Shopping in the morning - Lost in Beijing at night

Our last day in Guangzhou was a memorable one.  After going to the electronics market a few days earlier we decided we would return.  Today is that day.  We started with another great breakfast at the Hilton Garden Hotel.  They put on a pretty good spread and if you leave breakfast wanting it is to no fault of the hotel staff.  Our driver picked us up and dropped us at the market where we jumped in with both feet like the veterans we are.  Our guide cautioned us saying the prices are very good here but the quality is not the best.  This was evident with the Bose speakers we tested.  It sounded like they had stuck a 1970 transistor radio into a speaker box and slapped the Bose logo on it. Sorry we will pass on those.  Other Bluetooth speakers we had purchased a few days back do sound good and the price, about $6 cannot be beat.  Beats be Dre are also on sale here.  The sound quality is actually pretty amazing so we picked up a few more.  The kids got some last time Myriam went to China and they are still around so good on ya China for building a decent product that currently matches the ones in the US for only $7.

A flurry of electronic purchases followed and by the time we left the market, about 2 hours after we got there we walked out with stuff I had even forgotten we purchased.  The markets here are crowded loud, large and overwhelming.  Once you escape you literally stand across the street and take a deep relaxing breath.  It is just too much.  You think I would rather be a high value target in the intersection than do that again.

We got back to the hotel and showed Mady and Ron our spoils of war.  Mady did not go as she was not feeling well again and Ron stayed behind to take care of her.  Some of the things were so cool that Myriam decided to enter the belly of the beast a second time.  While the rest of the group packed bags and got ready to head to the airport Myriam took a cab ride back to the market and purchased more of the cool things and returned.  She has mastered the intersection and apparently has moved onto the markets to get the rush.

When she returned we were mostly packed so a few of us went to get lunch and bring it back to the others for a quick bite then off to the airport.  When we got to the airport, Richard, our guide, helped us get though check in.  We left Seattle with 11 bags.  Left two bags in Hefei, and had twelve and the Guangzhou airport.  Stupid fuzzy math. All the kids and a few of the adults are traveling with power banks.  Those little battery packs that charge your phone when there is no outlets.  We were a bit surprised when they said you could not check them, they had to be carried onto the plane.  So we went through the bags and located all of them.  It was not that difficult as most were charged and ready to go in our carry-ons. When we got though security they stopped and ran our bags through several times.  Michael’s computer bag was the first to be searched.  Next Mady did not remove her kindle and that drew suspicion and the kindle and bag were checked again.  Michael’s bag was also released less one power bank. It would appear the power bank purchased was too big and had to essentially be declared. So with about 70 minutes to departure Myriam reversed her tracks.  She left security, headed all the way back to the check in to declare the battery and get it “its own ticket.” The Guangzhou airport is huge, as are all the airports in China.  Myriam went back to get our battery a ticket which looked a awful lot like a quart sized zip lock bag, got through security again and made it to the plan with about 20 minutes to spare.

The plane ride was an uneventful one.  We flew on a 747 double decker quite comfortable for the three hour plane ride.  Most of us got a little sleep.  Then it was time to deplane and collect our 12 bags of stuff.  We broke the luggage conveyor when a box of folders purchased for the office got stuck twice.  The box is not a box any more but he contents are not any worse for wear.  We collected our things found our drive who then promptly got lost in Beijing.  We circled the blocks a few times, he made some calls, we made some calls, and Nolan was wondering if we were going to get mugged or carjacked in the neighborhood we were in.

We eventually found our place lugged our stuff to the 7^th floor and settled in.  It is a three bedroom condo with enough amenities to get us by until we get home.  Myriam and Michal set out about midnight to go find milk.  They walked about a half mile in each direction and finally found a little shack filled with smokes, beer and about 5 guys’ playing cards who looked quite surprised to see two Americans standing in front of them rocking an imaginary baby in their arms and asking for milk.  The managed orange juice and milk in a pouch and returned to the condo about 1:00 AM where the old day ended and the new day began with sleep.

The US Consolate - Touching base on American Soil

The US Consulate General was the task at hand today.  Richard picked us up at 7:45 this morning and off we went.  When we got there we moved past the sea of Chinese nationals trying to get all sorts of visa’s from working to tourist.  Myriam said a lot are immigration visas because one spouse has gotten there visa and is living in the states and now they are trying to get the spouse or other family member over.  Either way we moved to the US citizens line and were being helped in no time.  We went inside showed them our documents answered a few questions and Chelsea’s visa will be ready tomorrow for pick up.  Chelsea will be an American citizen as soon as the wheels touch down in Seattle.  Only Myriam, Michael and Sophie went the rest were left sleeping.  When we returned they had managed breakfast and were waiting for the marching orders for the day.

