Nina’s Notes on the trip so far…

Jesse’s been writing the blog all along because I type with the speed of a ground sloth. It takes hours and typically I hit some button a lose the post. But I wanted to add some of my thoughts on this trip so far.

Wow to be in China, wonderful. I type this on Tuesday morning. Yesterday our trip into Foshan was memorial on so many levels. It was a sharp contrast to what we have seen so far in our little tourist centered section of Guangzhou.

Foshan lies about 45 min by car west of Guangzhou. Foshan has a population of 3 million and Guangzhou 75.9 million. It all translates the same, densly populated and closely packed high rise buildings all over the place. The sides and median of the roadways are planted in well trimmed hedges of Hibiscous and other tropical plants. Blooming tree species and manicured lawn. The trees are all propped up with bamboo scaffolding, which makes me think that this is in preparation for the Beijing Games. (The Olympic Torch comes through Guangzhou on Wednesday)

Our first stop was the Ancestral Temple Complex called Zu Maio. The Huang Fei Hong Memorial Hall is attached to its side. We walked through the beautiful gate and around the grounds. Senior citizens over age 65 and over are given free pass to the grounds and sit clustered in groups, talking, eating, playing chess or other games and in general passing the time with friends and family. The smells of incense burning drew us towards the Temple Complex where crowds of Chinese (mostly elderly) gathered to burn incense, and hang gold and red colored prayer flags. Ok the guide called them “wishes” and that they were requests for good harvest, good catch at sea or healthy children and the like. The temple was gorgous, the roof tiled and edged in intricate carvings. The craftsmanship and detail was overwelming.

We walked on towards the Wong Fei Hong Memorial Hall. It was fun to read through the exhibit and recognize actor’s faces we had seen in Chinese Kung Fu movies… from the well-known Bruce Lee to lesser known but equally recognizable faces from some Stephan Chow films. As Jesse mentioned our guide coaxed a few members to perform for us (as the rain earlier had cancelled the normal daily performance) We saw 2 young boys a teen and a man perform individually lightening fast martial arts maneuvers. They are really really fit, fast, disciplined and good. It was a special treat.

Next we walked over to the Foshan Folk Art Institute, which sat next to the Buddhist Renshou Temple. We had the Folk art Institute to ourselves. An institute guide took us on a tour of the building and the artwork. We viewed room after room of paper cut arts, paintings, jade chops and figurines, rocks, furniture etc. It was exhausting and overwhelming and caught us off guard as we had expected a tiny little shop of folk art souvenirs, not a vast complex. The temple next door pulsed with the chanting of hundreds of souls and the incense was thick in the air. I longed to be over with them, caught up in some ritual proceedings and immersed in a cultural strangeness and not stuck in this shopper’s purgatory. But the art was lovely and we did buy a lot of things.

Next stop was the Liang House and Garden. A wealthy families house and grounds turned over to the public in the 1980’s (I think) was an incredible sight. Beautiful traditional Chinese architecture. Lovely grounds and gardens. Again, this was the China I had come to see. The carp in the ponds literally bolted for us when we made our appearance at poolside. Hundreds of fish looking for a treat tossed their way. Birds in cages squawked and mimic the guide saying Hello in Chinese.

Then onto LUNCH. There is a Chinese saying that a perfect life is “to be born in Suzhou, live in Hangzhou, eat in Guangshou, and die in Liuzhou.” The food here is very very good. We had asked that our guide and driver eat with us as our guests and that they take us to a Chinese restaurant. The guide was a bit surprised. She said that normally families ate at the MacDonald’s or KFC. The restaurant was in a 4star hotel in Foshan. The guide ordered for us, and we shared 4 main dishes. Chicken, a dish of 5 or 6 different types of mushrooms and fungi that I didn’t recognize but thoroughly enjoyed, a dish of beef and greens, and a dish best described as a chunk of pork bone simmering in a clear broth with leafy veggies. All Absolutely delicious.

Then next was the Ancient Nanfeng Kilns in the nearby town of Shiwan. The difference between Foshan and Shiwan was unrecognizable. You drive down the same busy, congested road lined with shops at the base of tall buildings to arrive at a kiln site and village surrounded and swallowed by the city.

