The Rest of Guangzhou

Catching up on what we did with our remaining time in Guangzhou…

Tuesday night we walked to nearby Yuexiu Park to see the Chinese New Year display. All sorts of lit up creations (kind of like lanterns but way bigger and in the shape of things) were along a path in the park, and tons of people were there to see it. Some were particularly impressive, and we all enjoyed the festive mood and atmosphere.

On Wednesday, we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast. The kids debuted their squeaky shoes that I bought them on Shamian Island. We won’t be wearing these long-term, as I think we all would go crazy, but they were fun for a day. The good thing is that you can take the squeakers out and wear them as regular shoes. 

Late morning, we went back to a different part of the park and spent an hour driving a little boat around on the small lake. The kids had a good time taking turns driving and pretending to shoot things with the fake gun on the front. We also saw the famous Five Rams Statue, as Guangzhou is known as the City of Rams. There’s some legend about how the city was formed, and it involves rams.

After a late pizza lunch at a place near our hotel, the kids took naps while Morgan and I went to Walmart. Yes, there is a Walmart in China! We picked up some Chinese candy to bring home and snacks for the train and plane rides and a few other odds and ends. The place was crazy! Everyone was there shopping for the Chinese New Year. And the plaza around it was insane too; lanterns and flowers and decorations were for sale everywhere. 

Apparently while we were gone, the kids woke up and were playing and Johanna hit Jonas in the face. She didn’t like it when Zack told her “no” and had a big crying meltdown for awhile. However, when I got back, I never would have guessed that anything had happened. She was laughing and having a great time, so I guess she worked through whatever she was going through at that moment. Our in-country facilitator also dropped off Johanna’s passport with the visa in it, so we were officially good to go home!

We spent our last night in Guangzhou going on the Pearl River cruise. It was an hour long boat ride up and down the river to see all of the buildings lit up at night. The most impressive was the Canton Tower, the third tallest building in the world. It changed colors continuously and looked pretty awesome.

Guangzhou was a great city, and I kind of wished we had been able to spend more time there instead of Nanchang. The weather was perfect, there was lots to do, and there were other adoptive families at our hotel. But we were glad to be done with our adoption appointments and almost headed home!