Day Nine: Today was travel day. Madison's first plane ride! We were up very early and said so long to the Hefei Holiday Inn. It was a nice hotel, but we were happy to be leaving. Our home sickness is getting worse by the minute. We can not wait to be home!! We are missing simple things, like being able to run your toothbrush under the tap to rinse it off, ice in drinks, and our own soft, comfortable bed.The plane ride went very smooth. Daddy was dreading the idea of having to coral little Miss Madison for the duration of the just under two hour flight. She loves to squirm and can not sit still for more than three nano-seconds. God must have been sensing Daddy's frustration, because right as the plane was taking off, Madison went right to sleep on his shoulder for about an hour. When she woke up we were enjoying our meal and drinks, which kept her busy for about a half an hour more.
Also, while we are on the subject of airline food - the Chinese flights have incredible food on their airlines! Even on our two short in-country flights, we were served hot meals with plenty to drink. We had a hot pork sandwich from Beijing to Hefei, on a sesame seed bun and grilled, kind of Cuban style. And from Hefei to Guangzhou, we were served hot chicken (or beef) and rice along with bread, muffin and salad. So far, the food on our two short China flights has been ten times better than what we were served by United on our international flight. I guess that is one downside to capitalism - bad airline food!
Anyway, we made it safely to Guangzhou without much incident from Little Miss Squirmy Pants.
After arriving in Guangzhou we took about a half hour bus ride to the Garden Hotel, got checked in, unpacked and re-situated. We found it to be a temporary cure for our home sickness. This hotel is VERY nice! We did upgrade to the Deluxe room, which is twice as big as the standard room and gives us a place to put Madison down for a nap, where we can close the door and watch TV or continue organizing and re-organizing luggage without disturbing her.
Here, we were also able to meet up with the other Orlando Dad, who has been in Guangzhou for his entire trip, so it was nice to see a familiar face. He also was able to fill us in on where to eat and what to do around the hotel, since he has had a whole week and a half to explore. Guangzhou is much more westernized than Hefei or even Beijing. Within ten minutes walk from the hotel, we have McDonald's, Pizza Hut, 7-11, Starbucks, and several other western style restaurants (the Italian place is awesome!). Here like in Beijing, you are much more likely to run into Chinese people who speak very good English. It was very difficult to find anyone who spoke English, even in the hotel, most of the staff knew little more than hello, good morning, goodbye, thank you and your welcome. Of course, even their little knowledge of English was far more than what we know in Mandarin, even having studied before the trip. The way people conduct themselves here is also very different and again, more of a westernized feel. The traffic here, although heavy, is far less chaotic than either Hefei or Beijing. And nobody toots their car horns here - because it is against the law! Even in Beijing and Hefei, when drivers honked, it was only to let other drivers know they were there - it was never followed with nay hand gestures or obscenities afterword, like back in the states.
This evening our local guide, took the three of us on a private shopping expedition. She took us to a local fabric market where we were able to pick out fabric for a local tailor to sew two traditional type Chinese shirts for us. We will be able to find these for Madison, but they don't carry Mommy and Daddy sizes in any of the stores here.
Day Ten: Sunday - today was our first big shopping day. After a short detour to the photo shop to get Madison's visa photo, our guides took us to the Guangzhou Liwan Plaza. This is a local mall and this is where the Chinese shop. It is not a tourist destination. They had several children's clothing stores, shoe stores, jade shops and pearl outlets. Although still expensive, the jade and pearls here are far less than what they can be purchased for anywhere else. Our guides took us to a few specific shops that they use and trust for these items and had worked out group discounts. China has different grades of jade and they made sure our group was aware of exactly what we were purchasing. Mommy and Daddy are not big jade fans, but we were able to find Madison some wedding day pearls bought in China. And in typical Mommy fashion, we found a few different pairs of shoes and some clothes for Madison. The good thing about the Liwan Plaza is that it is literally like going to a mall in the states. All of the prices are marked and there is no negotiating required. Everything we purchased was very reasonably priced and could be touched for the same price back home.
Tomorrow is Madison's medical exam. She is not looking forward to it.
God Bless,
Angie and Mike