Note on the driving in China……it’s not really the white knuckled ride everyone makes it out to be. Sure it is different than the us, but they have a system that works for them. The reason the Chinese can drive the way that they do (darting about with apparent abandon on super crowded highways…remember 75.9 million…) is only because the Chinese look where they are going and they are POLITE within reason AND they accept personal responsibility. The other drivers begrudgingly allow you to push your way in; the pedestrians pat attention to their surroundings and get out of the way of a car or bike as it pulls onto the sidewalk to park. If anyone drove like that in the US people would be screaming lawsuit.

Nanfeng was again an exceptional treat. 2 huge ancient dragon kilns climbing their way up the hillside, a rabbit warren of a historical village clustered at the kilns side. The buildings no longer lived in but now filled with pottery shops, demonstration areas and work sites. Echoing through the village was the haunting sounds of Cantonese opera. The sound of a woman singing a Chinese opera is something that just pulls my heart out. It’s absolutely beautiful. We followed the sounds and found its source. A large courtyard led to a room, in the center of which sat a large table around which 8 men and women sat, smoking, talking, meeting, eating, whatever…I’m not sure what they were doing. I felt like I had just stumbled into someone’s living room. But they all looked up at our intrusion and smiled and waved at us. Just past them in an encove was a man and a woman, each with a microphone in had, singing. They were following the words and images on a TV of a famous Cantonese Opera…. A lot like Karaoke. But hauntingly beautiful. We stood transfixed, turned on our tiny digital cameras, set them to video and enjoyed the music.

WOW from there we drove back to our hotel, said goodbye to ort wonderful guide and driver. Went to our rooms, showered and changed. Jesse slept all afternoon…he’s sleeping now Tues am as I type this. He’s still stuck on US time, sleeping during the day, up all night…..But today is his birthday…eh can sleep in.

So last nights dinner was in close, Jesse had napped all afternoon and wanted to sleep more….I needed food and I needed to calm my digestive system down. I had spent the entire week previous to our trip to China with a stomach bug and had eaten only oatmeal, white rice and toasted bread in attempts to calm my stomach down. So in China I was popping pepto bismal to stave off the final throes of the stomach bug….NOT b/c the food or water here disagreed with me. So for dinner I headed for Lucy’s and American style restaurant. Think bad greasy spoon coupled with really bad American style Chinese food and you get the picture. I can see the value of such a place if you were traveling with a finicky teenaged or middle school aged child from the west as the menu has things like grilled cheese sandwiches, French fries and PB&J on it.

Live and learn.

Tuesday we have nothing planned, Jesse will sleep all day. I’ll find a reasonably priced laundry service and sit and fret and stew in anticipation of tomorrow. Gotcha Day. That was the main reason yesterday in Foshan was so wonderful, it captured my mind and kept it from wandering to Leia, and my New Mom worries…..

Later, Nina B

A Visit To Fushan

On Tuesday we went to Fushan which is about 45 minutes west of Guangzhou.  Before I begin I have to emphasize what excellent drivers the Chinese are here.  I am completely serious.  Place anyone of our U.S. NASCAR drivers on the streets of China and they will be blubbering like a baby within the first two minutes.  The rule of the road is No Holds Barred.  Signals....Haaaaaa, not needed here.  Just careen into the lane you want to enter and let others figure out your intentions.   To picture exactly what it is like.  Imagine I-95 in a traffic jam. Now add one million motorcycles, two million bicyclists, and 4 million pedestrians.  Now picture them weaving in and out of each others lane at 50 MPH.  That about sums up the Ben-Hurian driving experience. Our driver was excellent and brought us through the ordeal in one piece.  I tipped him well needless to say.

Driving really gives you an excellent picture of life in China.  Primarily the vast population.  It is as if all of the open land was cleared for towering apartment complexes all densely fit together.  However the streets are lined with beautiful landscaping.  A really neat mix of two different worlds.

Our first stop was the memorial shrine to Huang Fei Hung, one of China's most famous martial artists and doctors.  This was a beautiful temple that we paid about 20 Yuan or 2.00 U.S. dollars to enter.  Elderly people over 60 are allowed to enter it for free.  Inside is a maze of stone hallways filled with golden statues and intricately carved wooden scenes of China's culture. Further back inside the temple is the school that Huang Fei Hung operated.  Because it was raining the martial arts demonstration was cancelled but our tour guide managed to get three young martial artists to perform for us.  It was fascinating.  

