Sunday in Guangzhou

We take a break from this description of Scotland to bring you a trip to china...the Scotland trip recap will resume after the China trip...sorry but TOO much travel too close together!

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Arrived in Guangzhou this morning via Hong Kong and as soon as I stepped off the plane I felt a familiar wave of heat and smell of China. There is a feeling you get, when you’ve become comfortable with a place, that makes it feel like coming home. There are only a few in my life. Vermont- Vermont has a feel and a smell and a look such that when I step off the plane, I recognize that “I am home” feeling. I don’t mean the “home to my home”, but you are coming to a place that is relaxing and you are comfortable with and you can consider “another home.” I grew up in Vermont so it’s not exactly a far cry to feel like going to Vermont is “coming home”, because it kind of is. Another place that I get that feeling is when I walk into a textile factory. I get the feeling and the view of the machines and the familiar smell of grease mixed with heat and I it makes me feel comfortable, confident. I know what I’m looking at and I know what to expect. I feel, at home, like “this is a place I belong.” And the third place that has this effect on me, besides my real and actual home of course, is now China. As soon as I get off the plane I am met with the humid air- almost a wall of heat, sometimes hotter than others, the smell of sweat and perfume and food, people jostling through the gangway in a way not so dissimilar to what you see on the street and in markets and in the roads. I feel confident and relaxed and I know that I’m going to see wonderful things.

The hotel car that I was told was arranged for me in fact was not, so I had to change money at the airport and take a Taxi. Not too big a deal except that I am now the (proud?) owner of my first ever counterfeit 100 Yuan bill. For every person I’ve said “oh that’s never happened to me, the likelihood is so small….”- my apologies. It genuinely sucks when it happens. There it is, this bright new red and white bill with Chairman Mao looking appropriately presidential and it’s completely and totally fake. I tried using it at 3 different places before someone finally explained to me why they wouldn’t take it. I thought it was that the corner was ripped. In fact at the second place- my favorite restaurant, I sent THEM back with one of the 20’s they gave me because it was ripped- I thought, if they are not taking my ripped 100, I am surely not getting stuck with their ripped 20. Turns out the rip had nothing to do with everyone’s refusal to take it, it was that the bill was too smooth. Mao’s coat had no texture. I’ve learned my lesson- check every bill, at least the 50’s and 100’s.

After an early check in at the hotel and a shower, I popped over to Shamien Island for a little shopping and baby spying. I had the taxi driver drop me at the White Swan because I could remember the chinese for the White swan hotel, but not for the Victory. I was blown away by two major changes inside the white swan:
1) it was filled with chinese families with chinese children. They were touring around, on vacation perhaps, most probably just drop in sightseers like myself.
2) I did not see a single adoptive family while I walked through the hotel to get out the back door. I even stopped and peeked down on the lower “stage” area where everyone gets their picture taken with the waterfall behind them. Nope, none there either.
This really goes to show how much adoption from China has slowed. In the early years of waiting, you’d see at least a half a dozen families just walking through the white swan. Even on the Island I think I only saw 2 maybe 3 families the entire time I was walking around! I had heard that Shamien Island was pretty torn up, and they were right. It may be less that there are so fewer people coming to adopt (although there are) and more that families are choosing to stay off the Island for now. Several MORE shops are shut down even compared with the already reduced number just 14 months ago. Shamien Island is a changing place, it’s true.

After some shopping it was time to head down to the chinese medicine college on Shamien Island for a foot massage. #55 is a miracle worker. My feet & back feel fantastic now that they’ve had a little rejuvenation after the flight! Thanks #55…

Finally it was time to catch a cab to visit Tita and Taylor and their new son Bo Jun, or Ke Ke as they nicknamed him. I walked up to the white swan as there are ALWAYS taxis there to be found. I was faced with yet another sign of the times when I arrived and waited, along with several other people, 25 minutes before a cab came! Not because there were so many people in line, there were, but it was because there were simply no cabs coming! Is even the White swan suffering this downturn?

Finally a cab came & took me across town to the northern part of Guangzhou to my dear friend Tita and her husband Taylor’s house for a visit. Tita is a new Mommy as of a month and a half ago, and I was not going to miss this opportunity to see her new son! He is absolutely adorable! A sweet sweet sweet little boy with a round face and very round cheeks! He has a mass of beautiful black hair covering his head, although the poor thing probably wishes he did not in this heat! He has perfect little fingers and adorable little ears. He is just a perfect little boy in every way! Tita’s Mom and Taylor’s Mom are both staying with them right now helping out- in fact Tita’s Mom has been there since I was in China meeting Madeline a year ago March! Finally a baby came and she has been taking good care of Tita- both Grandma’s have. I had not planned to stay a long time on my visit, because I thought Tita would be tired and I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, but in the end, I was sorry I had not given myself more time to just relax and spend time with them! We had a nice visit and Tita’s Mom gave me some rice wine & Egg soup (yes, that literally is the name of it)- it was something new I’d never had before and it was quite good! I watched Taylor’s Mom cook in the kitchen a bit- such skill, I wish that I could just follow a Chinese Grandma around and learn to cook from one for a few weeks!
When it was time to come home, it was thundering and lightening outside, so Taylor arranged a car to take me back to the hotel. It was fortunate because with all of the rain, there would not have been any taxi’s to be had and the description of the bus to the subway sounded a little too difficult for my jet lagged state!!!
What a long day!