Shopping was the directive for those interested.  Michael Nolan and Chase bowed out.  Michael’s cortisone shot has reached its 10 day limit and his knee is getting sore.  He decided to stay home and rest it.  Nolan and Chase opted for some down time (and a Starbucks run a few hours later.)  Ron left with the ladies to go shop.  Brave man, we are going to miss him. 5 hours later the group emerged with all kinds of things that say “made in China.”  People mistake him for the living Buddha.  They make remarks about his beard with thumbs up then rub or pat his belly and move on.  I am sure he had local help to survive a 5 hour haggle session or maybe there is some divinity there that we Americans do not see.  Saint Ron?

We had a little more downtime then off to dinner.  There was a local bar around the corner with an Irish theme. We had heard good and bad reviews but we figured average to poor American style food or very good noodles…again.  If you come to China I highly recommend dice or a magic 8 ball to make meal decisions.  The food was good and the company was better.  We met more American families at the consulate so our group has swelled to 15.  Good conversations, good food and some really good dark beer and the conversation turned to having a final toast with an “Irish Car Bomb”.  Once everyone knew what was in it and what the rules were we decided we were not 23 anymore and we all went home. 

Tomorrow we get the visa for Chelsea and wrap up the final day in Guangzhou and depart tomorrow night to Beijing again.  It was be a little tough leaving here.  We have been staying in a palatial 3 bedroom apartment in the Hilton.  The hotel is a 5 star on any scale.  Very upscale, very nice.  It is an oasis of calmness in a sea of chaos.  We must move forward and finish the last leg in Beijing before the tail trip home.  We will speak again from “the wall.”

Safari - Animals running wild in Guangzhou - They look like Americans

In the states we really do not have Safari’s.  We simply do not have the space and PETA would have a fit anyway.  Here in Guangzhou a city of approximately 18 million they have one of the best safari / zoos I have ever seen.  Myriam and I kept comparing it to the Taranga zoo in Sydney Australia.  It was massive.  We were there for over 4.5 hours and saw about 2/3 of the place. Chelsea loved it.  We knew she like animals thus the excursion, plus we thought it would be fun for the kids. 

Once again we went with our friends so 12 squeezed into two buses.  Guess even the Chinese get tired of seeing the filling of a Twinkie squeezed out through side door. We took about a 30 minute ride to the safari. It really is a nice safari ride tied to a VERY LARGE zoo.  The main attractions of course are the Giant Panda’s.  Additionally one of the Panda’s gave birth to triplets; the first time ever in captivity.  The Chinese embrace capitalism enough to plaster the three cute siblings everywhere.  They were not however on site and on “display.” We walked for miles at the zoo only to find out they were on a video feed loop.  Oh well they were cute in HD as well.

After a day looking at the animals and the Chinese looking at us, we came back for a brief rest. Next objective was another restaurant considered to have the best noodles in all of Guangzhou, and Guangzhou has a lot of noodle shops.  It was very good but very loud and very hot and muggy.  There really is not much in the way of ice here, only a few places carry soda and those are served at just below room temperature. If you ask for water you get freshly boiled water so hot you cannot drink it not that we want boiling water when it is 80 degrees and 90% humidity.  Drinking warm water actually cools you but I am not sure water that can scald cools you even more, and I am not willing to try unless I have ice cold water to compensate.

We then walked several city blocks to have a Chinese foot massage.  Nolan and Michael Opted out but Chase, Myriam, Chelsea, Sophie, Ron and Mady all had a one hour foot rub.

Tomorrow we go to the US consulate General to get the Visa paper work squared away.  Then on Tuesday we head back to Beijing four our fourth leg of the trip.

More Photos to come if I can get online long enough.

Photos Photos Photos

Her first airplane ride She was so excited. 
We had a bit of a bumpy ride but no probems

Currently the most popular brother. Of course she
 has conned him into carrying her everywhere

Hefei has so much construction like
 many areas in China lots are being
cleared for the next apartment complex


 

Two very cute girls

The train station in Hefei where Chelsea was laft at one day old



She has really bonded with Chase
Sleeping wiht him at night

Look closely; how mny men do you see?
1 drives the veicle and the other takes a nap
atop the wood pile!











 







Shopping Nirvana - With 3,000 Other People

Shopping at the stationary market in Guangzhou is nothing like Office Depot.

