Happy Family!!!

Love my Jammies!!!

Bubbles...

Day 6: Bye Hohhot, Day 7-8, Guangzhou Part 1

Hello Everyone!

We are settling in quite nicely to Guangzhou, for the last half our trip! Hooray!

We celebrated my birthday before leaving Hohhot, cake was ordered (I celebrated both in China and Friday on in the U.S., you know me, I love birthdays) and we all gathered in our room for a cake feast. The cake said, "Happy Birthday Beth" written in english, how sweet. After cake, (who doesn't like cake before dinner?) we headed to a traditional Mongolia
jn Hot Pot restaurant for dinner. After getting us all settled at a table, Jessie ordered for us. Centered around the lazy-susan in the middle of the table was a bowl of broth, beginning to boil. In the broth were medicinal herbs, spices, etc, Jessie said to make us healthy, good complextion, eyesight, and pretty, (sign me up) The waiter brought over metal racks and sat them near our table. Then plates of raw food came over, ready to throw into the pot, in the right order, mind you. Plates of lettuce, bean sprouts, handmade noodles, pork, celantro, carrots, onion, mushrooms (some crazy ones) We then put each plate one by one into the boiling pot, first the meat, then mushrooms, then noodles, then greens. Once the items were cooked, you grabbed what you wanted with your chopsticks, and put on your own plate. It was very fresh and healthy tasting, quite good.

Before leaving Hohhot, we purchased some souvenirs for Max from his home province. Jessie took us back to the mall area where the grocery store is located and there was a sweet little store packed with Inner Mongolian treasures. The store owner knew that we have adopted, and said "entire store, half off" Awesome, good news. The Williams family and me went to town shopping (John stayed back with sleeping Max) We bought the kiddos traditional Inner Mongolian outfits and hats. Along with some traditional yurt replicas, and other little things, including a little camel who sings a sweet Mongolian song, Max loved it!

We there returned to our room, packed all of our stuff, and filled Max's belly with a bowl of steamed egg for lunch, one of his favorites, just like Juliette. John entertained Max with some bubbles while I packed. Maria went with Jessie for one last Hohhot run to the grocery store, and purchased both kids, some candied Hawthorne Fruit! Oh my, so good! It was on a stick, and had candied bananas in between each berry, all wrapped in eatable rice paper. We all loved it.

Off to the airport we went, stopping first at a monument built for the Olympics in '08, everyone had to go to the restroom so we had to use a government building next door. The only issue was there were no "western style" toilets there. Yikes.

Max knew what to do, and kinda had to show me. I heart you, western style toilets.

At the airport, we stood in line for quite some time. Our guide helped us check in, but, unfortunately there was an issue with the Williams ticketing, they had no seats on our flight to Guangzhou! So, Jessie arranged quickly for them to get on a flight to Shanghai, then to Guangzhou. Darn, we wanted to all be together, especially since this was the boys first flight, and it was a local airline, no other westerners. Needless to say, we said our goodbyes, and waited for our flight, which was delayed. The flight was packed! Arg! And made a stop in BaoTao first (ony a 20 minute flight there) but, the flight to Guangzhou from there was 3 hours! Yuck! Crammed, loud talking, and turbulence. The good news is that Max did great on his first flight, and slep the whole way, on my lap. There's something comforting about American pilots during turbulence. They come on the mic and say "he folks, it's going to be a bit bumpy, just sit back and relax..." The pilots on this airline did not speak, only the flight attendants, who said in english, "we are experience turbulence, fasten seatbelts" the comforting tone, a bit lost in translation...but, we made it, and landed in Guangzhou, so ready to get here already.

Our new guide, Elsie was waiting there for us, and helped us into our little van. Humidity, hit us like a ton of bricks, upon stepping outside. We forgot shorts, is all I was thinking. The weather here is like Florida in the summer, sticky hot. We expected to see the Williams there to, but, learned their flight from Shanghai was cancelled due to mechanical problems, and they had to spend the night there! Ahh, I felt so bad for them. O'Ree speaks a bit of Mandarin, so I know they will be just fine.

Elsie gave us our itinerary for this leg of the trip, and wisked us of to our new home for a week, The China Hotel. What a sight for sore eyes, a 5-star hotel, with a Starbucks inside. No more needs to be said. The Lloyds are happy.

Our guide asked us to be in the lobby at 11 am to take the kids to the medical exam, on the Shaman Island, where we stayed last time while here in the famous White Swan Hotel. The breakfast included in our hotel is amazing, more western food as far as the eye can see, as well as Chinse and Japanese food. There, we met the other family that we met in Beijing, Jennifer, Carl, and their new daugher Ru Ru (Nicole). We had breakfast together, and the kids go to know each other. Ru Ru, is seet, tiny, delicate, and timid. Compared to the boys she eats like a princess, very dainty like, as opposed to food on the floor, high-chair, and smeared in hair. Ahh, boys.

The outing to the med center was quick, and the kids did great. Little rooms checking temperature, hearing, weight, etc. Nothing to extreme, and Max cooperated nicely. He is 23 pounds, and is about 2.5 feet tall. The kids had their photo taken for their VISA, all the kids photos came out with crying faces, they didn't like that, but, the photos are funny.

Off to lunch at "Lucys" and American food restaurant in the island, we ate with the Knudson's (Jennifer and Carl) and looked around briefly.

Back on the bus, hello air-conditioning, and back to our hotel. The Knudsons asked us to go to dinner with them, and we looked at our little map from the guide on local restaurants. We decided on Portugese food (why not) and off we went by foot. They seated us in one of the many private rooms, and John and Carl ordered. The menu was about 2 feet tall, with large photos of all the items. Portugese it was not, Chinese food in disguise. Needless to say, they had steamed egg for the kids, and we figured out a few good dishes to have. The restaurant was packed, an obvious hot spot by locals.

Back to our rooms, note, we upgraded just like in Hohhot to a suite, the hotel rooms (even 5-star) are postage stamp-closterphobic size. Room for little feet to run around.

Max and I explored the hotel (yes, Starbucks, at twice the price no less) while John worked on business back to Oregon. Turns out there is a very upscale mall type of area, that we strolled through. I love the store names, they are just simply "dream" for a bedding store, and "fresh" for a market, and "success" for a business type of area. Very smart, I liked the simplicity of it. There is a pool and "kiddy-land" area for the kids to play, hooray!

We finally met back up with the Williams the next morning for breakfast and heard about their Shanghai adventure. Wow! The airline put them up in a hotel, and helped them get back to the airport the next day for their flight. We again, ordered pizza (figuring we sweat off a few pounds with the weather) with the other families. Papa Johns has made it to China, how funny huh?

Needless to say, we are ready to come home, just a few short days left and we fly home! Tomorrow is our official consulate appointment, where we take an offical oath on Max's behalf to get him his VISA.

Stay tuned for more!

Lots of Love,

Beth, John & Max

Princess Juliette Update: She had a blast this past weekend at Grandma Barb's, they made me a cupcake with a candle, and sang happy birthday over Skype! How sweet!