Baxter and Tess

Here is a great picture of Baxter and Tess getting acquainted. Note the look on Baxter, he's thinking, "Great, now I'm # 3 on the pecking order with Tom and Tracy. At least there's good food coming my way again. Thanks, Tess. Woof."

Mitch and Tess

It seems like there aren't any pictures of our kids together, so I am attaching two, one shortly after Mitch met Tess for the first time and then another when Tess meest Santa Claus for the first time.

Of course, Mitch is a very proud older bother and has enjoyed showing off his sister to anyone who hasn't met her. Friends and neighbors continue to drop by and stop in hoping to meet Tess and hear about our trip. We aren't going anywhere for quite some time so please do drop in--but call first!

Tess met her pediatrician today and everything went well, except the blood test, which didn't happen. The doctor had a hard time finding a vien in little Tess' arm so she decided to wait until Tess fattens up some more. Speaking of fattening up, Tess has gained another 2 lbs. and is perfectly proportioned and in the 25th percentile for children her age--but quickly catching up.

We heard from another family that was in China with us, the Clifford's and they too seem to be experiencing some similar adjustments, most notably the waking up at 3 in the morning.

And the top picture is a picture of Mitch destroying a Buffalo Wing!

Christmas Day

We've been home since Wednesday, 5 days, and readers are having withdrawal so I will do my best to post regular updates and pictures.

Since coming home we've settled into a quasi-routine. Tess sleeps pretty well, but wakes up somewhere between 2 and 4 am so she insures that her parents' sleep is interrupted, which affects Tracy more than Tom.

Tess continues to love the outdoors and gets excited to look at the trees, the sky and and the birds. On Friday when I got home from work there was quite the commotion in front of the driveway, Tracy just arrived home from picking Mitch up at school and as she and Tess and Mitch were getting out of the car all of our neighbors stopped to get a "glimpse" of the famous Tess! It was great to see everyone and to have Tess meet everybody (but she was sleeping).

Then on Saturday we went to the Westchester Mall to get Santa pictures--both Mitch and Tess did great with Santa. Chtistmas Eve we went to the 6 pm mass and Tess really enjoyed the singing and the people watching!

Christmas Day arrived and both Mitch and Tess made away with lots of loot from Santa and their grandparents. Mitch and I especially the like air-hockey game that he got from Nani. After Santa and gift giving Tracy and I began to prepare our Christmas dinner with friends, Dave and Jerri Lynn. Our dinner and the company was terrific and it reminded us of our Holiday dinners when we were on the West Coast.

Every day Tess does a little better, she eats more and she uses her arms and legs more and she will continue to catch up--we have a great activity saucer and a bunch of other stimulant activities.

This week should be quiet for everyone, after tomorrow's visit to the doctor, so Tess will get more love and attention.

Merry Christmas to All!

Home Sweet Home

So it's Thursday and the O'Brien family is home! Tess did amazingly well on the 14 hour flight from Hong Kong to New York. She slept for almost 7 hours so Tracy and I also slept and read and watched some movies- Talledaga Nights twice.

After landing and clearing customs we had a huge welcoming committee-- Mitch, my parents, and Tracy's parents and then arriving home, Skip and his family were also waiting so Tess received a nice treatment from the O'Briens and the Carpenters, and she told me that, in spite of them, she'll stay in New York.

I will try to post more as we go along so everyone can check Tess' progress and adjustment to be a US citizen.

Red Couch, US Consulate and Train to Hong Kong

Today was the day Tess, Tracy and I took our oath at the US Consulate in Guangzhou and the day we would finally leave the White Swan Hotel!

This morning we spent time strolling Shamian Island one last time and packing our bags, giving Tess a bath, and getting ready to leave. Over 50 families were to meet at 2:30 this afternoon for bus rides over to the US consulate in Guangzhou. But before heading to the consulate all the families gathered in the lobby of the White Swan Hotel for the traditional photos on the famous red couches.

The US consulate used to be a few blocks from the hotel, but a few years ago the consulate moved to an area called "new" Guangzhou, a brand new financial and business district approximately 30 minutes from the city center. There was a beautiful park, fountains and open space resembling Freedom Park across the street from the SF Moma.

