7/29/08 - Good bye Nanchang, hello Guangzhou

One last shot of the Pavilion for those who needed it.

This kid can eat noodles. To the ladies who tea, my favorite charm on the necklace along with another!

If you study the photo, and I know you all have time to do that, you'll see bikes or cars pointing in all four directions! in one intersection!

Little alley way between buildings.

Scooters rule. Bikes are still in use, but scooters rule.

First the logistical update - good day today! We left Nanchang this morning as it was drizzling, and arrived to the steamy, yet cooler air of Guangzhou. Of course everyone here says today is the coolest day in ages! The flight was on time and packed, but the boys did great! We didn't even pull out the DVD, but they just played with little things and making faces.

It is funny how they interact. DS1 sometimes touches, or really pokes at, DS2 in jest. Then DS2 complains! However, what ever DS1 is doing, DS2 pays a lot of attention. Then giggles at the more slap-sticky moments. Of course DS1, like DH, tends to enjoy the easy audience. Also as DS2 throws things, DS1 will pick them up. But on the second toss the item generally comes back to me with a comment from DS1 along the lines of, "mom, he's just throwing so don't give it back to him", with which I tend to agree. The totally expected, yet unexpected event has been jealousy. I figured DS1 would on occasion get jealous of the attention DS2 is receiving from DH and I, but no not at all. However, DS2 is so attached to me, he really gets angry when I hug, kiss, or pay too much attention to DS1! I'm going to take it as a good bonding sign!

Once we got to Guangzhou, it was time for the medical visit. It was a quick walk from the hotel at a local Chinese hospital. Here three different doctors quickly check out DS2. I came alone, sending DS1 to the pool with daddy. The little man was a trooper! I wish I had the camera, but for this visit I thought it might have been inappropriate. Well the first doctor walks in and appears to be wearing the white doctor coat with short black sock and slipper type shoes and nothing else. He sits in a chair to have me sign a few forms and I find out he is wearing short black shorts and only a white tank top underneath the robe. Not that I really wanted to look under the robe, it was just kind of hard to miss! The guy was over 60, quite a highly photogenic older character. Well, he laid DS2 down on his back, examined his privates (yes, he has two testicles), his general skin tone, measured his head circumference and listened to his heart. Little man was good, but watching and when the doctor was finished and looked him in the eye, he gave him a great big fat raspberry! The doctor loved it! They played together for a few minutes while we waited for the next doctor.

The next doctor was a gorgeous Chinese lady no more than 30 years old. She looked in his ears and used a tongue depressor to see his mouth. This did not go as well. He fought and yelled, but the minute she stopped, he was all smiles again. The last doctor, a tiny Chinese woman, just weighed and measured him. If forget his height, but his official weight is 22lbs. This is amazing thing to me; DS2 is almost two years old, but DS1 weighed in at 22 lbs at 7 months! Overall, all was fine and tomorrow will pick up the official paper work on the visit with the appropriate seals/stamps and get it off to the visa office.

After the doctors, we went on a hunt for husband and DS1 in the pool. WHAT AN AWESOME POOL HERE! Not only is it clean enough you can see your feet (yeah, it was really that bad and we were still using it, which may explain why DS1 has a runny nose today), but it is outside, beautiful with great deep and shallow pools. DS1 had a major swim break through in that now he dives in with his eyes open to pick up things off the bottom of the pool!!! He doesn't even know he's floating! DS2 was excited to be able to walk in the super shallow kiddie pool. While I love all the pool time, I have had to come to terms that my bikini years may have passed. But still, I charge forward in my two piece knowing that most of these people will not see me again!

On the new hotel - Hallelujah!! The White Swan is gorgeous. We have a bedroom, living room, little nook where we have put the folding bed for DS1, and a full bath and a half. No kitchen this time, but no need, the restaurants here are great! For dinner we went to a cute place down the street, "Lucy's". We ate awesome Asian food there, even though the place is known among the adoption crowd for having a good hamburger. DS1 ate a quesadilla. Our room looks out over the river, and there was a little light show this evening, which I watched with DS1 as daddy went walking DS2! Yeah, I pushed DH to let DS2 cry it out and it worked. They are spending more time giggling together, and after a week of being the soul provider, I need them to bond! They went down to the lobby to look at the fish in the waterfall, and the 12 foot tall bird cage.

On the animal front, we went by a Cantonese style restaurant, which offered your pick of the live fish/insects/reptiles up front, cooked to order. The fish are what you'd expect, but then you also get water beetles, turtles, eels, frogs, sand worms (easy 8-9 inches long and 1/2 inch thick) and a few soft squishy things which I think were sea plants, but honestly, I don't know. Somethings I don't think are worth questioning including soft shinny gelatinous white stuff people may chose to eat. A few days ago in Nanchang, I think the day we went to the August 1st square, we were approached by a man with a monkey on a leash. The monkey did a few jumping tricks and then I gave DS1 a coin to give it (things you only do in a third world country although you know its dangerous). The monkey took the coin and put it in its mouth, which lead to two days worth of questions; "why did the monkey eat the coin?"

Follow up from last night:

The lack of stars - this is the first time we've taken a vacation in a third world/developing country where we never saw a star at night. I want to say its heat haze, but the reality is pollution. And we are in major cities where there is a fair amount of ambient light. But even in NYC I can see a few starts on clear nights.

The disparity in living circumstances - as I would walk DS2 in the evening, there were things I took photos of and others that I didn't. For example one building would have air conditioning and a locked parking lot, but the shopkeeper would be living in the back of the shop, cooking by wok on the sidewalk at night, and then turn of the shop lights, to create a bit of privacy as he used the hose on the sidewalk to take a shower. Not an easy life, and this was the shopkeeper and his family. I would see families of three or four on one scooter and then a person in elegant clothing and heels pass on the next scooter. Not much begging going on, but lots of tough life being lived by a large portion of the population.

Communism vs. capitalism - at first blush, most of the Chinese cities do not appear communist. The architecture for Nanchang was boring, but Beijing had magnificent buildings. There is an ability to generate significant wealth. However, what is good for the whole is good for the individual, and individuality is not sought. The people are wearing western clothing, but not striving for unique style. We are seeing nothing of performance/expressive live arts. The paintings, writing, embroidery, and pottery continue to express a long tradition, but not an artistic voice about life. I think communism is well alive, just dressed in a sheep's clothing.

Chinese love their families - Family life is a big deal. Everywhere we go I see families of three or four generations hanging out. At night as I walked by the shops often in the back I could see the whole family around a table playing marjong (not sure of spelling). The elderly take care of the babies, the parents are to work - both parents typically work. I see baby boys and girls everywhere. I also see many families with more than one child. One new rule is that if both parents were single children, the parents are allowed to have two children. The other way to have two children or more is to pay fines. The minorities in the rural regions are also traditionally not exposed to the one-child policy, but that is not what I'm seeing in the cities we are visiting.

Enough for tonight, sight seeing tomorrow.