Mr. Chen's Bamboo

Thursday, June 30

This morning we arose pretty early (5:30 for me and a bit later for the others) to finish packing up, shovel down some breakfast and be ready when our driver appeared at 7:30. It was hard to leave our beautiful mountain retreat - but we were recharged, feeling healthier, and ready for the final phase of our trip. 

The drive from Yangshuo Mountain Retreat to Yangshuo bullet train station took almost an hour, but it was one of the most beautiful car trips of my life. The mountains were gorgeous - and everywhere - and we passed miles of small towns, rice fields, farmers, water buffalo, and just...LIFE...in China. 

 

And then, suddenly, in the middle of seemingly nowhere we come upon the brand new train station, the outside of which isn't even finished yet. The driver vaguely pointed to the entrance and then we were on our own. To our advantage, the station was quite small - only four platforms - and we had no trouble figuring out where to go and when our train was boarding. We settled in for the comfortable two-hour ride to Guangzhou. 

Tony and I realized that this was our third time in Guangzhou - that seems crazy. But we didn't stay long. We were very happy to see Sophie waving the white Sun Travel flag as we exited the busy train station. She showed us the way to our car and driver (Mr. Chen) and we immediately set off for the 4-5 hour car ride to Maoming. 

Our two previous trips to Guangdong Province were in November and March and let me say that it's a whole different animal in late June. We've only been here a few hours but have already seen two storms, bright sunshine, and clouds. Sophie says she is taking us to visit a beach that's on the way to Maoming, since there isn't anything else scheduled for today. That sounds GREAT to me. We're only about 2.5 hours into the drive and my butt hurts!

Here's my view for a big part of the day - I love that Mr. Chen is growing bamboo in his car.

 

One of the best parts about having Sophie is a guide is her intuitive knowledge of how and when to improvise a plan. We knew we had a long slog drive ahead of us (though Mr. Chen was doing all of the heavy lifting in that respect) when she suddenly suggested that we stop at the beach on the way to Maoming. Wait - what? I sort of knew the geography of Guangdong Province but was not aware that there were tourist-type beaches there. Needless to say I am learning more than one new thing each day that I'm here. Apparently Sophie used to take trips with her family to this very beach and she seemed excited to show it to us. Plus, everything that Sophie does is magic to FS and SF, so they were all in.

We rolled in to Maoming Beach at about 4pm and while it was still very much China, it was also exuding shades of Florida USA. Palm trees, high-rise condos, beach umbrellas, the whole nine yards. It was AWESOME! I don't know who was more excited - me, the girls, or Sophie. While poor Tony (wearing laced shoes) stayed above the water line, all of the girls let the incredibly warm water wash over our feet and soaked up the sunshine.

 

(Photo credz to Sophie.)

We took a bit of a stroll down the beach and collected some really cool spiral shells that we don't often see at home. We also collected some sand for our sand collection. Then we wandered back to poor Tony who was still standing guard over our shoes and devices. 

Next we made a quick detour for some fresh coconut milk. The palm trees in Maoming are definitely coconut producers and there were stands set up where you pick your coconut, they hack out a piece of it, pop in a straw or two and - voila! Beach juice. The girls shared one and pronounced it wonderful. Thanks to Sophie, FS had a super positive first impression of her hometown.

After the coconuts, we had fully intended to go find Mr. Chen and head to Maoming proper, But then Sophie's tour deviation took a deviation of its own. Just off the beach were several brand-new seafood "establishments." And by establishments I mean the kinds of places where you pick your eel or your snails or your prawns out of tubs on the pavement. Sophie asked if we wanted to have a seafood dinner and we just knew it would be a great time - we were in! First she located Mr. Chen who helped her pick the dishes and select the seafood. Since he is considered a true local, this also ensured the best possible price. The next thing we know, dish after dish of freshly prepared seafood from the China Sea began to appear on our table. 

 

(L-r) Mr. Chen, Sophie, SF and FS - who despite all appearances, is NOT choking on a fish bone.)