All the familes entered the consulate through metal detectors and security. Once inside, we were made to wait, but thankfully the consulate deals with more adoptions, 6,500-8,000 per year, than any other consulate in the world so they moved quickly. A nice woman from New Jersey walked us through the oath and answered a few questions and then dismissed the families and sent us all along. One family in our group, ran into a bit of trouble as the wife mispelled her daughters' Chinese name three times and signed a notarized document that was incorrect. Thankfully for her, a senior US official took pity and quickly fixed the type-o.

Returning to the sidewalk we quickly and abruptly said good-bye to the other families and, along with Minhua, hopped a taxi to Guangzhou East train station for our train ride to Hong Kong. Other than having to lug our many bags and Tess up three huge escalators, the train to Hong Kong was delightful, and probably quicker than taking a flight to HK. Tess slept the entire time and caught up on some long overdue naps. About 1:40 minutes later we arrived in Hung Hok Train Station in Kowloon, Hong Kong. A $300 HKD ($27 USD) taxi ride later we now sit in the Regal Airport Hotel where we will stay tonight before boarding Cathay Pacific Airlines flight CX 830 at 10:15 am on Wednesday, December 20, 2006. With good luck and a safe flight we will land at JFK at 12:55 pm on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 where we will excitedly reunite with Mitch.

Our next post will come from Mamaroneck, NY where we will review Sal's Pizza vs. Joe's Pizza and where to find the best cheeseburger!

Tracy and I were talking about our experience these past two weeks and we both agree that everything exceeded all of our expectations and Tess,Tracy and I have all adjusted to one another better than we could have hope for and we all look forward to a bit of the mundane.

Thank you all for reading about our adventure welcoming Tess to the O'Brien family. She is a wonderful little girl that we look forward to watching grow up along side her big brother, Mitch.

Getting Local In Guangzhou

Sorry for the late post we had a busy day of sightseeing.

Tired of the "disney" style atmosphere of the White Swan Hotel, this morning we got up and went to Blenz Coffee, a Canadian coffee chain. The cafe had Wi Fi and good coffee so we were golden. We couldn't venture very far in the morning because we were waiting for the ok from the US Embassy. As a rule, the day before the embassy swearing in our Chinese facilitators bring all of the family paperwork to the US Embassy for final approval. In the event there is a mistake or problem all families have to stay in their hotel rooms so they can be contacted. We didn't receive a phone call so we met two other families in the lobby and decided to have a quick lunch and then explore more of Guangzhou. Steve and Melissa had heard about a jade market so we started to ask around.

A souvenier shop owner, Michael, told us where to go. He wrote down the name of the area in Chinese characters so we could show to people on the streets. Although the market was only a 15 minute walk from our hotel, we were worlds away. Guangzhou is like NYC, pre-Guliani, lots of homeless and cahos!

Along the way we passed by every kind of specialty shop imaginable-- shoes, t-shirts, tea pots, metal parts, button and zipper parts, belt buckle parts, luggage shops etc. After about 15-20 minutes we arrived at the jade market. We weren't really in the market to buy anything, but we've become quite skilled in the art of haggling. In fact, the O'Brien's might be the best hagglers in GZ! After poking around the jade market for an hour or so we decided to visit another Buddhist Temple--Hualin Si. This temple was much more "local" and less touristy, but just like Liurong Si, this temple was also destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. It was restored in 1990 and every artifact was replaced including the 500 golden Buddah statues, including the "Marco Polo" Buddah.

The 2 other families decided to take taxis back to the hotel, but we decided to walk back and we made it to the hotel in less than 15 minutes.

Because, this evening was our last night in Guangzhou and our last under the watchful eye of Minhua, we invited her to join us for dinner. Returning from the jade market we noticed a nice restaurant on the edge of Shamian Island (island where hotel is), that coincidentally is known for its "Shanghai-nese" style food--Minhua's hometown. We let Minhua order for us, and not surprisingly, we enjoyed our best dinner on the whole trip!

Tomorrow morning we all meet for photographs. The girls in our group will be photographed on the "Red Couch" an adoption tradition. Then we go over to the US Embassy where Tess will be sworn in as a US citizen and we get a lecture from the Embassy prefect (Minhua says the head of this office is extremely wordy). Tomorrow afternoon ought to be interesting as we head to Guangzhou East train station for a two hour ride to Kowloon train station in Hong Kong before we begin our long journey home.

