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!