The photo above was taken BEFORE several more dishes arrived, including steamed crabs. Amazing! I was really proud of the girls for trying everything on the table - including the snails and head-intact prawns. They are already pros when it comes to fresh fish and mussels. We learned at dinner that you should never turn a served fish because it's like "tipping a boat." You carefully pull the skin and bone off without turning it. Quite a trick.

We learned several interesting things about Mr. Chen at dinner. First - he speaks a little bit of English. Second - his son attends university in St. Louis where he is majoring in sports management. Third - he owns a business that includes several drivers. Fourth - his nephew is fatherless and he acts as a father figure for him. He is a really kind man who graciously served us tea and soup and whatever else we needed all throughout dinner.

Finally we all piled back into Mr. Chen's van and made the half-hour journey north to Maoming proper. This city is "smallish" - which is this case means about 3 million people. The downtown is vibrant and bustling. We are staying in a beautiful hotel called La Palazzo. After settling in, we agreed to walk to a nearby square with Sophie to see some of the locals dancing. However, a thunderstorm intervened. The weather here in Guangdong is incredibly mercurial. While we were waiting for the weather to clear, Sophie dropped two bombs on us about our orphanage visit tomorrow. First - despite what we have heard to the contrary, FS's orphanage was not torn down or moved. It stands in the same location where it was eleven years ago. There is a plan to move it, but not until the end of this year. Second - that the Director who was here in 2005 is still here. Though, again weirdly, we were told the Director is a man (and have a photo of him with FS) but it's in fact a woman. This goes to show, once again, that if you want information about your adopted children, you have to COME HERE. 

We meet Sophie tomorrow at 9:20 before heading to Maoming to see what else we can find out and then have lunch with representatives of the staff. It'll be a big day for Flying Sparrow - especially since we will get the FINAL word on the actual translation of her name, which we have heard several variations of over the years. 

Now We're Cooking...Literally

Wednesday, June 29

Today was the first day I felt like a human since Sunday afternoon and it was a huge relief. Yangshuo was just what the doctor ordered. After going from one bustling city and major tourist attraction to another, we suddenly had time to slow down the pace and just enjoy the beauty of China. I have definitely decided that the smaller cities are my favorites: Yangshuo and Nanping have so much personality and let you feel like you're actually a part of them.

This morning I slept until 6:45, which is, by far, a personal best on this trip. I really needed it as the nights have been hard for me lately. We took a leisurely stroll to the Retreat's restaurant - all of about 100 steps. The craziest part of this retreat in the boondocks of China is that it is mostly occupied by, and caters to, westerners. Listen up, people, you can get LEGIT French fries here! (And I did, twice!) For breakfast, however, I went with the "Apple pancake" since a person can do noodles just so many times and was pleasantly surprised with a decent crepe with apples atop it. 

We rolled out of the retreat SUPER late today - at 10am - to head down to Yangshuo proper for our cooking class. This was something I had looked forward to ever since my first glimpse the the itinerary. "Cloud 9 Cooking School" totally lived up to its name today. The remains of our travel group (down to 5 families) all took part in a class in which we learned how to make three Chinese dishes. Our instructor was self-taught, both in cooking and English, and did an impressive job of teaching children and adults at numerous levels. I do have to say that the room where we were cooking was a "bit" - okay, oppressively - hot while we did our prep work. Oh! Wait! Let's turn on 20 woks at once! Can you say 

"inferno"? We were all dripping sweat into our dishes, but nevertheless I throughly enjoyed myself and look forward to making all of the dishes when we get home.

 

Spring Flower looks so evil in this photo that I'm surprised anyone let her have a cleaver.

 The coolest part was that you eat what you cook. So after exiting the inferno, we all trooped downstairs to the (air conditioned!) restaurant and once again had ten times more food on the table than we could ever hope to eat.

 

My dumplings. For the win!

After lunch we had an hour to spend in Yangshuo's adorable market. LOVED this market. There was some of the super pushy sales tactics but not nearly as bad as other cities and there was a nice variety of things to choose from. The girls chose a few really cute items and then washed it down with a refreshing mango smoothie. Except it was 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity. So a smoothie ain't touching that.

