Welcome to the Jungle

After our trip to Shamin Island we then headed back to our second hotel of the trip. The hotel was called the Chateau Star River. This was not the hotel that we originally booked. We original booked the White Swan Hotel using Expedia. Apparently Expedia was accepting reservations for the W.S. even though they were under renovation.

We booked the W.S. in May and were happy to get an opportunity to stay there again. In June we received an e-mail from Expedia saying that the W.S. was not available so they were having to change our reservation for that evening. They told us that it would be a comparable hotel to the W.S. Boy, were they wrong!

The Chateau Star River was on the banks of the Pearl River just like the W.S. is but the similarities stopped there. The C.S.R. was a fairly new hotel, which boasts a starting rate of $450 per night and goes up from there. We had two rooms booked because in Asia the most you can have in a room is 3 people. Thankfully for us we got the W.S. rate which was about 25% of the C.S.R. starting rate.

Our rooms were spectacular! First off Kathi and my room had an “emperor size” bed. This bed was like two queen beds put together. Literally our entire family of 5 could have slept on this bed comfortably, and we are not small people. The kids rooms had two oversized queen beds for them. The room itself was gigantic with vaulted ceilings and posh décor. A 50 inch LCD was a bigger than normal TV for the likes of the Getzingers as was the free wireless Internet and the fact that the minibar was complementary as well. The kids were in heaven!

Another amenity was the oversized tub complete with a television built into the mirror wrapped around the tub. You could only see the TV when it was turned on. Otherwise it was part of the mirror. The waterproof remote control was the only way you could turn it on.

Did I mention the fitness facilities? Well there was a separate building which held that area. Inside this huge building two full size indoor tennis courts. When you head down stairs there are about 14 different rooms for different activities including several for billiards, massage, ping pong, ballroom dancing, a weight room that was massive, as well as some things I didn’t know how to play.

You then go into the locker rooms, which are equally as plush as the guest rooms. Lockers with personalized combinations, a fridge with cold water, a fridge with cold towels to wash your face. This is crazy but true: When you walk into the building you are met by someone with a walkie-talkie. They call down to the locker room and have people stock the locker they are going to give you with size appropriate gear such as flip flops, slippers, and a robe. This person then escorts you downstairs to the locker room area and shows you to your lockers. It was crazy.

Right before you head out to the pool you have to shower off. The water comes out of the walls and automatically adjusts to your height. How it knows how tall we all are I am not sure. Then you step out and see this massive pool. It is literally twice as big as an Olympic size pool. It is the biggest pool I have ever seen. That is only the indoor pool. Head outside and you see the outdoor pool that is also huge like a typical resort pool. Very cool! They were very secretive about the recreation area though. No pictures could be taken of this place. It was kind of weird.

One of the things you notice when you are in China is that people follow you around. We were the only ones in the pool and there were 3 people there watching us. They were sweet and were very helpful but you always are being watched, especially at hotels.

DINNER TIME: The hotel is pretty new and not next to any restaurants save their own. We thought we would go down to their restaurant and have some dinner. Little did we know dinner was $50 per person. $250 for dinner didn’t seem to fit into the budget so we decided to do something else. This was before we went to the pool so we decided that I would find some food and bring it back to the hotel while Kathi and the kids went swimming.

I started talking with the Concierge who spoke limited English. Since we had already had our fill of McDonalds I asked it there were any western style restaurants around. After he checked on his computer he said no. I then knew I had seen Pizza Huts around and asked it they would deliver. He called Pizza Hut and apparently they did not deliver to where we were.

That meant that I was going to have to venture out and find some food. I asked the Concierge if he could get me a taxi to take me to, you guessed it, McDonalds, yuck. Here is where it gets tricky. After the guy tried to call a taxi company they apparently were not interested in coming out to the hotel to take a guy to Mickey D’s.

So here is what my guy decides is the best way to get me to feed my family: We are going to have our shuttle take you to our sister hotel across the river, about a 15 minute drive. I will then have the bell boy there to get you a taxi that will take you back across the river to McDonalds. Make sure you let him know that you want him to wait while you get the food. Then have him bring you back here.

Really? That is your plan? Couldn’t the shuttle drive me to get the food? Apparently not. So what should have taken 15 minutes took over an hour. However after living in Asia for so long I have come to realize that my solution to a problem isn’t always everyone else’s solution. In fact all I could do when I climbed up into the shuttle was laugh. You have to be flexible when you are in a foreign country and not let things rattle you. I have learned this the hard way but our whole family has finally come accept this as normal. So in the end we all had our 3^rd McDonalds meal in 2 days.

