Friday, July 16, 2010

Today was our last day in Wuhan, we finished packing and after breakfast we had some time to kill, so we took Ava to the “play area” in the hotel gym. Ava enjoyed rocking on the horses and bouncing on the exercise balls with Mommy.

We met Richard in the lobby and took the hotel van back to the Civil Affairs office one last time to get Ava’s Chinese passport and other important documents. Once that was all completed, we headed to the train station that was about 45 minutes out of Wuhan to catch the “China Railway”-high speed train to Guangzhou. It reached speeds of 343 kilometers an hour with several stops along the way, but the countryside was beautiful to look at, a nice change from the plane. Ava did pretty well on the train, but had started the day with a little cough and felt warm once we were on the train. I don’t think her little body is used to being in air-conditioned rooms and cars and I believe she is just plain tuckered out!

We arrived in Guangzhou around 5pm, and a hotel bell-hop and van were waiting for us. The ride to the Victory Hotel was about another hour with traffic, but we got to see some cool city sights.

Once we checked in and got settled, I gave Ava some ibuprofen and about a half an hour later, she was back to her silly smiling self again. We decided to order in, so Papa John’s delivered our pepperoni/cheese (I think it was cheese…maybe tofu?) pizza, and it was a nice break from rice and mystery meat. We decided to take a walk and check out the surrounding area since Ava had napped and didn’t seem tired at all, that and we FINALLY had access to a stroller, and she was anxious to ride in it. We are guessing riding in the stroller is a new concept for Ava, she was grinning from ear to ear and kicking her feet with delight.

We walked around the hotel, down through a park where lots of people were still out playing badmitton, roller blading and skateboarding or walking their dogs. We ended up at the White Swan hotel and our jaws dropped open when we saw the beautiful lobby complete with waterfall and koi fish, and grounds with 2 swimming pools, many restaurants and beautiful shops. We inquired about looking at a room and they gladly showed us their accommodations. The Victory hotel was not as nice as we had previously researched, and when walking to our room, we could smell mold, and about tripped over drop clothes plopped in the middle of the hallway we believe were there to soak up some sort of leaks or spills. Once I saw our bathtub, I noticed more mold….yuck! Needless to say, we are moving out in the morning!

We have Ava’s medical exam in the morning, so we are hoping her fever doesn’t return. Daryl is snoring away, so I better hit the hay with earplugs tonight! We are glad to be here on our final leg of our trip, but we are getting anxious to return home to our boys. Skype has really helped us connect with the boys, it’s always fun to hear where Grandma took them and they enjoy showing us all the cool “rewards” she gets them for good behavior.

Good night from Guangzhou…let’s hope the typhoon headed towards China fizzles out quickly, we want swimming weather!

Amy: YES, the 7-11’s here do have slurpees! I’ll have one in your honor tomorrow, there is also a Starbucks around the corner….YAHOO!!