 

After the market we had to say goodbye to two of the travel families who were headed off to orphanage visits. It's remarkable how hard it is to part with people you just met 10 days ago but trips such as these tend to forge some pretty strong connections. The Mountain Retreat was a lot quieter this afternoon. 

HOWEVER, we made the best of an "afternoon off." Tony and I took a walk with sweat pouring down our faces and then rewarded ourselves with two pint sized Tsingtaos riverside.

 

It was a perfect afternoon, watching life in China float by and enjoying life. At one point, we were even graced with the presence of Flying Sparrow. I wish I could say she was seeking our company, but the truth is, she was Jonesing for another Retreat milkshake.

 

FS, post-milkshake and feeling refreshed. 

Next on the agenda was dinner with the last two remaining families. We shared a big outdoor table alongside the river and had a great evening. Good food, great people, lots of laughs and sharing. We did have to move the party indoors when some pesky thunder and lighting arrived, but that just gave us an excuse to order dessert. Other than the repeated appearance of a bizarre man who was wandering the the hotel in a bathrobe, it was a perfect evening!

Tomorrow morning we are on the move again. A new driver is rumored to be appearing here at 7:30 tomorrow morning to drive us to the Yangshuo train station, where we will catch the new bullet train to Guangzhou. We received a huge surprised today when we were told that none other than SOPHIE will be meeting us there! We are hoping that she'll be taking us on Flying Sparrow's orphanage visit, but don't wan to get our hopes up too high. In any case, SOMEONE will be taking us from the train station in Guangzhou on a five-hour car trip to Maoming tomorrow afternoon. Jealous much?

See you in Maoming! Our next-to-last stay!

Yangshuo Retreat

Tuesday, June 28, I think.

Okay now the days and locations are REALLY starting to get mixed up in my head. At least we are not alone. We constantly chat with our travel group members and comment on something in particular we saw or tasted and it always takes us a few minutes to piece together when/where we were. And while we're here for just over two weeks, some families have been here even longer - one since June 9th. Their trip will be a full month.

I was doing REALLY well with going with the flow and being up for every new food and experience and not missing home too much - until - our last night in Xi'an (Sunday) when I made the fateful decision to eat a piece of Chicken Satay IN THE HOTEL and have paid a big price for the past few days. As soon as I ate it I knew it wasn't going to end well, but it's so ironic that we have steered the girls clear of street skewers and then I get taken out by a Sheraton skewer. Forty eight hours later I am maybe just starting to feel a bit better but I haven't slept or eaten much at all ever since. Not easy when we have moved cities twice since then and been on a plane, a boat, a bus, and been force marched in crazy heat and humidity several times 

So let's back up a bit. We had a nice dinner upon arrival in Guilin yesterday after which most of the group headed out to explore the city a bit by bus. I hated to do it, but I had to opt out. It sounds like I missed out because they were able to visit some gorgeous temples and see fishermen using cormorant birds.

 

 

This morning we piled out of the Bravo Hotel at 8am in order to make it to our boat for the Li River Cruise. The Cruise was spectacular from beginning to end and, best of us, gave me an opportunity to SIT and nibble on bread. We cruised from Guilin south to Yangshuo, which takes about 3.5 to 4 hours. You never get tired of the classic Chinese countryside scenery.

 

 

After disembarking, we had to hoof it from the dock uphill into the town of Yangshuo, navigating through dozens of shops (which I am happy to report we will have time to visit tomorrow) in order to meet back up with our bus. It was insanely humid but I made it. Normally the heat doesn't bother me but being low on fluids and food is taking its toll. 

And while I was hoping our next stop was the hotel, we had one one additional stop to make - though in hindsight it was well worth it. An elderly farmer named Mr. Pan, along with his wife and sister in law live in a 300 year old farmhouse and allow a few groups to stop by for an inside look at life as they know it. An adorable couple - so sweet and welcoming. They let the girls try to churn some soy milk, and pointed out bits of their way of life. Mr. Pan's sister in law, whose husband passed a few years ago, even showed us the coffin she will be buried in, which is displayed in the house. In the photo below, Mr. Pan demonstrates how his bird can understanding counting in several languages and even demonstrated in Spanish - or maybe something that would be better termed "Spanese."