Back to the Hotel:

After we got back to the room the beds had been turned down and amazing chocolates were left for us. A great way to head off to dream land which we all did rather quickly.

After a good but too short night of sleep, (having to pack up to leave each night is a big pain in the rear!) we headed down for the buffet breakfast that was included in our stay. The buffet was an amazing spread. The food was from all over the world, including bacon, which we don’t get in Indonesia. Brooklyn had loads of Chinese Noodles and a type yogurt that she would eat at breakfast when we got her in ’07. She loved it then and still seemed to love it now. My favorite dish was the ahi sushi. Sydney and Kathi loved the omelets with real ham not chicken ham that we have grown to accept in Indonesia. Kade was a happy camper with lots of bacon and toast.

After breakfast we headed out to Foshan. Brooklyn’s hometown and the home to her orphanage. We hit the orphanage the next day but still had some exploring to do in Foshan before that. I’ll get to that in our next post. Thanks for checking in with us!

The gigantic bed.

A square toilet? Very modern.

Like all of China there is construction everywhere.

Since the hotel was non-smoking you could use the ashtrays for other purposes.

The indoor tennis courts.

Kade trying sushi. He wasn't a big fan.

Chinese Noodles. Brooklyn thought she was in heaven.

Nothing like drinking your yogurt.

The restaurant seating area.

Just a peek at the outdoor pool. Those doors lead to the super secret pool and recreation area.

Just half of the buffet line up.

The front entrance to the recreation area.

As long as room service delivers to the bathroom there is no reason to leave this place! What's on the TV?

The lobby of the hotel.

A better shot of the outdoor pool.

The lounge.

The entrance to the hotel.

You would see these all over. We have taken to calling them Tuk-Trucks as they look like a work version of a tuk-tuk which you could use a taxi. I have decided that I really need one of these back home for yard work!

The waterfall inside the lobby of The White Swan Hotel.

Some Chinese art and antiques that were for sale.

Brooklyn is holding the tale of "mystery animal" We were told by the local selling it that it had a nice smell. Um...to each his own.

We just returned from an amazing trip to China. It was emotional, exciting, and hectic. It wasn’t a vacation for sure. It was an edu-cation. It was a chance for Brooklyn to reconnect with her past. It was a chance for Kade and Sydney to see just where Brooklyn came from and maybe get a little more perspective on the world she lived in. It was a chance for Kathi and I to thank those special people who looked after Brooklyn before she blessed our lives. It was an experience like no other trip we have taken together as a family, and one we are very thankful we were able to make.

Due to a combination of factors including lack of time, the strict monitoring of the Internet in China; which made the connection speeds glacial in their pace, and just needing some time to process what we were taking in, we were unable to blog our experience up until now. We will now start to blog each of the big events in our trip. We will try to get one up a day. If I write the whole thing out now I will end up condensing it due to typer’s cramp and I don’t want to short change anything about the trip. We are thankful that many so many of you keep up with our family through this blog and love hearing from you. We also however are using this as way to not forget any of the great experiences and memories we have undertaken while in Southeast Asia and want to keep it for posterity’s sake.

Here we go:

Getting There:

We left school a little early on Friday so we could catch our 4:00 flight out of Pekanbaru. A big thanks to our principal, Lory, for letting us take off early. The PKU airport is an experience all to itself. It includes a moldy interior, an international side of the airport that is roughly the size of single-wide trailer, and smoking rooms that where shutting the door while you are smoking is optional not to mention even if the door is closed there is an open area at the top of the room that opens to the main seating area and no fan in the room to suck up the smoke. Other than that it is really great!

On a side note this is the lightest we have ever packed for going on a family excursion. We took only two suitcases plus carry-ons. This was due to the fact that we stayed in a different hotel just about every night. This light travel made getting around easier but as the week went on I felt like I was back in college trying to judge which of my clothes could make it another wearing.

Also of interest to those of you who know Kathi well was our color-coded folder system. That’s right; each of our eight days had its own folder, complete with hotel info, any tickets that were needed, and even anything we were to be looking for that day be it shopping or a recommended restaurant. Knowing Kathi would you expect anything less?

We hopped on our Air Asia plane and took the short 40 minute flight to Kuala Lumpur. Here we had a 2 hour layover where we were able to eat some McDonalds and enjoy a Starbucks. With the kids fed and watered we then loaded our plane to Guangzhou. Now Air Asia is the Asian version of Southwest Airlines (No Frills). You can typically get a good deal and the planes are all in great condition and very new. What you can’t get however are the amenities that come with a more expensive airline. Did I mention that the flight to Guangzhou was 4 hours long?