Our time in China has been amazing, and certainly worthy of "trip of a lifetime", but we're all anxious for some good old "Western Food", like turkey sandwiches and pizza and of course, hamburgers!!

And if the video upload works, here's Tess moving around!

Guangzhou Sightseeing-- Buddhist Blessing

Today our group met to do a little sightseeing. Minhua escorted us to Liurong Si,The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, a Buddhist temple built in 1097. The temple sits on a quiet street across from a Hofbrau House.

Entering the courtyard of the temple, the atmosphere was serene and peaceful. All around the temple were statues of Buddah and places to burn incense and make offerings--fruit and money ( I guess all religions are the same really). At the far end of the grounds was the main temple altar to where the families were escorted. We were asked to remove our shoes and then enter the altar area where a Buddhist monk was preparing his prayer belssing. We all knelt down and listened while the monk burned some incense, said a few prayers and then turned to wet us with a small Banyan leaf soaked in Buddhist holy water.

After the girls and the parents received a blessing we climbed the Hua Ta, Flower Pagoda, a nine story monument in the middle of the courtyard. On each level there were people kneeling and praying to various Buddahs inside the pagoda. From the top we could see the entire city from old to new. GZ has many, many high buildings mingled with the older homes and apartment.

After visiting Liurong Si we then drove to the Chan Chen Academy Museum, a restored home of a rich nobleman who lived in the latter part of the Qing Dynasty (approx: 1900). The home was surrounded by a high stone wall and inside the stone walls the home sits in a beautiful garden with hundreds of decorative Bonsai Trees (same word in Chinese).

The museum had hundreds of wood, ivory, and stone carvings depicting images of the late Qing Dynasty and atop the peak of the roof was another series of similarly ornate woodwork decorations.

Tess really enjoyed the outing today as she continues to awe at her surroundings. More and more we realize that all she saw for the first 9 months of her life was the inside of the Kunming Children's Center. Every day she smiles more, laughs more and eats more. And we might be biased, but Tess really is the most beautiful girl staying at the White Swan Hotel.

We're really looking forward to coming home with her so she can meet her big brother Mitch and her silly dog Baxter, her grandparents and extended family and friends. Hopefully life in New York will suit her nicely! Everytime we talk to people we point to Tess and say. "Ni Hao, New York" or "Hello New York" everyone is proud that a little Kunming baby will go to live in New York.

Minhua-- Our Chinese facilitator

We didn't want any more time on our trip to pass before we posted a few pictures of Minhua, our facilitator. Minhua has been with our group from the moment we stepped off the plane in Kunming. Without her, we'd be lost!

Minhua, a nurse by trade, has been forced into also serving as our guide and trip director calmly walking us through every application, signature and administrative office. Thankfully, Minhua has been involved with many adoptions so she has really put all the families at ease especially us. When we first met Tess, we were concerned because she was such a small baby at 10 months. Minhua assured us that Tess would be fine, she simply needed some TLC and attention. A week later and she was right!

Hopefully we can keep our promise to Minhua and have Tess graduate from Brown! It's no PC, but it'll do.

Check Up and preparation for Visa application

Today started out with breakfast at the White Swan. It is quite a change from the hotel in Kunming. Since all US families must pass through Guangzhou, this hotel is full of babies and toddlers. Our facilitator, Minhua, definitely knows the system. She had us all meet at 9:30 in the lobby to go get our visa photos and medical exams. When we arrived at the medical clinic there were only a few families. We cruised through the three check up stations. When we were leaving, there were families lined up all the way to the door. As you can see in the bottom two photos, Tess did great at her check up. According to the doctors, she has gained 2 lbs. since we first got her. She's 15.7 lbs. and 68 cm in length.


We did a little shopping after the visit to the clinic. We're getting a bit better at haggling, but most of the women here seem to have Tom figured out. They all look at him to negotiate the price. I've had to drag him away a few times and simply say "No, we don't want it."

We spent a few hours this afternoon filling out more paperwork. This time for the US Consulate. We're all looking forward to tomorrow as it will be a day free of agencies and paperwork. We're going to the Six Banyan Temple and Chan Clen Academy Museum.

Feb 15: Kunming to Guangzhou

Today we left Kunming, but before leaving we had one final detail--to visit another government agency to get Tess' Chinese Passport.

