Guilin /BeiHai

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When we last made a blog entry we were on our way to a local shopping district in Guilin, the Le river had flooded parts of the city and all river cruises were called off. We did indeed go to a local shopping area. Very interesting as not many tourists and many locals around. It was like a giant flea market. It was fun to meet and try to speak with the local folks. We stayed there about an hour or so and then headed to lunch. We had a nice meal ( the food in Guilin really has been the best) and then we went to a tea plantation. On the way our guide “Lewis” presented each girl with a small gift. He was so taken by our girls because they are from the same province he is from. He grew up as a farmer’s son but as he said, “ I changed my fate by coming to school, learning English and becoming a tour guide.” He was very happy that our girls had families and that they were as happy and healthy as they are. He thanked us all for caring for the girls. The tea plantation was beautiful. We got to see the tea plants and learn the difference between white tea, green tea and oolong tea leaves. We also got to have a tea ceremony with tasting of 4 different types of tea. We learned the way to make the tea and how to hold the cups ( one way fro men and another way fro women). K liked all the teas, G none of them and B some but not all. K bought three different types to bring home. After the tea ceremony it was time to head to the airport. We saw many flooded streets and some great views of the very swollen river. Our flight was delayed 1.5 hours due to thunderstorms. It was a small plane and so K took some meds for the flight. The flight wasn’t too bad and soon we landed in BeiHai. It was late so we couldn’t see much from the airport to the hotel but it was as hot as we remembered it to be. Our hotel was the Shangri-La, very nice! Perhaps the best we have stayed at so far. The people in Bei Hai are extremely friendly. The waitstaff at the hotel never seem to sop smiling and all of them try to speak English and are very appreciative if we try to speak Chinese.



I will try to give you an overview of our time in BeiHai but I will not be giving too much detail on this public blog as some of this part of our journey is very personal to G. In the morning we went to the orphanage the girls lived at until they came home with us. The Orphanage Director is still the man we knew from 8 years ago, Mr. Fu. Also the doctor of the orphanage is now also the head of children’s area for the orphanage and there were at least 3 care givers that were still there from the time our girls lived there. There were also 3 Half the Sky Foundation workers there. This charity is very good providing extra workers for the orphanages and this means extra care and attention for the children. This orphanage now has about 70 children in it and most have special needs. The place also has some older children and some elderly people that live there. It had many more healthy children and babies 10 years ago but some of the rules in China have changed and so now people in this Autonomous region are allowed to have more children. In addition, domestic adoptions are increasing. Last, the area has developed more now and is a tourist destination, bringing more opportunities for people. It was arranged for us to go into a playroom with about 20 babies and young toddlers. So precious! Many had special needs but they were clearly happy and well cared for. The caregivers were loving and were down on the floor playing and holding the children. We got to play with/hold them, such sweet moments. G was very gentle, caring and affectionate with the children. We were so proud of her. Then we got to talk to the caregivers and the doctor and go through our child’s file. We learned some great information. We shared the photo books we made and the workers loved seeing the

girls in their homes and schools and commented on the snow pictures in particular! After this we presented our gifts to the nannies and the Orphanage. All in red bags and all well received. Our families also presented them with a new digital camera and an air conditioner. We then went for lunch in town. At lunch he girls were dared by our guide Hannah to try the local delicacy of Chicken Feet! They all bravely tried it and declared it very very spicy. After lunch, we went back to the orphanage and met with the director who was very affectionate and welcoming to all the girls. He very much enjoyed seeing them looking so happy and healthy and cheerfully answered their questions. We presented him with gifts and donations and the orphanage gave each girl a strand of BaHai pearls. We left the orphanage and then each family went on a journey alone with a guide to their child’s finding place. We had Hannah come with us. Hannah was our guide and helper in Nanning when we adopted the children 9 years ago. She is fun, very local gal and is not shy. She will lead you anywhere and ask any question. She uses her charm and cute looks to her advantage when talking to people on our behalf. A perfect person to have with us. She led us first to the police station that G was taken to when she was found as a baby. She explained to the station manager that we wanted to look up the record of G being found and then thank the officer(s) who took care of her until she could be taken to the orphanage. They could not have been more kind and accommodating to us. They graciously looked up the record from that year and told us that 2 officers were on duty that day, 1 had passed away but the other still worked there. He as off duty that day but they called his cell phone and he drove in to meet us! In the meantime, the other officers took pictures with us and also thanked us for taking care of G. They also sad how happy they were that we came back to visit, that all the usually deal with is bad new, thefts, etc, and it was good to see that some of their jobs lead to good things. They were so very nice to G, taking pictures with her and calling her beautiful and smart. They told us that they would like to put our picture and story up on their website as a way to bring encouragement and happiness to the other police stations. We agreed to let them do this and they gave us their business card so hopefully we can access their website and see what they said about us. The police officers told us how they are so happy that they can see that these children can have nice lives and they sincerely thanked us for adopting G. We were very moved. We told them we felt lucky to have G in our lives. They told us that we also taught them a lesson, that they should welcome people to come back with their children who were adopted from BeiHai and come and see the officers who found them so they can learn the good outcomes from their work. Really, these men could not have been any kinder to us and for that we were very grateful. after we left the police station, we went to G’s finding place. She got to leave her specially designed rock that we brought with us in a good spot and Hannah helped to interpret to the crowd who had gathered to see what we were doing and explain to them her story and why she had left the stone and asked them to please protect the rock and spread the story. When we left, they were telling more and more people the story of G. G was happy with the afternoon but extremely tired and very hungry and not able to look at having Chinese food one more night. So, we told the group we would be eating pasta at the hotel and one family joined us. G ate an entire platter of spaghetti with tomato sauce and then went swimming (they have a fantastic pool at this hotel with a slide) with her friend. A good ending for a long and emotional day for us all.

This morning we all got to sleep in. This was nice and G needed it (she fell asleep with the Nook on her face last night). At 10:30 we departed for the old town market place. This was a street with original buildings and lots of vendors with fun things that we purchased as gifts. We also got all the girls a BeiHai t-shirt that says in Chinese “Drunken with Beauty” which I think is the equivalent of the American phrase “stunningly beautiful”. We like the idea of all the BeiHai girls having matching shirts. It is now China hot- so hot that you immediately sweat when you step outside even in the shade. After the market we took a short ride to Silver Beach. We let the girls dip their feet in the Gulf of Token and took everyone’s picture.Then we stopped at a very local market- whew think rural! and bought some snacks to take on the bus. We had a three hour bus trip on the bumpiest highway you can imagine (in fact as I type this the laptop is bumping along). We will have dinner in Nanning and and shop. Nanning was the city we stayed in when we adopted the girls so there are a lot of good memories there. We only have one night in Nanning then we fly to Shanghai and stay there for 2 days then we head for home- hard to believe!

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