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Friday,
September 14, 2007
Last post from China! We leave the beautiful White Swan Hotel
tomorrow (Saturday) at 11:30 a.m. This Grande old dame is
showing her age, but the service here is impeccable.
Today was our last chance to rid ourselves of all that Yuan
burning a hole in our pockets. I didn’t mention in yesterday’s
post that there is an Ikea store a block away from the US
Consulate. Lance disrupted our consulate de-briefing on the bus
when he saw it. After making our final artwork selections here
on island this morning, Mr. Po`o Pakiki (sorry, can’t find
kahako at this late hour) left us at noon to make the 40 minute
(each way) pilgrimage to the Ikea store. He redeemed himself by
returning only with toys for the kids (made in Bulgaria, not
China).
Our requisite red couch photo session was done this afternoon.
The White Swan Hotel has a handful of nice red sofas that are
renowned in the Chinese adoption community. All US families
adopting from China, whether they stay at the White Swan or not,
come here to take a photo of their adoption group before
returning home. We were lucky as we had only four kids in our
group. I have seen chaotic photos trying to get 8-10 kids to sit
nicely on a sofa by themselves.
Our final dinner was not Cantonese! We treated ourselves to the
all-you-can-eat outside barbecue here at the hotel alongside the
Pearl River. This dinner was 178 Yuan per person, compared to
the 150 Yuan we have been paying nightly to feed THREE adults at
the Cantonese restaurants. Don’t know when we got so cheap. The
buildings along the Pearl River light up in neon and a short
laser show is held. This was a great ending to an unforgettable
journey, the journey that brought us our precious Lilia.
We are madly packing right now and did have to break down and
buy another suitcase for 100 Yuan (roughly 13 USD). We arrive
home 10:15 a.m. Saturday morning. Our feelings right now are
bittersweet as Lilia leaves the country of her birth, but we are
so ready to be back in our abode, our routine, our Hawaii Nei.
Zai jian China, you have given us the gift of a lifetime. |
Luke got the free gift of this umbrella after we purchased some
Chinese folk art.
Yes, you heard right, free gift in China.
Lance went WAY out of his way today to go shopping and have
lunch at Ikea.
HIC travel group,
together in Guangzhou for two weeks. |
