Examination Day

Mommy's face says it all in this photo...As required prior to departure from the country, Ming had to go through a thorough examination at a local clinic here in Guangzhou. She was weighed, measured, pushed, pulled, poked, prodded, and finally given a clean bill of health.

There were dozens (and dozens) of Mommies and Daddies with their newly adopted babies and children at the clinic. While waiting in the lines it was fun to meet new parents and hear about their travel stories and the tales of their new children. We've met people from New Jersey, Kansas, Utah, Florida, Alaska, Georgia, and the list goes on...

The White Swan Hotel is a pretty swanky place. We've had a chance to look around this morning and are happy to be in such nice accomodations. I've stayed in some very nice resorts and hotels around the world, and this is on par with most of them. There are beautiful shops in the hotel, along with two swimming pools, a game room for kids, a very nice gym, and just about any other luxury you would want to enjoy. The hotel sits right on the Pearl River which hosts buildings and boats that light up like Las Vegas at night. We've read that several high ranking dignitaries have stayed at the White Swan, including George Bush Sr.

We all enjoyed the awesome breakfast buffet this morning. It was a beautiful spread. Think of the Mother's Day brunch at a nice restaurant, then multiply that times two. That's how nice this layout was. And Linda says that this was the best coffee she's had yet.

Speaking of coffee, while Ming has been napping Linda and I sauntered (a date without the baby!) to a local coffee joint called BLENZ COFFEE. It is about as close as we've come to a Starbucks kind of coffee house. We were assured that their ice is made from good water, so we both enjoyed iced drinks. The milk is a little on the weird side here, so it wasn't a 10 on the coffee scale, but we give them high marks in the Effort category.

The area around the hotel is quite 'westernized.' Because this is the jumping off point for all adopting Americans who leave China, we tend to see just as many Americans on the streets as Chinese. And with Americans come all the souvenir shops with sidewalk tables where they work very hard to get you in their stores. You should watch Linda negotiate the merchants down from 20 yuan to 15 yuan. You go girl! Honey, I'm proud of you for knocking and extra 60 cents of that 100% silk, handmade, hand embroidered coin purse...$1.51 USD is a killer deal!

A final note here...I have not been able to access my blog until arriving in Guangzhou. I was able to post, but I could not see the end product. I had heard that this was sometimes the case in China as the government controls internet content. I got a chance to look at my blog this morning and realized that I had some duplicate posts and photos. I've cleaned it up a bit.