The four families boarded the van and took a short drive to a smaller Kunming Security and Administrative Office. Arriving the the office Miwah told us to wait while she got the passports. The sun was shining and the bus got hot so Tess and I got out and began to loiter in the parking lot and soon the other families got out to enjoy the nice weather while we waited.

As you all know, I get very impatient, so I pulled a "John O'Brien" and decided to find out what was holding up the process. Standing near the entrance I saw Miwah and our other guide, Helen, having a serious discussion with a government official. As it turns out, the passports needed to be stamped with a special colored ink that they had to mix-- a procedure the office wasn't prepared to begin until this afternoon. Needless to say Miwah had other plans and returned with our passports soon after. We quickly loaded the bus and headed to Kunming airport for our flight to Guangzhou.

Tess' first flight was challenging, but not unbearable. Let's just say that she does not like to be cooped up without being able to move around, so she decided to squirm for most of the 2 hour flight! Of course she slept during the descent.

The differences between Kunming and Guanzhou are vast. GZ has a significant Western influence, in fact our hotel, the White Swan, sits on Shamian Island-- a British influenced district along the Pearl River. On the way from the airport to the hotel you could notice that everything was new, from the highways to the high rise apartments that lined the drive. Seeing as though we are in a "Western" district we decided to look for a "Western" restaurant. Unfortunately, we made a bad call-- we should have taken the advice of the guy from Colorado--he and his family were leaving GZ whereas we have just arrived.

The streets around the hotel are teeming with American families and their adopted daughters and the shops that line the hotel cater to the American bargain hunter--lots of jade and buddas and lions and Chinese calligraphy.

Tomorrow morning Tess will visit the GZ medical clinic to receive the ok to travel to the US.

Stone Forest and Chinese Countryside

Today we took a trip out through the Chinese countryside to a place called "The Stone Forest". Tess was wonderful riding in the van. Only one other family wanted to come with us on this adventure as it takes about an hour and a half to reach the Stone Forest. The Stone Forest is a series of limestone rock formations created by a receeding ocean and the development of the Himalayas. It reminded us of Bryce Canyon N.P., and like Bryce there are a series of trails and vistas to explore. Helen, our Kunming City guide accompanied us to the Stone Forest and took us around the park, which was very beautiful. It was great to be out of the city and enjoying some fresh air.

We also got to see one of the ethnic minority groups known as the Yi. Here at the Stone Forest you see many of the men and women in their traditional dress which is very ornate and colorful. Each of the 26 ethnic minorities in Yunnan has a distinctive dress.

The Stone Forest was full of tourists like us. All of the Chinese tourists treated us like celebrities. Everyone wanted to take pictures with us and were very curious to see the babies. One woman from Beijing asked Tracy all about Tess and she put her hands together and thanked her for adopting this beautiful girl and for taking her to New York. After visiting the Stone Forest, Helen took us to an authentic Yunnan restaurant for lunch where we dined on Yak meat! It was delicious and just like any other red meat.

After lunch we took the "back roads" to Kunming, stopping at a pearl factory, where we found some great values on Kunming pearls.

China is very much a contradiction of itself as the countryside is both beautiful and ugly at the same time. The entire countryside was covered in dust--just like in the US west-- but topped off with a nice film of black soot. I have officially begun my own personal crusade to rid the world of plastic bags--my garage is full of unused bags and those not in my garage are strewn across the beautiful countryside.

Also along the back roads there were numerous empty buildings and gas stations. As best I can figure out, the Chinese government initiated these projects during the height of the cultural revolution as a means to employ the poor. Hopefully as the country continues to develop and prosper these buildings will be reused.

So, enough about my politics. Tess was a trouper in the van today, she napped and took in the scenery without the luxury of a car seat or a DVD player, so our road trips will continue as Tess will simply go with the flow. Every day Tess continues to come out of her shell and show her true personality. She really enjoyed the outdoors at the Stone Forest as she laughed and smiled the whole time. Her movement is vastly impoved as she's grabbing at things and really standing and stretching and flexing her muscles. She still loves the bottle, but did try a few Cheerios this morning and a little rice.

Happy Birthday Aunt Katie

Tess says "Happy Birthday" to her new Aunt Katie. I can't wait to meet you.