 

FINALLY we made it to our home for two nights, the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat. It is pretty incredible. Kind of rustic, but with incredible scenery wherever you look. We plan to have dinner shortly and then Tony and the girls will head out to a local show with the group while I continue to try to get better. 

 

Yangshuo Moubtain Retreat, which looks out over a gorgeous river. I need to find out which one!

Only THREE FULL DAYS left in China. Part of me is really bummed but another part misses my bed, my cats, and the option to not have to force march in 99 degree humidity!

Getaway to Guilin

Monday, June 27

As much as we enjoyed Xi'an we were ready to move on to our next stop: Guilin. Not only because of the promise of beautiful landscapes but also to join back up with our travel group. While it's nice at times to be on what is effectively a private tour, we miss the opportunity to get to know the other families in our group better. They are all super nice people. 

We headed out from our hotel at 8am for the one-hour drive to Xi'an Airport, where everything went smoothly for our flight. We arrived in just over 2 hours - at about 1pm. Coincidentally, the rest of our group arrived from Chengdu arrived just a few minutes before us and we bumped into them in baggage claim.

We were by our guide in Guilin, Cherry Yan. She is very sweet and seems knowledgeable about the area. A forty minute bus ride later (we are now back on a BIG bus) we arrived at the Bravo Hotel - which is nicer than it sounds. The further you get from major cities, the more idiosyncrasies you run into, but nothing major.

The landscape in Guilin is absolutely breathtaking. The mountains here are what you probably envision when you think of a classic Chinese landscape. Here's a not very professional shot out of the bus window. 

 

A very pleasant surprise at the hotel was the combination of a beautiful outdoor pool, coupled with a few hours of free time. Most of the families convened at the pool - for the girls to swim and for the adults to toss back a beer or margarita. This, for most of us, was the first time this trip felt like a true vacation. Don't get me wrong - it's the trip of a lifetime, but there is little to no relaxation - or sunshine. So here was my enormously appreciated vista this afternoon:

 

We just finished a delicious and really fun dinner with all the families, most of whom will be going on an excursion tonight involving a boat and fishing - I'm not 100% clear on the details. Tony and the girls will be joining in but I'm going to make it an early night. I finally bumped into something last night that did not agree with me and that, plus a rough round of serious snoring by my husband led to not much sleep at all. Plus, we have to be up and moving early - checked out and on the bus by 8am for our Li River Cruise. I'm hoping the weather holds as I've really been looking forward to this. 

Time for some Zzzzssss,,,,

Bonding Time With the "Teriyaki" Warriors

The main reason most people make the trip to Xi'an is, by far, the famous Terra Cotta Warriors, which Syd has been referring to as the "Teriyaki" Warriors for days. An estimated 6000 warriors, horses, chariots, etc. were created over 2000 years ago by Qin Shi Huang to protect him in the afterlife. Fast forward to 1974 when four peasants drilling a well here in Shaanxi Province uncovered the underground vault that held thousands of terra cotta soldiers in battle formation. 

Fortunately for us, our guide Jerry is native to Xi'an and visits the Warriors about 80 times a year. He was great at getting us to the right places at the right times to really have a chance to appreciate the "eighth wonder of the world." Here is my first glimpse of "Pit 1" - the largest pit. 

 

The scale is mind-boggling, especially when you understand that each of the thousands of warriors was modeled after an individual soldier and therefore, each is distinct from all the others. 

We also learned that only about 2000 of the estimated 6000 have been excavated. Over time, various groups attempted to destroy the warriors and managed to start a fire that made the original roof collapse over them - breaking or destroying many. Since their discovery, archaeologists have been slowly working to basically put them back together. And that, when originally unearthed, they were very brightly colored but within about a week, the colors faded to the color you see in the photo. This is another reason why so many have yet to have been excavated. There is a technology available to preserve the original coloring, but it's apparently very expensive so the work has been halted until it can be done properly. 