When you come to China (and you really need to come) you owe it to yourself to get off the beaten path and away from the malls to the Chinese markets.  Each market has a purpose.  Yesterday we needed to buy some file folders for Agape Adoptions. I know it sounds funny but apparently these are special kinds of folders and are somewhat expensive in the states, so every so often when Myriam is in town (2-3 times a year) she buys about a years’ worth of these folders and has them boxed up and she brings them back to the states. What we purchased is not important, how you buy It is. 

The street vendors expect you to haggle so they start very high, you start very low and you hope to meet in the middle.  The second part of the dance is you are in the stationary market.  Think Costco size building filled with a cubical farm.  Each cubical is a business selling…wait for it…stationary products. If you cannot get the price you want move 6ft. either direction. I must have seen a billion Pens one for every Chinese person here and more left over for the tourists.  Want a binder I know a place where you can buy a million.  How about a day planner?  Myriam got her folders we loaded ourselves into an even shorter bus, this one had fold down jump seats, and we were off to the electronics market. 

Same scenario, Costco with Cubes.  They had cell phone cases that keep your phone afloat.  If we purchased them we could have walked home without getting a single toe wet.  We picked up five sets of “Beats” with very good sound, four Bluetooth speakers (like the ones we see at home) a couple sets of earbuds and a few other things and left for under $45.  Everyone was fat dumb and happy; maybe that is why they keep putting us on shorter buses. Shopping this way is very efficient to ensure the largest variety and best price.  Not so good if you need stationary, tea, seafood, and vegetables. Still if when you come to China get off the beaten path and experience the markets. Then come home to Fred Meyers, one stop shopping will take on a whle new meaning.

Lunch on the island again and this time Richard (one of Myriam’s employees) was with us. He took us to this little restaurant where the meals were still swimming in the tank out front.  We allowed him to order everything and of course it was great.  We did more shopping in the local shops buying tea sets T-shirts and bracelets.  Sophie has a million friends and I believe EVERYONE is getting something, seriously this girl can shop.  If she spoke the language (everyone assumes she does) and took haggling lessons from her mom, she would either be a boom or a bust to the Chinese economy only time will tell. In China everyone must do their part and she is covering for those on vacation.

We left the island and went back to the hotel.  Chelsea finally said yes to the bathing suit so off the family went to the pool.  I followed about 10 minutes later.  Chelsea’s first experience was a bit troubling as she fell into the kid’s pool.  It was only about 2 feet deep but enough to shock the system.  A few minutes and she was splashing around and having a ball.

Dinner was at the Bridge and Cow restaurant, a great Tai place that use to be on the island but has now moved downtown where all the American families stay.  We have met a few of those American families here, even another family from Washington who knows some of the same people we do.  It is a small world.  Mady joined us for dinner along with the other two families (the second is from Florida that we have so much in common with it is freaky.) and we pretty much took over one half of the restaurant. And the other half was empty.  Each of the families had an American child with them and all of the kids hit it off. I think it was partly because they are kids and can find common ground so quickly (Are your parents as lame as mine?) and because it was just nice to talk to someone your age (or close to it) that gets exactly what you are saying.  It was a nice departure for the children.

Tomorrow we head out on safari.  In this adventure we leave the seafood swimming in the pool behind and we pick out our dinner free range style, it is going to be awesome. There is supposedly a lot on the menu to choose from and you can have up to three things, one for each course.

No I am kidding it is a safari nothing more.  But you were thinking about it right?  We know Chelsea loves animals and we decided to do the safari over the zoo because taking down and animal in a cage is not challenging…No, No, No, wait sorry. We heard the zoo was not so good and we have zoos at home so the safari it is tomorrow.  It’s just a safari folks I promise.

I promise I will load photos of me, sorry, sorry, of Chelsea and the the others as soon as the planets align for a long enough period.

Frustration Mounts Plus Medical Exam and Burgers

I am sure we will make it back home and it will take about 10 days or even opening the first bill from Comcast to get me started about the high cost of internet.  Someone please remind me it could be worse.  Seriously the connection in Beijing was terrible it seemed if we had more than one device on the system everything would get kicked off.  We then went “in country” to Hefei and the connection was great.  Hefei is a coal mining town, not known for internet access but the connection was great.  Now we are down here in South China at Guangzhou, the third largest city in China and be far the most western a beautiful city, lots of modern skyscrapers, and the neon and LED lighting on the buildings give the city a Las Vegas style feel.  Here you get to buy things and like Vegas you get what you pay for.  You can gamble and hope the Beats by Dre are really only $30 or that the knockoffs are good enough to last you a few years.  As I have told people in the past, I have a couple of North Face jackets that I paid $17 for here that I still use on the very cold days.  It is kind of like playing craps, a roll of the dice and you see what happens.  However, if you want to buy something on the internet in Guangzhou forget about it!! The internet here is the worst of all.  Go figure.  I own stock in Alibaba and I cannot even get on long enough to check out my investments.  And don’t get me started on Google.  ANYTHING Google does not work in China!  It is literally shutdown.  Google, Gmail, Google Drive, even Google TRANSLATE is not welcome.  Not sure what google did but is has upset the Chinese, at least to the point that you cannot find the backdoor to anything google related.  The kid’s I-pods and I-pads however work wonderfully, but that does not help me. We all know it’s all about me…and Chelsea, OK it is all about Chelsea, but I miss my Gmail.