Visiting the Orphanage

Today our morning started in leisurely fashion, with a relaxing breakfast and a little more shopping. In the afternoon we met and drove about a half an hour to the orphanage, The Children's Welfare Institute of Kunmimg Municipality. Our first impressions of the CWIK was that it was located in a very nice part of Kunming surrounded by many new apartment buildings and wide streets.

The orphanage was tucked away on a hill in a nice quiet setting. The offices and the adoptive parent waiting room was very clean and nicely arranged. We were offered some Kunming tea and asked to wait a few minutes before we toured the orphange. The entire facility was immaculately clean and orderly, however, all of the orphanages are somewhat "staged" when the families tour the facilities. Nonetheless, Tracy and I were very happy to see that Tess lived in such a clean place. This orphanage has 600 children, but today 400 of the children are in foster care families. Today we saw a few children. Sadly, 85% of the children at the CWIK are disabled and will not likely live outside the orphanage and seeing some of the disabled children was upsetting for all of us. Even more upsetting was seeing some older boys, we felt like we bringing them home too. That said, the childeren we met were very polite, happy and full of bright smiles. I gave the boys the thumbs up, peace sign and high fives and they certainly loved the attention.

We visited a number of the play rooms, sleeping rooms, eating rooms, bathrooms etc. The babies slept in rooms with as many as 18 others. Tess-- Xia Jai Li (she ji lee)-- was a bit of a celebrity today. Every woman that passed by us immediately recognized Tess and called her by name and then they called their friends over to see her. We had the opportunity to ask a lot of questions and we found out that Tess had been sick recently and received an IV to keep her from getting sicker. We also found out that Tess wasn't much of an eater so nobody took the time to feed her solids and baby food beyond a bottle. So she really fell behind in her growth and that explains why we'll have some challenges getting her off a bottle and on to solid foods.

Tess is really a beautiful baby with gigantic brown eyes and long lashes. Every worker commented on her beauty and her huge curious eyes.

We think Tess knew where she was this afternoon and the change in her demeanor and personality after we left the orphanage has been amazing. She's been belly laughing, and smiling all evening, and her movement has shown marked improvement. More importantly, she knows that she has a family that loves her. Tomorrow we will sightsee in the countryside and will visit the Stone Forest. Friday we fly to Guangzhou for the final leg of our journey.

So Who Is Tess?

People have been asking for stories about Tess. Well the first thing is that she is a terrific sleeper. Both nights we put her down around 9:30 and she slept through until 6:30-7:00 so we all been refreshed and able to enjoy the sightseeing.

When we met her on Sunday she was very quiet and pale and in two days time she's become a completely different person. Yesterday she began to smile at us and her smile will light up a room. She rolled over and is really starting to become energetic and curious. She has beautiful brown eyes, long fingers and a coup de toe. Her hair is shaved on one side, probably because she had in IV recently, so it is in the process of growing back.

Her favorite passtime is to be outside and ride with me in the hip hammock. Her eyes are wide open and full of curiousity. The weather has been amazing so we've been out in the blue skies all day and she just looks at the sky and the trees and the people. Babies are sponges and she takes in everything. I now know what they say about the term "Daddy's Little Girl."

And in case anyone cares, she did her first poop, which Miwah, our guide says is an important milestone.

Yesterday at lunch a table full of ladies came over to point and smile. One woman gestured to see if it was ok to hold her, so I cased the room, found the exits, and said ok. She went to show Tess to her table of friends. They made such a big deal. They were all happy to hear that the she's a Yunnan baby and from Kunming. The people here are very proud to be from the Yunnan province and they are very proud that a Kunming baby will live in the US, so Tess will be representing a city of more than 4 million people.

Shopping Day, Exploring Kunming

Today was the first day that we didn't have to go to some office or government agency so instead we decided to shop and explore the stores and cafes around Green Lake, Cui Hu. There are dozens of trinket shops where you can haggle for just about anything from tea to souveniers. We got Mitch a great Christmas present and will go back for more before we leave.

We had lunch at a tradtional restaurant along the side of Cui Hi and then, with another family, the Cliffords (Steve, Melissa, Kathryn and Grandma, Judy) we did some serious people watching in the park and in return, we were watched as well. I am amazed at how much of a curiousity we are, but at the same time, how friendly and full the people of Kunming have been to us.

I think I succeeded in convincing the group and our guide, Miwah to spend Thursday, our sightseeing day, checking out the Stone Forest, a forest of crazy rock formations about an hour and 20 minutes from Kunming.

