we decided to visit Shamian Island, located on the Pearl River. This charming oasis from the chaos and noise of car-choked Guangzhou has very little vehicular traffic. We stepped out of the cab and felt like we were in a different city altogether. It reminded me a little of the quieter parts of London. In fact, following the Second Opium War in the 1850's, Shamian was divided into British and French sections, so the European influence on architecture is evident everywhere.

One of the only modern buildings on the island is the White Swan Hotel, dubbed the "White Stork Hotel" because of its popularity with foreign couples coming to adopt Chinese orphans. Not all foreign couples, however, as we are staying at the much-less-charming China Hotel Marriott. We decided to visit the White Swan to see what we were missing, and then had to talk trash about the place to make ourselves feel better ("Did you know the rooms are so small you have to sleep standing up?") Yes, the White Swan is nice, but what makes it uber-cool is it's location RIGHT ON the Pearl River. You can sit on one of the famous red couches, listen to the waterfall, watch the koi swim in the gigantic pond in the lobby, and view the boats just outside a huge wall of windows. The White Swan is the number one choice of foreign dignitaries; in fact, a few years ago every single guest was kicked out when North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il paid a visit. (Ah well, our hotel has bigger rooms.) It is tradition for adoption travel groups to photograph all the babies together on a red couch, but the rest of our group doesn't return to Guangzhou until Friday night.

After visiting the White Swan, we went in search of Lucy's Restaurant, which is a popular place for Americans staying on Shamian Island. The walls are covered in posters of Hollywood movies and license plates from all 50 states, and the menus are in English. We had BLT's, fries, pasta, and unusual-tasting vanilla ice cream, and I tried a Pearl River beer. It was a nice change from Cantonese food.

Lucia had arranged for our laundry (still a bit damp), to be delivered to us while we were at Lucy's, so we hauled it back to the hotel and finalized our plans for the next day. Melissa, the babies, and I would have a girls day out with Lucia, while Kevin and Jeff would leave early (7:30) with a new guide and journey 6 hours south-west to Maoming. Kevin would try to videotape the place where Zoe was abandoned (her "finding place"), and go to her orphanage. He would not be permitted to see the inside (presumably because of construction), but we both thought it was important to collect as much information as we could about her city in case she has questions when she is older. Then they would go to Anna Joy's birth city about a half hour from Maoming. I will ask Kevin to write about this adventure when he returns tonight.

Bye for now!