The next stop was an Arts and Crafts center that sold traditional Chinese crafts.  They had rooms full of Chinese landscape ink paintings, paper cut pictures, ceramic artwork, and jade. From the quality of the work you could tell that hours and hours were spent creating these pieces of art.  We bought a few items and moved along to the next stop on the tour. 

Next was a garden complex that was in the former home of a well known local figure.  This person must have been very wealthy because of the beautiful stateliness of the complex. Entering through the main gate we came upon a shrine that many locals come to to pray for a male child.  

Further back the structure is broken up into long hallways and adjoining rooms that the family used to live in.  The entire structure is made of stone and brick, capped with ceramic tile shingles running in columns down from the roof.  The garden was beautiful.  A long walkway circled around the gardens which had a central pond about 2 acres in area in its center. Thousands of Koi goldfish swam in the pond with two geese making their presence known with their honking.  There were also about 200 bonsai style trees to look at throughout the garden. Some of them must have been at least 150 years old.

After that we headed out for lunch at a local hotel/restaurant.  We let the tour guide pick our food.  All of it was good.

Lastly we headed out for the large pottery complex in Fushan.  It is really best to describe this as an old working village whose existence is for the running of the two large kilns.  These are not the kilns used in your college pottery elective but massive super structures built up the slope of a hill.  The length of both kilns is probably about 65 yards long and about 10 feet in height by 10 feet wide.  Apparently these kilns have been running none stop for the last 500 years.

Inside the working village are shops selling all manner of items related to pottery.  We bought a few beautifully made figurines.  While we were walking through the village we heard clear voices singing.  The sounds echoed nicely throughout the stone village.  We walked towards them and came upon a group of older folks sitting around a table playing a card game.  Behind them was a lady and man singing karaoke style, traditional Chinese opera.  It was really moving.

After that we were pretty much worn out and asked our tour guide to take us home.   Our ride back home was uneventful and we gladly tipped our guide and driver for an excellent day.  We will have lots of wonderful memories to share with Leia.

On Wednesday we will see Leia.  Tomorrow we plan on just relaxing.

Guangzhou Market

Nina and I went into the local market which is fairly close to The White Swan.   The market comprises several blocks of buildings. Vendors are found on the ground level selling all sorts of goods from turtles, scorpions, ginseng root, eels, and the worlds largest mushrooms. Samwise Gamgee would have been thrilled.  Photo Included.

We then also entered into the Cultural Park.  This was a beautiful park area that seemed very popular among the older generation here.  There were several groups of people practicing their Tai Chi and also western ballroom dancing.  Some of them were very good.  Hacky Sack is also a very popular sport among the locals except they use something that looks like a home made shuttle cock for

badminton.  We bought one of them to bring back.  The air here is a bit grungy.  My asthma did not seem to act up but I can definitely tell that over the long term it would be aggravated.  The temperature is fairly warm, about 82 degrees, and about as humid as in Virginia during the summer.   

Tomorrow we will be taken on a tour by Bob, our tour guide.  We plan on going to a shrine devoted to Huang Fei Hong, one of China's most famous martial artist.  He is humorously portrayed in Jackie Chan's movie Drunken Master I and II.  We will also be visiting some very old kilns that have been in operation since the Ming Dynasty.  Hopefully we can find some nice pots to bring back.  

Now we are off to dinner for some local cuisine.  More updates to follow tomorrow.

Jesse and Nina

Here at last: Guangzhou Day 1

We arrived in Guangzhou at 9:00 PM local time. At the airport our nice adoption guide, Cathy, whisked us off to our hotel on Shaimen Island.   At the hotel we got everything unpacked and realized to our horror we left behind the most important thing, Desitin butt medicine for Leia. There are several stores nearby including a trusty old 7-11 so I am sure we will find a store that will sell any forgotten items.  Later we will be taken to the Chinese equivalent of Wal-Mart.