During our exploring today, we saw a bunch of neat restaurants that we'll check out for dinner tonight. Tomorrow morning we're free, and then in the afternoon we visit the orphanage.

Little Tess and Wal-Mart!

Tess has been taking the bottle nicely and we introduced some apple juice today, so far so good. Unfortunately she's so little because she won't take any solid food. We've tried rice cereal and applesauce, and some concoction that babies here like called Congee. It seems to be a rice soup. Nothing has satisfied her, but we'll keep trying different things. Maybe a good pizza crust.

I now know what it's like to be a celebrity and get stared at all the time. We can't figure out if people are staring because we don't look like them, or because we have a Chinese baby. Either way its amusing. The old ladies in line behind us at Wal-Mart couldn't stop touching me and her and laughing. We all took it in stride.

Even though I hate Wal-Mart, the Kunming variety has been a pleasant convenience for all the necessary baby gear. If you want you can also buy live turtles and frogs at Wal-Mart, if that's on your menu for this evening.

Registration and payment day

Today we got up and went back over to the orphanage office to sign more papers and give more money handouts. Seems like all we do! The paperwork took everyone most of the morning, because all of it was on official government letterhead. We returned to the hotel in time for lunch so we fed Tess a bottle and went to find a place to eat.

In the center of Kunming there is a lake, Green Lake, that is surrounded by lots of unusual evergreen trees and lined with cafes and shops. Appropriately we had lunch at the "Manhatan All Cafe" (yes, spelling is correct). The food was great, beef fried rice. After lunch we walked through the park which has many bridges criscrossing the lake. Returning to our hotel we met two other families and left for the Administration Service Center, Public Security Bureau of Kunming City to get our official Chinese Adoption document.

Interestingly, the orphanage that we have been working with hasn't been that great and according to our guide, Miwah, not one that American agencies use often, as evidenced by our experience today. For every payment we are supposed to get a receipt for proof of payment, however, the director of the orphanage withheld two receipts forcing us to return to her office before going to the Kunming Administration Office. It turns out that this was a scam, she made us come back so that she could get a ride home as she lived near the Admin office and had no other way of getting home! The shouting match on the mini bus between the director and the our driver was classic. He stopped the car in the middle of a highway off ramp and threatened to kick her out of the car!

So today was spent waiting in lines.

Monday Morning

Well Tess slept through the night until about 4:30 am, so we all got a good nights sleep after a very stressful day. Thankfully this morning, Tess took a bottle and drank the whole thing. But as with most of these babies, she has a chest cold and lots of boogies, but the benadryl should come in handy. Today we get the adoption registered and notarized making everything official.

Tess has arrived!

I've been having trouble posting picture to the blog, but I'll keep trying.

We finally met Tess just before 5 pm local time today and now we are all settling in and trying to get adjusted and find a routine. So far everything is great, Tess has barely cried and hasn't slept much yet.

So we arrived in Kuming at 2:45 pm and were met by our host who told us we were going immediately to the hotel to drop off our belongings and then we were all leaving at 4 pm to meet our daughters. There were three other families with us so after brief introductions we hopped in a small mini-bus and left for the adoption agency office. The office, if that's what it was, was in a tidy complex of high rise apartment buildings. We were led into the first floor and shown to a waiting room where our host had us all wait and, of course, fill out more paperwork!

After 45 minutes in the waiting room the girls were led in one by one and introduced to their new parents.

Surprisingly, there was very little crying and not a lot of commotion. After a while taking pictures and getting some very, very limited information on their diets and sleeping habits we were on our way back to the hotel.

After more than a year waiting our "gotcha" is winding down. Maybe she'll sleep well tonight. I know I will!

Milestones for Mitch

We called home this morning to talk to Mitch before he went to bed. Mitch told us some great news--he passed his Yellow belt test in Tae Kwon Do. So he got a Yellow belt and a trophy. We're very proud of Mitch's accomplishment. This is icing the cake for the week because earlier Mitch lost his first tooth...see.

Hong Kong Observations

My first observations of HK is that this city has money! The Hong Kong skyline is like no other, the neon lights are unreal, every building has a Times Sq style animated advertisement. There are brand name stores and huge malls everywhere and tons of fancy cars. It seems that all people do here is shop! And everyone was getting married.

