11-30-09 Banyan Tree Temple and River Cruise

Today we started off with shots for Meilin (3). We didn't hear our alarm (the girls were using the clock as a ball the night before) and almost slept through our appt. We got the shots done and then our guide ran our paperwork over to the US Consulate for submittal. Then we tried breakfast at the other part of the Victory Hotel (we are in the add on section about a block away) and we really like it, it had a few more choices and also Belgium waffles.

In the afternoon we headed to the Banyan Tree Temple, a Buddhist temple with working Monks. The couple we are with wanted to get their daughter blessed by the monks there. It was an interesting event. There was some chanting and banging of instruments and wood blocks, a little purified water sprinkled over the toddler and parents, and then a donation to the temple. It was kinda neat to see. We opted not to have Meilin blessed. We do love the Banyan trees though, they grow so large and spread out, they would make a great tree house tree.

Banyan Tree

After the temple we went to the Jewelry wholesale market. It is huge as you can see from a pic below, there are hundreds of stores, many of them selling mainly the same things. It was actually very hard to select anything as there were so many choices. We had a pearl bracelet and necklace made for Meilin, bought a few silver beads and then we took off to get ready for our Dinner Cruise.

On the way home we stopped for french fries and ice cream. What a perfect combination!

White Swan Hotel Christmas Tree and Waterfall in the Lobby

In the evening we took a Dinner Cruise on the Pearl River. The river flows right down the middle of Guangzhou and if you followed it to the ocean it comes out right at Hong Kong. The food was ok to me, but the girls loved it, especially the noodles. Meilin couldn't get enough. They light up alot of the buildings and bridges along the river and it is very pretty! There was also an entertainer on the boat that did different acts of juggling, balance and comedy. Meilin and Meigan had a great time watching her and were giggling and clapping.

11-29-09 Lotus Mountain

Today we had an excursion to Lotus Mountain. We went with another family Jay and Jen from our Agency. It is not a well known tourist spot and therefore we were the only foreigners there. It was nice to have some solitude from the masses of adoptive parents on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. It took us a little over an hour to get there but the ride was worth it. The first area we visited was a rock quarry where the first King (governor) of Guangzhou had the people (slaves) cut out massive stones (2 tons each) out of the Mountain load them on boats and then take them upstream to Guangzhou for his tomb. This was all done over 2000 years ago. It was amazing to see the scale of the cliffs they had to cut out and the size of the stones. You can still see where they fastened the scaffolds to the walls and the cut marks and what not. We stood in awe for a long time just looking over the area. Then we climbed down to the bottom and walked around and it became even more impressive. The Chinese are amazing engineers and workers. We then climbed back up, (we kept looking for an elevator or something but never found one, ha ha.) and we realized why they called it a mountain and not a hill. We were all huffing and puffing carrying our kids back up to the top. Once we got to the top, we had to stop and catch our breath and rest. Conveniently located right there was a man that was writing peoples names on a grain of rice and putting them in crystals on a necklace. So we had the girls Chinese names done for them.

Resting at the top of the steps, it wore Meilin out too!

After this area we went up the mountain just a few 100 yards or so to a huge Buddha overlooking the river. This Buddha is unusual in that it is a female. There are not that many huge female Buddhas supposedly and so we walked all around and watched the Chinese burn their incense and pray and worship to the Buddha. There was a huge bell you could ring for the Buddha so the girls used it as a swing. Meilin was not a huge fan of the loud sound of the bell and would cry when it was rung, so we didn't stay near the bell for long. In that area they were selling a bubble machine and Meigan was going nuts for it, well we put Meilin down to see the bubbles and she loved them. She was laughing and smiling and trying to run after the bubbles, so I bought one. I'm a sucker I know, but if it makes the kids smile, it's worth it. There was also another huge Buddha inside a huge pagoda, it resembled more of a Hindu Buddha, but we where told it was the original Buddha to China, and then there was the fat sitting Buddha that everyone was rubbing his stomach for good luck right below the big one.

New Chinese Swing!

Forget about the Buddhas, Bubbles are where it's at!

After that we drove back home, had a late lunch early dinner at Lucy's. Jodie had her Thai Green Curry and I had Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken. Meilin actually ate Congee (rice porridge) today and finished the whole bowl off. We are having a hard time trying to figure out what she likes to eat, she wouldn't eat congee before, and Meigan normally loves it and she wouldn't touch it today. We came home and gave the girls a bath and put them to bed early. Meilin has to get 3 more shots tomorrow and so we wanted her well rested, not to mention we have to leave at 7:45 am for them.

Now on Blogger

The couple that's here with us from BAAS showed us how to use a proxy server and so now we are on blogger. We can now see any comments you leave us and what not. Have a great day, we'll post more soon.

11-28-09 Medical Exam

This morning we have Meilin's Medical Exam for her US Visa. Because of the Hague Treaty she now needs to have all of her immunizations up to date which means she needs to have 7 shots before she can enter the USA. They were going to do all of them today but decided to do 4 today and 3 more on Monday before we go to the Consulate for her visa. We actually had the same doctor we had with Meigan and he gave her a big hug and she went right to him and wasn't her usual shy self. They did the funny hearing test with a squeaky toy and keyboard to see if she could hear from both sides, checked her mouth and ears (it appears that she has a cavity or weak spot on her front tooth from my own examination). Then they checked her heartbeat and when the Doctor couldn't hear a heart murmur, he called the other doctor in and she couldn't hear it either. So that's the good news, of course they only checked for about 7-10 seconds. The bad news was, Jodie had to hold her for 4 shots after that, one in each arm and leg. Poor girl, she cried a little but then did really well 3-5 minutes later. Meigan did really well and was having a fun time practicing her cheer leading moves just like Maddy, she said.

The bow on Meilin actually stayed in for 10 minutes, that's a record!

Meigan's Doctor from a year ago

Cheerleading practice.

I think this hurt Mom more that Meilin.

They are doing construction on the outside of our hotel and the rest of the block. They are doing a city beautification for the Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010. Mostly just painting and facade work on the buildings to make them look clean and new. It is not really that noisy but it is not that pretty to look at with all of the scaffolding covering all of the buildings, not to mention trying to navigate the strollers around all of it on the sidewalks.

We went to Lucy's for lunch and had Thai Curry, a Cheeseburger, and a grilled cheese sandwich with french fries. The girls are down for a nap right now and we are resting as well, Jodie has already started to scout out her shopping ventures and it looks like we will have to buy another suitcase to bring everything home as we are already bursting at the seams with our current ones. We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, it was sad not being there but it was nice to talk and see many of you through skype.