9 February -- Kunming/Guangzhou
First, the good news: Suzanne has been upgraded to "Just plain lousy" so we were able to survive our last day in Yunnan Province.
Our intrepid facilitator was able to obtain Melissa's Chinese passport today, and after a mad flurry of packing (our motto: Throw it in the suitcase and we'll sort it out later) we rushed off to the airport. After some fond farewells to Xiulan and Zhou, we checked in for our flight to Guangzhou. Our flight ended up being delayed an hour, and the boarding procedure was so confusing even the Chinese didn't know what was going on (you can imagine how confused we were). The flight to Guangzhou was a quick one (one hour and twenty minutes), and it was so nice to arrive to a nice new airport and warm weather (approximately 65 degrees at 8:00 PM).
After a forty minute ride into town, we arrived to a heavenly site: The White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. And babies. Lots of lots of babies. More American families and their adopted Chinese babies than you can imagine! The setting is beautiful as well; Shamian Island was originally the home to British and French traders, and no Chinese were allowed on the island for many years. So even though the island is tiny (less than a half mile long and a quarter mile wide), it has lots of European architecture and wide, tree-lined streets.
We feel like were in heaven here. The hotel really lives up to its five-star rating, and we feel like country bumpkins since we're tired and unkempt after a day of travel. We splurged for room service, and after a quick trip to the 7-11 across the street we turned in.
Tomorrow: Chinese history and shopping!
Our intrepid facilitator was able to obtain Melissa's Chinese passport today, and after a mad flurry of packing (our motto: Throw it in the suitcase and we'll sort it out later) we rushed off to the airport. After some fond farewells to Xiulan and Zhou, we checked in for our flight to Guangzhou. Our flight ended up being delayed an hour, and the boarding procedure was so confusing even the Chinese didn't know what was going on (you can imagine how confused we were). The flight to Guangzhou was a quick one (one hour and twenty minutes), and it was so nice to arrive to a nice new airport and warm weather (approximately 65 degrees at 8:00 PM).
After a forty minute ride into town, we arrived to a heavenly site: The White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. And babies. Lots of lots of babies. More American families and their adopted Chinese babies than you can imagine! The setting is beautiful as well; Shamian Island was originally the home to British and French traders, and no Chinese were allowed on the island for many years. So even though the island is tiny (less than a half mile long and a quarter mile wide), it has lots of European architecture and wide, tree-lined streets.
We feel like were in heaven here. The hotel really lives up to its five-star rating, and we feel like country bumpkins since we're tired and unkempt after a day of travel. We splurged for room service, and after a quick trip to the 7-11 across the street we turned in.
Tomorrow: Chinese history and shopping!
posted by Steve & Suzanne @ 5:48 AM
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