We spent all day sightseeing around Hong Kong. This morning we got up and started our day in true Hong Kong style with a Starbucks coffee! After that we took a ferry across the harbor to Hong Kong proper and began with a trip up the Central Escalator, this huge escalator system, built in 1993, that carries people up the hills of Hong Kong. Like SF, HK is built on huge hills rising up from a harbor, but Hong Kong is much steeper and the buildings are cut right into the hills.

At the top of the escalator we walked through the botanical gardens and then took the funicular to the top of Victoria Peak. On a clear day the view would have been amazing, but today was very hazy and the photos are just ok. Victoria Peak was very touristy so we didn't stay long. We took the tram back to the base and headed back to an area called Soho, where we had lunch--Indian Food in a quaint wine bar/cafe.

After lunch we went back to the Peninsula and took power naps followed by a walk around Kowloon, the area of HK where our hotel is located. I was "profiled"...on every street corner! Every body wanted to make me a suit, some for a little as $90. Too good to be true, so I passed.
Tomorrow is the big day, we get up go to the airport to fly to Kunming where we will meet Tess in the afternoon! We're both very excited and nervous at the same time.

Culture Shock

So Tracy was the first to wear the "ugly American" title when she walked into the men's bathroom in the Felix Restaurant! All she saw were a few guys washing their hands.

The Peninsula

Well, leg one of our journey is completed. We've just settled into The Peninsula Hotel, which is amazing! The service here in Hong Kong, after only an hour is unreal.

The flight was 16 hours and we went due north over the North Pole (we could see Santa Claus getting ready). Then down over Siberia into China and then over Hong Kong. Half an Ambien was just enough. There were a bunch of movies but they were on a continuous loop so I could never catch the beginning of any. So we watched most of The DaVinci Code on the computer until it ran out of battery power.

After clearing customs etc, we got picked up by Sam, our driver who took us to the hotel. Along the way you could see the HK shipping terminals which are huge even compared to Long Beach, Oakland and Elizabeth, NJ. The hotel is fully decked out for Christmas and is right in the middle of Canton St, the main shopping thoroughfare.

We tried calling home already, but Nani didn't pick up!

Here's a picture of Tracy on the plane and me waiting for the trolley on our way to customs and baggage claims.

Sam

Bags are packed

Well this is it, our bags are packed and we're about to leave for JFK. Just got back from
B of A...to get more "crisp" money for the orphanage donation. On the way home I got my last good NY bagel and Starbucks coffee. Gee, I can't wait to sit for the next 16 hours. Maybe I'll do some interval training around the plane. Next post: Hong Kong.

Last minute preparations

Well, we are almost ready to go. I got my bags packed last night and at 4 this morning I finalized that last outstanding leg of our travel. Last week when we got our travel plans we were told that our final appointment was at the US Embassy in Guangzhou on Tuesday December 19 and that we could travel back to the U.S. on December 20. So I went online to Cathay Pacific (everyone has told us that this is the airline that we should fly) and got great fares flying out on the morning of December 20th.

So after booking our non-refundable tickets, I got more information from the adoption agency (they are notorious for sharing info small pieces) that we can't leave Guangzhou any earlier than 8 pm, well after the last flight from GZ to HK. Needless to say, Tracy was a little on edge about this recent travel challenge!

So yesterday my colleague Chris Golier, who handles Golf Digest's international licensing, put me in touch with our Hong Kong affiliate, who, as luck would have it, also have an office in GZ. So GD HK saved the day, by sending me a detailed itinerary of the train schedule from GZ to HK, a 1:50 train ride that they tell me is easier than flying.

Preparing for China

It is Sunday, December 3, 2006 and Tracy's and my wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, prepareing for our departure on Thursday kept us from enjoying the day the way we should. That's ok, because next Monday we will meet our daughter Tess in Kunming, China! That's the best anniversary and Christimas present we could have asked for.

Today Tracy went to Target to stock up, again, on diapers and baby gear! It's only been 6 years, but it seems like an eternity that we had a baby in the house. Then we went to Parker's in Rye to buy some new luggage...our duffle bags and small garment bags wouldn't last two days and we'll be in China for 2 weeks!

During our trip to China I will try to update this blog as often as possible so that people can read about our adventure.

Until then, here is a picture of Tess O'Brien.