After visiting Pit 1, since we are in China, we of course stopped for a buffet lunch. Once again, our table was covered in far more food than we could ever eat, including delicious homemade noodles, made on site. Here is the noodle master:

 

 

Here's my favorite - noodles covered in pork sauce. Yum!

After too much lunch, we went back to explore Pits 2 and 3 as well as the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum. They have done a wonderful job in creating this historical site and despite crowds, it's a great experience and well thought out. We also had a chance to see some of the soldiers up close. The detail is incredible. 

 

 After the "Teriyaki" Warriors we headed back to our hotel, which took forever because, according to Jerry, Chinese people who have just gotten their licenses like to practice on the weekends. It was at this time that I edified him regarding the term "Sunday Driver." He seemed to appreciate it.

We spent the late afternoon wandering our Xi'an neighborhood and I'll be honest, I don't mind good-natured acknowledgement of my differentness, but I'm totally over being laughed at,b which just happened on the street 20 minutes ago. C'mon Xi'an, you are a tourist destination, I expect better from you.

So...what's up next? Tomorrow morning we pile back into our magical bus for a ride to the airport, from which we will travel from Xi'an to Guilin. I am really looking forward to the countryside!

Black Dumplings, Tandem Bikes, and a Wild Goose

Saturday, June 25

It was nice to wake up this morning and know that we would be able to go to sleep in the same place. In fact, we get to spend two more nights in Xi'an - so I did a massive load of sink laundry last night. As a result, our bathroom and the girls' bathroom look like something straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies. 

It was nice to catch up with our travel group, even though it was only for half a day. We bumped into most of them at the hotel's buffet breakfast. The breakfasts are always interesting - the larger cities have a pretty impressive assortment of both Chinese and Western foods, while places like Fuzhou, and particularly Nanping are Chinese only. Today I was pretty excited to see a pancake. Weirdly though, ice cream is also on the breakfast menu and let me just say that Flying Sparrow picked the WRONG day to sleep in and skip breakfast.

This morning's destination was the Muslim Market, which I was pretty excited to see - and I was not disappointed. It's a huge area inside the Xi'an City Wall in which Chinese Muslims set up an extensive array of stalls and shops and sell things like goat hooves, taffy, kebabs, and even cotton candy. The Muslim population has been in China since the Silk Road days and we are told that since they helped to drive out the Mongols, they are always welcome in China. While there has been a lot of mixing in marriages, and the Muslims appear very Chinese on the surface, many have a very unusual grey eye coloring - really unusual and striking. 

 

Muslim Market.

After the Market, our travel group once again left us behind - they headed off to Chengdu while we stay to catch up on Xi'an. We will meet back up with them on Monday in Guilin and then stay together for a few days. So we had to say goodbye to one of our favorite guides, Henry, before being turned over to our new guide, Jerry. We took a walk to a nearby restaurant for a dumpling banquet. Let me be frank: I adore dumplings. My entire family adores dumplings. After today, however, I'm going to need a day or two before I eat another dumpling. I would estimate that close to 100 dumplings landed on our table today - of incredible variety. They were amazing and unique - but they just kept coming! We could barely walk when we left. 

 

One of what felt like 1000 baskets of dumplings. Yes - half of them are black. 

So what do you do when you can barely walk after overeating delicious dumplings? Go for a nine-mile bike ride, of course. Xi'an boasts a pretty spectacular and intact city wall - which is a mere 600 years old. Originally used to defend the city, it's now a great way to explore the inner city from above. At some point in time, someone was smart enough to introduce the idea of biking around the wall, which is about 36 feet wide, which is more than enough room for plenty of walkers and bikers. We were lucky in that while it's still hot and humid, it was somewhat cloudy, so our biking wasn't uncomfortable. EXCEPT for the bikes - which were incredibly uncomfortable. Regardless, we enjoyed every minute. I teamed up with Spring Flower and T teamed up with Flying Sparrow. We laughed the entire time and even saw a wedding on the Wall. 

 

Despite evidence to the contrary, Flying Sparrow actually did most of the pedaling.

