Yesterday we traveled from Nanchang in the Jiangxi province, further south, to the city of Guangzhou in the Guangdong province. Mia's First Flight :) She did very well, sleeping part of the 1hr 20mins. However, the change of scenery kept her up most of the night :( Sorry we missed blogging yesterday.. I'll make up for it with the details of today :)
It is very interesting to have come from the a very "authentic" Chinese city of over 2 million people to this city of more than 14.4 million! We are staying at a beautiful hotel on Shaiman Island right along the Pearl River. The only thing that makes it an "island" is the narrow canal the British dug to separate it from the city. The architecture here is all colonial European, similar to old St. Augustine, surreal! Today we went walking, searching for the Italian restaurant (which we never found) and saw more than a dozen bride and grooms having their pre-wedding photos taken all over the island. The Banyan trees here are over 150 yrs old, they are BIG and Beautiful!!!
Our tour today included a trip to the Six Banyan's Buddhist Temple. It was VERY crowded due to the birthday celebration of the only female buddha. One of our group likened it to The Vatican on Easter! It was THAT crowded...the incense was so thick in the air it was hard to breathe! The 17 story pagoda was beautiful. For the celebration, they "release" animals, on the temple grounds they laid out turtles, coolers filled with fish, eel and other water creatures. Our reps said they set them all "free" in the Pearl River but the river is so polluted it is questionable if they will live but it is tradition so they still do it.
Our next stop was the Old Chen House. Also named the "Chen Clan Ancestral Temple", the Chen family is the most common surname in this province. Now under govt control, it is named the Provincial Folk Arts Museum. The building is "only" 100 yrs old but is just fantastic! They have gardens, exhibits of porcelain, embroidery, carvings, fan making, etc.
Next came the Arts & Crafts Store, lol :) Such beautiful things... we are hoping to get Mia 18 gifts from China, to be given on each birthday.... we are well on our way :)
Tonight we had a group dinner at the Thai restaurant on the island. Afterward we walked around, shopped some more and then stopped for ice cream! We are pretty sure it was Mia's first taste of chocolate anything, ever! Daddy and she "shared" while I was on clean-up and photo duty :)
Today marks one week since meeting Mia :) She has changed so much in just this short time. She is so smiley and loud, hee hee! She is crawling, eating better and responding to her name. She never "answered" to her given Chinese name. It is likey she never heard it. They said her nickname was Rui Rui but even when our reps called her that she never looked up. "bau bau", means sweet baby and she ALWAYS looks up for that :) That must be how her nanny spoke to the babies :) She is a happy girl :) We are VERY BLESSSED!! God is Good!!!! - M
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