More Adventures in China

Waterfall inside the White Swan



Chillin'





Pearl Market



Mommy and Phoebe

Such a big girl in my Chinese attire

Red Couch Moment

My beautiful girl

All the babies in our group.  A tradition to take a group photo on the red couch.

Belly Time.  We will be crawling in no time!



See the teeth!



Where we are in Guangzhou is much more western friendly than Nanchang. Namely, the traffic! The native who live on Shaiman Island actually pay attention to traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, staying in their lane and there are very few mopeds. Most of the shopkeepers speak English, too.

We went to the Pearl Market. That's the picture of all the escalators. 6 floors. the King of Prussia Mall is no match!

6 floors of back to back to back stores selling beads and necklaces, and pendants, bags, and bags of beads line the floors and all of the window displays are so full of beads you can't see in the store. Each store seems top specialize in a color or type of stone. One whole store will be turquoise, another amber, another jade, another a mix of all... With inventories like that either you'll find exactly what you want, or go crazy trying to find it!

The White Swan Hotel is an attraction itself. The waterfall is in the center lobby and the pond is full of large koi. Large. The plants are all real and very well kept. You might be able to see on the bottom left people eating. This is a large eating area where we at breakfast every morning. On one side is the falls and on the other side is full length all-glass wall looking out at the Pearl River. The river is quite polluted yet some elderly Chinese are known to swim in it for exercise. Dave and I actually saw a man swimming one morning.

The boat is carved out of solid jade. It stands in the lobby as well.

Literally hundred of families are here at the hotel with their children. You see them at breakfast, in the shops, in the restaurants, in the elevators, and everyone knows that you've just adopted a child so there are congratulations and smiles all around.

It's amazing to hear how many families are here for their 2nd, 3rd, even 4th adoption. I mentioned to Dave this morning that I would bet there are more families with multiple adoptive children than first timers here.

The pictures of the children on the red couch is something that most adoptive parents want to have as a keepsake. It is also tradition to have all the babies in your travel group sit together. What you need to notice is that Phoebe is in the far right, bottom row, and I am feeding her puffs to keep her engaged. Otherwise as you see the babies were not so thrilled at sitting there. The next pic tells you my advanced planning worked!

I bought this dress for Phoebe and she can grow into it. I bought another dress, red, for when she is 4 or 5. Notice the baby bracelet! This was an "awwww" moment with the other parents. Nice touch!

Oh and the pizza... Dave's food of choice. He really can't wait til we get home for some real food!!! and Pepsi!!!

Bye for now...

P.S. I know lots of you are reading, but lots of you aren't posting!!! This chronicle will be reproduced in a hard cover book as a keepsake. Your comments will be a significant part of showing Phoebe how much excitement and welcome there was for her in our first days as a family.

Watch the Adventure Unfold

Oh, I thought we had time to break out the locks!  NOT!

Oh, she knows she's being naughty!  I think I'm in trouble!

Ship made of Jade