Waking up at 5 AM local time we fuddled around the room for a few hours and then headed down stairs to the hotel's buffet.  What a buffet.  Uncle Jack you would have wept when you saw the spread before us.  The french toast was 2 inches thick an arrayed like gold ingots on a silver platter.  The hearty crispy bacon and Canadian ham were still sizzling when we put them on our plate.  It was a real cornucopia of deliciousness.

After breakfast we went outside real quick to hit the local 7-11 for some bottled water.   Bottled water here is the only way you can drink water.  Even the hotel says the water is not potable in their literature.  Knowing that we bought about 2 gallons to last us the next few days.   

I noticed when we walked to the store a few people stared at the red haired foreign devil with the big nose.  Everyone here though is so polite and nice.  They have helped us out immensely and we appreciate it.  I try to speak a little Mandarin when I can to pay some sort of respect but for the most part everyone we have encountered can speak a little English.   One of our books on touring China mentioned that using hand gestures is considered rude.  It is a hard habit to break when you try to explain some things you are trying to do using charades.

After writing this Nina and I will head on out and walk around Shaimen Island to absorb some of the local color.  Nina will also continue to agonize over whether or not she should take her anti-malaria pills.  For my part, I have taken mine which have some of the worse side effects for any of the malaria pills.  Some of the side effects include mental illness, vomiting, vivid dreams, and extreme diarrhea.

Hope all is well at home.

Jesse and Nina

Flight To Guangzhou: Boarding 35 Minutes

We woke up to the sound of frogs softly humming a wake up tune from my cell phone's speakers.  Today is the day!  I got about 2 hours of sleep last night in the 250 thread count bed sheets.   I kept thinking about the big day.  My heart rate was a constant 72 BMP.  

Like responsible travelers we arrived at the airport hyper early to be informed our flight had been cancelled at 1:30 AM in the morning.  Luckily another flight was scheduled to leave two hours later on a larger air craft.  With that awful feeling in your stomach. "I am not going to get my baby!"  we assumed the worst and began to panic in the only kind of special panic that two hours of sleep can deliver.  After being told to check in three hours early, we had barely two hours once we arrived at LAX to get off the plane,  run the mile long corridor like OJ Simpson, all with Nina carrying a laptop, backpack, polar fleece, tickets, passports, etc...

The nice lady at the China Southern counter quickly processed our tickets and sent us on our way through security.  We made it!!!  No.... at the security check through we encountered a security drill where everyone had to freeze in place like the game red light green light.  Once the entire airport had checked in with their radios we were free to go on our way.  We are now sitting at ease at gate 114 almost confident they we are cleared to get on the plane.    Updates to follow.   

Night In Dulles

We just came back from our overpriced dinner at the local hotel The shrimp in a martini glass was simply delicious.  I never thought a flavor like that would ever touch my palate.  But there they were, three drunk prawns jumping out of sea of cocktail sauce served in a glass favored by Britannia's most famous secret agent. 

With our flight set to leave for LAX at 6:00 AM, I set my cell phone and hotel service to remind me that at 3:00 AM Nina and I will be making a paradigm shift into another life.  As if we are going to get much sleep.  If we have the fortitude we may stay up and watch Thursday's episode of LOST. I figure by the time we figure out the secrets of Benjamin Linus' island we will be paid a courtesy call by Mr. Sandman.  

Nina and I are really excited.  There is not much more that can be said.  After 27 months we are finally going to become parents.  We wish to thank all of our family and friends who have been supportive of us during that time.  I hope that we will become as good a set of parents as ours were to us.  Thank you.

Baby Shower

Yesterday most of our family and friends came together to throw us a baby shower at my Aunt's house in Woodford, Virginia. It was a great time. We ate lots of good food and sweets, played some games(Salene and I came in second in the baby scramble, being out witted by our cousin and his fiancee Elly.), and opening lots of great gifts for Leia. I was particularly happy to receive so many books. We plan on reading alot to Leia.

Our flight leaves in a few days. Right now we are just wrapping everything up. Installing baby gates, removing swallowable items from ground level, and cleaning out the basement. Currently I am in a war with the local mouse population. I keep setting traps near our basement door and every morning a poor mouse has taken the bait. I hope I can get most of them before we leave.