So uploading photos is difficult on best days, and nearly impossible on every other days.  So my tactic is to blog and when the planets align post as many photos with captions as I can before the world once again conspires against me.

Yesterday was a good day, they have all been good days but yesterday was nice.  It began with everyone sleeping in their own bed.  No more sleeping on the floors. We actually purchased a blow up mattress in the states and brought it with us but put a hole in it the first night.  We taped it as best we could and the kids would start on a mattress but by the end of the night they were only laying on plastic.  We burned up the motor in Hefei so we abandon all hope for it and head for Guangzhou.  Here we have 4 beds for the 8 of us 1) Ron and Mady, 2) Michael, Myriam and Sophie, 3) Chase and Chelsea and 4)Nolan. So we all managed to get a good sleep. 

Michael woke up with a bad headache but went to breakfast hoping several cups of the strong coffee would kill it.  The planets were not aligned.  Next Chase, Michael, Myriam and Chelsea went with our guide Lucia, to the medical exam for Chelsea.  Everything went better than expected.  We knew that Chelsea had no left ear and were told that everything was intact.  The hole was there, the ear canal was complete etc.  Whe we saw her for the first time we were a bit surprised to find nothing there; only the distorted cartilage of the outer ear. No worries we will see what our options are when we get home.  Everything else went great her BP is good, eyesight is 20/25 height weight and head size is all good. She did get a shot though.  She did  not cry but was not happy about it either.  She is one tough girl who is a spitfire and only just becoming comfortabe around us.

We got back to the hotel and it was time for sightseeing.  The entire group met up with another family Myriam has been working with to adopt a little boy without arms.  We spent the afternoon (a group of 12) walking through the 6 banyan Buddhist temple the temple is 9 stories tall on the outside and 17 stories tall on the inside.  Figure that out.  We then went to the Chen family Academy.  This 18^th century home is now a folk life museum.  It once was a place for the Chen family to come together and meet for family discussions and take the emperors test.  If you passed the test you could serve the emperor which increased your social status.  From there it was back to the hotel for a rest and decision on dinner. 

We took the bus to Shaiman Island, a small island in the middle of Guangzhou and walked to Lucy’s where burger, fries and onion rings were the order of the day after dinner and playing at the park for a bit we walked over the small bridge to the highway and flagged down three separate cabs back to the hotel. 

Tomorrow given my luck I expect and eclipse…

Leg three begins - Guangzhou

Another full day of travel.  Today we left Hefei behind and headed for Guangzhou.  It started with a departure from our hotel at 12:00 followed by just a little more than an hour bus ride.  We checked in, said goodbye to our guide and driver and got to the gate about 60 minutes before takeoff.  A quick two hour flight and we landed in Guangzhou.  It was Chelsea’s first airplane ride and from her excitement we are fairly sure it was her first airplane sighting.  She was so excited with her nose pressed to the window and bouncing in her seat when she saw something new and exciting which was pretty much constantly. 

We landed and filed into yet another small bus.  It seems the longer the trip gets the shorter the bus.  I expect the next bus to come equipped with helmets, color coded with chinstraps.  Another 40 minute bus ride and 20 minutes to check in and it was 7:00 PM.  I know the hours do not add up but you are going to have to trust me on this.  There is some type of time warp here where ours just slip away.  I know it was at least 7:00 because we took three very tired young children to dinner.  Nolan came to but he was sucking it up and powering through.  We walked to an Italian restaurant for dinner at 8:30 and home to a three bedroom apartment at the Hilton Garden Hotel by 9:30.  It is truly a beautiful hotel and the extra space is definitely nice in comparisons to our confines in Hefei.

Tomorrow we will go to the required medical exam for Chelsea and the rest of the day is ours to sightsee Guangzhou is a very western city and has lots of shopping and great food.  We did not make it to Lucy’s tonight for burgers but maybe tomorrow.  This begins the third leg of a four leg trip and we are all pretty much dog tired…