2China4Tian

Around LYG Nov. 11

Again, I've got this blog and narative totally out of order. I hope you guys are able to make some sense of it. I can't view it due to the "Great Firewall of China" but can tell from the editing screen that it is hopelessly out of order.

Here are some more photos of our hotel and the construction around LYG. This area around the harbor is set to be a real resort community and they are building tons of villas and other vacation homes. The beach area is really lovely with a nice park, trails, and convention center.

Guangzhou at last... (Nov. 13)

We slept very well in the lap of luxury last night. Even Tian slept though the whole night until after 7 a.m. It was glorious. I woke up with a whole new attitude. Happy to be back in familiar territory as we spent 2 weeks here when we adopted Clio.

We went down to breakfast and ran into several of our friends from Hong Kong as well as some of my internet buddies. The buffet was all labeled in English! I was remembering so much from our first trip and getting excited about some of the restaurants and shopping in store. It really felt something like a family reunion!

Today we had Tian's medical appointment and did some additional paperwork. We have a nice relaxed schedule for the next few days. And here on Shamain island you can walk to everything you need. NO MORE VANS! Other than my total frustration over internet problems this afternoon, it's been a great day.

We had dinner at Lucy's, a sort of American restaurant. I had heard it had gone downhill, but I still swear by it. Really, how can you mess up a grilled cheese anyway? Just don't eat the mexican and the rest is all good. Clio even ate an entire casa dia, a first for her even at home. And as if grilled cheese wasn't good enough...they had sake on the menu. (I'm sure this blog is making me sound like a lush. I really don't drink that much at home.)

It amazes me that while the Chinese invented sake, we couldn't seem to find it on any menus and is considered very much a Japanese thing. Sake is my drink of choice these days...and it really isn't harsh like so many think or have experienced from a bad bottle. It's more like white while really, especially the good stuff. But in any case, my good friends at Lucy's had it on the menu and I ordered it and it was so good that I asked if I could purchase a bottle to take with me. In the states, it comes in something about the size of a wine bottle. They were happy to oblige...and it is a HUGE bottle. I mean HUGE. I will have to have a party in our luxury suite to get rid of it all. We will post of photo later, but I'm sure the staff are still talking about the crazy American lady...

So I'm going to bed happy this evening...my internet is working now, I've had a wonderful meal of grilled cheese and sake and the kids are both asleep!

A fairly tale ending... (Nov. 12 still...)

So after our AWFUL day of travel, we check into our hotel, the Victory. Dane checks in while I sit on the couch with the kids. He comes back and says, "They gave us the best room in the place." I groan and say, "I won't believe it until we see it." In my cynical, dealing with kids screaming for hours mood, I'm thinking it must be Chinese hyperbole and we are really getting a dump.

Well, after a frustrating few minutes while the bell boy couldn't find the room...(???)...we open it up...and according to Clio, it's a princess palace. I guess we really were upgraded. We'd asked for a suite, but this one came complete with crystal chandieliers, a marble bar area, an automatic water boiling machine, two bathrooms, a jetted tub, a bidet and yes, a personal sauna. (I don't have a photo of the sauna as we didn't see it at first next to the shower. I'll try to put one up later so you'll believe me.) I just laughed and laughed because it seemed so nuts to be in this crazyily overdone luxury suite with two tired kids after the day we had had.

Tian's first flight...

Here she is prior to the really good screaming!

Leaving Jiangsu

Our time in Jiangsu ended with a killer day of travel. After the visit to the SWI, we headed straight back to the Nanjing airport...about 5 more hours on the van. Then waited a few hours and flew 2 hours to Guangzhou. We got in after 10 p.m. (I was wrong before when I said our flight arrived at 11 p.m., it was actually 9 p.m., but late enough.)

The kiddos (and the parents too) were sick of the van. I'll do a post specifically about Tiany soon as there is so much to tell you, but she has started crawling everywhere and once started, certainly didn't want to be stuck in van all day where she couldn't flex her little muscles. She was crabby. Clio refused to nap and was really crabby. And mom was emotional and really really crabby.

At the airport we had our first real taste of trying to cart two kids plus luggage around. Not real fun. We said a sad goodbye to our guide Savor who had been with us for the whole week and we'd grown pretty close to. We frantically dumped out all our liquids prior to security, spilling a bottle of formula all over the airport floor, only to find out that China doesn't have the liquid restriction on in-country flights. Then Clio had a major meltdown in the middle of the security line and kneeled on the floor and refused to move. She refused to get in the stroller, so we had an empty stroller, 2 big carry ons and two screaming kids to contend with. Fun. Thank goodness Chinese security is pretty lax and we at least didn't have to remove shoes or laptops. I'm not sure we would have made it through and am still not quite sure how we did get through. It wasn't pretty to say the least.

Tian's first flight was not great. The flight attendants were overly helpful on the way into the plane and helped us with our luggage. Which was nice. Except that they put it all in overhead bins and we had no clue where it was. Including our bag with Clio's snacks and Tian's bottles. So the already cranky kids got even crankier and louder. Tian screamed most of the 2 hour flight and we were the most hated people on board. Dane tried to find the bag with their stuff and couldn't. The flight attendants kept passing him and making him move out of the aisle and no one was helping even though we obviously had a major kid issue happening. Our nice travel mates passed us some of their snacks and we tried to keep the kids happy with crackers. We got some food trays and I had Tian sucking on oranges...she clearly wanted her bottle. She calmed a bit, but then stated screaming again even louder. It was clear to the entire plane she wanted her bottle and wanted it NOW. I finally lost it and told Dane he had to find the bag NOW or I was coming over the seat and into the aisle myself. One of the flight attendants happened by and casually and so sweetly said, 'You bag is in that bin, I put some others on top of it. Good think I wasn't in the aisle. Like she couldn't have told us the at the first time we looked?

So we got a bottle and Clio finally fell asleep and things were OK. With the help of our travel mates, we drug two sleeping kids and the bags off the plane. I was really happy to finally be in Guangzhou! We weren't delighted to see another van to take us to the hotel, but there was no other way.

More van photos...

Saying goodbye to our guide and friend Savor.

A last LYG comment

One thing I forgot to say in my other post...in the confusion about our visit, I was originally told I could not take any photos of the SWI. Then only outside photos. That is why I don't have as many as I had hoped. When we finally got them to say it was OK to see certain kids I already had photos of, they first found Lu Wen and I asked again if I could take a photo for her mama back home. They somewhat reluctantly agreed. I took the first one while she posed. Then I turned off my flash and took more without really asking. I couldn't really hide the fact I was doing it, but didn't really ask either and tried not to be too intrusive about it. I didn't want to overdo it and upset them. I couldn't get my video camera out as I felt that would really be pushing it. One of our travel mates did take some video instead of photos and I hope to get a copy of his video when we return home.

Overall it was a pretty bittersweet day. I'm glad we visited but to be honest it was a very hard and long trip, particularly with a 3 yr. old also in tow. And while I was happy to finally visit, I was stressed about the confusion regarding our visit which made it more difficult to get info. for you guys, disappointed not to be able to see all the kiddos with waiting families and so profoundly sad about my interaction with Tian's nanny and of course the children who aren't matched yet. I hope as many as possible are home with their families soon.