Day 9 - Guangzhou

Our last full day in China. This morning we flew from Zhanjiang back to Ghanzhou and went back to the White Swan Hotel. We spent the rest of the day walking around and shopping. We met several families who just adopted their son or daughter and were waiting for the American Visa to return home.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we fly to Beijing and connect to our flight back home. Our flight from Beijing leaves at 5PM and arrives in New York at 5:35PM. Wow only a 35 minute flight (I wish). We should arrive in Atlanta around 10:30 PM.

The trip has been phenomenal and more than met our expectations. We had good weather the whole time, nobody got sick, and our guides made sure everything ran smoothly. The chinese people are very friendly and courteous and I never felt uncomfortable or not safe. We did get lots of stares when we went out but they probably were trying to figure out what 2 chinese girls were doing with us. They also would try to speak chinese to our girls who only know bits and pieces.

We had dinner a Lucy's in the park by the White Swan.

The hotel is already decorated for Christmas.

Everything is all lit up along the Pearl River.

Day 8 - Huazhou

Sunday morning we were picked up at the hotel by Elsa, who works at the Zhanjiang orphanage and can speak english and the Deputy Director of the Huazhou orphanage. When Briley was adopted she was actually brought to the White Swan Hotel in Ghuanzhou so we have never been to Briley's orphanage. The reason we have access to the orphanage now is because our trip is being sponsored by the government agency BLAS (Bridge of Love Adoption Service) . BLAS previously only did the document translations from English to Chinese but now they are also organizing these trips. Without the government sponsorship it would be very difficult to have the access we got on this trip.

The road from Zhanjiang to Huazhou was very lush with fields of banana plants, sugar cane and orange trees.


The city of Huazhou which we where told had about 200,000 people.



Here is the entrance to Briley's orphanage. This orphanage is smaller than the one in Zhanjiang and has about 66 kids (61 babies and toddlers and only 5 school age kids). Also the orphanage has not had as much support as the other one and could use many items such as toys for the kids, crib mattresses, and school supplies.

We got to view Briley's adoption paperwork. This contained all of our applications in English and Chinese plus the info they had on Briley. She was found on the steps of the Justice building in town when she was only one day old.

We showed the director Briley's gymnastics video and they were extremely impressed and wanted a copy so I put a copy of the video on the directors computer.

We visited the baby rooms and as you can see they need toys and items for the babies.

We took a drive to the location where Briley was found at the justice building.

We purchased a water purifier for the orphanage.

Here are some other random pictures that I took today.




Sugar Cane Transport.

Fresh Fruit. The red fruit is called Dragon Fruit.

No Parking Available.

Day 7 - Zhanjiang

Today was a big day because it was officially the last day of the tour and many families will be leaving for home or other locations tomorrow. So that meant lots of group pictures and goodbyes. However it's not our last day because we are going to visit Briley's orphanage in Huazhou on Sunday which is approximately 2 hours away by car. The orphanage director is actually going to meet us at our hotel and take us there along with our guide who can interpret. We asked them beforehand what they needed at the orphanage and we are going to be purchasing a water purifier for them tomorrow.

Today which I think is Saturday we visited an "Important National Park of China". I guess that's how the translation worked out. Anyway it was a large lake formed in the crater of a volcano. The vegetation around the lake was very lush since this is in a topical area. Several of the kids from Brighton's orphanage joined us on the tour. Everywhere we went people were very friendly and would wave and say hello (nǐ hǎo) to us.

After touring the park we then had lunch at one of the hotels in town. The meals seem to get stranger every day. Today they served a dish that contained many animal parts including chicken feet, cow stomach and I don't know what else. They had an octopus dish that looked like sweet and sour chicken so a few people ate that before realizing what it was. Jeanna took a bite of another dish that was jellyfish before she knew it and then freaked out after finding out. At least they always serve rice and enough other dishes to find something to eat each time. Plus we've gotten pretty good eating with chop sticks.

This isn't a great picture but the girls on each side of the server look exactly alike and one of them is from the orphanage and the other is adopted from the orphanage and lives in Atlanta. We have no idea if the girls are related or not.

Here's a big piece of the jellyfish. Yummy...

After lunch we visited a pearl factory. Brighton got some pearl earrings and Briley got a custom made pearl bracelet.

Then some of us went back to the orphanage to meet their kid's foster parent. Brighton got to see her nanny again who took care of her at her home until we adopted her at 6 months. She still works at the orphanage but no longer keeps children at her home. She gave Brighton a very nice diary with a handwritten card in it for her plus some more pictures. We gave her a photo album of Brighton and some jewelry Jeanna had made. We exchanged addresses and she wants to keep in touch. She was very happy to see that Brighton was happy, healthy and beautiful.

Then we got to go to the baby rooms again...

That evening they had a going away dinner for us at the hotel. The ophanage director and people from BLAS who organzied the trip was there. The kids really liked it because they had some american food such as spaghetti and pizza along with the chinese food.

Brighton even got up on stage and made a lovely little speech on how much she enjoyed the trip and would like to come back one day.

Day 6 - Zhanjiang

After going non-stop since we've been in China, today was a little more relaxing. We got to sleep in a little later and then we went to the beach at the South China sea where we engaged in several activities.

Jeanna bargaining with an local on the beach for some shell jewery.

Brighton and friends playing in the surf.

Briley and Mom riding a camel.

Briley doing gymnastics on the beach.

Brighton and Dad riding an ATV.

Later that evening we had our group dinner on an old ocean liner.

Enjoyed a few refreshments including some Pearl River beer.

Briley liked the shrimp on a stick. We also a coconut soap, lotus leaf patty, sticky rice in a coconut shell, steamed peppers, star fruit and several other dishes I've never heard of before.

All the teen girls on the trip had their own table.

Day 5 - Zhanjiang

Instead of a normal Thanksgiving of turkey and football, we spent the day at Brighton's orphanage. It turned out to be one of the best Thanksgivings ever!!! They had a big welcome for us and a ceremony with speeches and performances.

The orphanage kids performed several dance routines for us.

All the adopted kids where given gifts again. They received a pearl bracelet and necklace. Zhanjiang is known for it's pearls and has a pearl factory. Our group also gave many gifts to the orphanage such as school supplies, fleece blankets and a donation of 18,000 Yuen.

Brighton had a poster that we made of her and her nanny recognized her baby picture and name. So Brighton got to meet her nanny who took care of her before we adopted her.

Here is a picture of a few of the orphanage kids.

Brighton with the orphanage directors. She was also interviewd by a local newspaper.

And of course Jeanna got to hold babies. We got to see several babies including some new borns. Someone said that they have around 80 babies at that orphanage.

This was our Thanksgiving lunch.

After lunch the kids along with the older orphanage kids played games. They did jump rope, basketball, badminton, tug of war, 3 legged race, and a game called dragon and chicken. It was amazing seeing all the kids running around and playing with each other. Language did not seem to be a barrier.