Nanjing

Sorry for the delay in posting. We've had internet problems in our room. But after a visit from the Manager of the hotel himself with laptop in tow (gotta love Customer Service in China...they take it pretty seriously!) all is well internet-wise. (or at least workable.)


Last night we went and saw the Hong Kong light show with the families from our agency. The light show was pretty underwhelming to say the least, but it was fun to have one last gathering with our new found friends. Then we went to our rooms to pack up for our journeys of the next day.

We had a rough night. While Clio has seemingly adjusted well to the new sleep patterns, meals are a different story. She never wants to eat a meal time and has been uncharacteristically picky. After each meal, she constantly says she is hungry. This morning at about 4:30 a.m., she woke up and was demanding food. I gave her a banana swiped from the breakfast buffet and a pack of potato sticks which was all we had in the room. She continued to be cranky and had a major meltdown as we were preparing to leave. Typical three year old behavior. I can’t complain as she’s been very very good up to this point and there must be a lot going through her head.

We flew to Nanjing and were met by our guide Savor. She is very nice and gave us some history of the city as we drove in. She’ll be with us for several days both in Nanjing and up in Lianyungang. Nanjing has an ancient wall around it that sounds interesting to see. There is also a big Confucius temple and outdoor market. It really is a cool place. And despite our previous travels, really the first time I’ve felt that things were extremely foreign. We were pretty sheltered in our first trip in areas with lots of English influence and international travelers.

We met back up with our travel mates to go over the itinerary for tomorrow. We meet our kids at 10 a.m.! We went to dinner together at a really good (and cheap!) noodle shop and then walked around the market. It was amazing at the crowds of people in this place in the evening. Lots of shops with jeans, shoes, shirts and fashion shops, mixed in with food vendors and all kinds of stuff including KFC, McDonalds and Hagen Daas. (Our ice cream at Hagen Daas, one scoop each, cost twice what our dinner for all three plus appetizers cost!)

Back at the room, I was dismayed to discover that internet service isn’t working and that there is no one here who speaks English to help us with it. I am hoping very much that we’ll be able to get it resolved tomorrow and you will be able to read some of this in a timely manner. Of course, the most important photos are tomorrow. The day we finally meet our Tian!