At this point, we were pretty wiped out - but when we met back up with Jerry, he had other plans. One more stop - the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It was worth it. The Pagoda and Temple were built by a famous monk who traveled to India and brought Buddhism to China. It's gorgeous except that the entire Pagoda is covered in scaffolding - after an earthquake it apparently started "leaning." Jerry turned us over to an "official" Pagoda tour guide, who, to be honest, was terrible. We did learn a bit about the temple but at the end of the tour there was a really hard sell to buy an array of products. We turned most down but did decide to have the girls' names done in calligraphy by a local artist. 

 

"Spring Flower" and "Flying Sparrow." Oh - and don't you want to also lug home the $700 painting in the background?

Now we are back at the hotel and feel like limp dishrags. We stayed up a bit too late last night so I'm hoping for an early evening. I guess we do have to figure dinner out - but please don't let it be dumplings!

On The Road Again

Friday, July 24

Another incredible day here in China. To be honest, part of me was a bit anxious about the trip just because I knew there would be so many elements in play - the constant travel, the emotions of the adoption experience and so forth - but we are having the trip of our lives. New people, new vistas, familiar haunts, and so much more. Every day is literally an adventure.

This morning we woke up in Nanping and Spring Flower and I met Sophie for "Operation Finding Flyer Distribution." We spent about an hour and a half walking from park to park talking to people and handing out flyers. The people of Nanping were absolutely wonderful. They immediately wanted to do what they could to help. They suggested contacting the orphanage and the government (gee, why didn't we think of that?) but also suggested putting up posters (which I fortunately came prepared to do) but what they did most was tell SF what a beautiful girl she is and that she will find her birth family and that they will do whatever they can to help. They would pat her arm and just give her huge smiles. After a while, we had drawn a crowd of probably close to 40 people and it got a bit crazy as we got separated from Sophie and weren't able to ask or answer any questions. It was about at this point that SF started to get very emotional, quickly followed by me, and then, believe it or not, even Sophie. Three women completely overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of spirit of the people of Nanping who treated SF like a returning rock star. I will never forget this day.

 

SF and me with some park goers, holding flyers, before things got really crowded.

After the park experience, it was a bit hard to change gears but we had agreed to meet one of the orphanage workers for a walking tour of one of the mountains just across the walking bridge that you can see in the background of the photo above. It was insanely hot and humid by the time we set out at about 9:30 but we did climb the first part of the mountain. It was gorgeous and shady and breezy but we decided not to go any higher as we knew we had a long day ahead. We sat to enjoy the breezes when SF found a fairly malnourished dog along a path. She asked if she could pet it and I told her to be extremely careful. 

 

Unfortunately we didn't have any food, but I poured water into her hands and the dog gratefully drank the water. We didn't want to give him too much so then SF just sat and patted him for about 15 minutes. He seemed to love it. When we had to leave, it was tough for her to walk away and gut-wrenchingly, he began to follow her. A very difficult few minutes ensued and I know part of it dealt with all that SF had experienced in the preceding 24 hours. 

Then it was time to depart Nanping and catch a train back to Fuzhou, We absolutely loved the new bullet train between Nanping and Fuzhou and the station is wonderfully modern. Below are SF and Flying Sparrow, waiting for a train American style. 

 

After an easy 45 minute train ride we had an hour-long drive to the Fuzhou airport. Sophie got us settled in at our gate before she headed to her own gate on her way to Beijing. After only knowing her for a bit more than 24 hours, it was tough for me and the girls to say goodbye. She was so very good to us and so understanding of SF's need to try to make some sort of birth family contact. 

One very easy and relatively ontime flight later, we arrived in Xi'an and we met by yet another guide, Jerry. We always get a kick out of the names chosen by the guides, to accommodate the Americans who typically can't handle the actual Chinese names. 

We're now settled in to our beautiful hotel in Xi'an and are ready to explore another famous city in China. We will rejoin our travel group for the morning before they head off to Chengdu and we try to catch up on Xi'an. After Xi'an we will truly rejoin them in Guilin. So for the next few days it will be just us and Jerry and maybe a few thousand Terra Cotta Warriors!