It is not the flight time that really bothers us anymore. The kids really are extremely good travelers. They know what to expect and don’t really have any issues with flying. What was kind of frustrating about this flight was that we are used to entertainment (movies) on our longer flights. Anything over two hours is a longer flight for us. The kids have gadgets to play with and Kathi and I had books so it all worked out but any longer and we could have had trouble.

We arrived in Guangzhou at 1:20 A.M. There is only a one hour time difference between PKU and GZ. so it was pretty late. Luckily that night we were staying at a hotel right at the airport. We simply cleared customs, grabbed our bags and walked about 400 meters to our hotel. That was nice. It was a very nice hotel but we really just wanted to hit the sack as we had a big day ahead.

Kathi had arranged to have a driver take us around while we were in GZ. She had set it up with a women named Ann, who specializes in helping adoptive families send their waiting children packages before they come to get them and she will also take people shopping for things like pearls, antiques, clothing, etc. when they come to get their child. We had used Ann when we 1^st went to get Brooklyn in 2007. She speaks great English and knows how to get things done.

Our driver met us with his minivan at about 10:00 AM and we loaded up our suitcases as we were off to a new hotel for the second night. (More on that in the next post.) While I did say that Ann spoke great English, our driver on the other hand, not a word. That made for some interesting back and fourths that pretty much left us at a loss.

Regardless, after we dropped off our bags, got a little Mickey D’s (This was not our first choice but it was what we knew and they have picture menus.) and picked up Ann we were off to do a little shopping. Ann took us to an antique market where they have all kinds of Chinese artwork and pottery. We had been there in 2007 but it was great to show the kids all of the Chinese artifacts and let them get a feel for the culture. This is an open air market where locals hang out and sell their wares. It is definitely not commercial and without Ann we would have not been able to go to a place like that and have any idea what was going on. We picked up some paintings for our home and Kade got a small jade dragon as well as some replicas of ancient Chinese coins from dynasties gone by.

Next we headed to Shamin Island. This area is where most adoptive families in the past have stayed while waiting to leave China to head back to the US with their children. In fact this is where Kathi and I stayed when we went to China in ’07. The main hotel here is called The White Swan. Currently this hotel is under renovation. (year two of a two year process.) No one stays here now due to this. In fact we only saw one other adoptive family there this time around.

The Island (more of a neighborhood) has many little shops that were trying to get the tourist dollar. Anything bootleg you can think of: North Face Jackets, Callaway Golf Clubs, Rayban sunglasses, luggage, and any number of t-shirts and trinkets. Each of the shops has store keepers who will, “Make you special deal!” on their merchandise. It was where I first got “hustled” by paying way too much for a children’s book in ‘07. Since then I have learned a thing or two about haggling and I am quite a bit more confident in my abilities to negotiate.

Another cool thing about the island is that it has a Starbucks. That was the one thing that kept us sane when we went to get Brooklyn. We were in the same hotel for 18 days and had a toddler that was not all that excited about her new surroundings so Starbucks was looked forward to daily.

What was great about going back there was that the White Swan still had their lobby and restaurants open so we could show the kids all of the places that we were during our first trip. They could see the shops, the little medical clinic where each adoptive child had to get a check up at as well as the building where Brooklyn got her US Visa picture. All of these places are part of her history and places where she started her life in our family. It was a really fun day for all of us.

At about 6 PM we arrived at our second hotel to stay for the evening. It was something else for sure. We’ll get to that in the next post.

Each hotel had these masks you were to put on if there was a fire. Apparently they are approved by NASA.

"The Deli Shop" was a place we stopped at ofter when we visited in 2007. It has some great apple bread. The kids really enjoyed it and it tasted the same as we remembered.

One of the restaurants had live seafood that they let you pick out for them to cook up for you. Here are some water beetles. Everything from turtles to snakes could be had for your dinner.

A parking lot in Shamin Island.

Not nearly as many people there now that The White Swan is under construction.

The Pearl River. Guangzhou is built around this river.

A statue outside Lucy's restaurant on the island.

It serves western food which is hard to find in GZ.

A fountain outside Starbucks.

Where Brooklyn was given a physical before we could take her home.

A great Thai restaurant we ate at when we were in Guangzhou in 07.

Fishing in the little river that runs through Shamin Island.

The Fisherman's catch - Turtle anyone?

Shamin Island has a quaintness to it that attracts a TON of young people there to have photo shoots. In a span of 15 minutes outside Starbucks we saw about 6 different groups being photographed.

A little piece of home!

The girl at one of the stores told me that this says that Obama is smart.

I will let you all judge this one yourself.

One of the photography sessions.

Big Goldfish!

I am bigger than I was the last time!

This 1o foot tall jade statue is carved with amazing detail.

It is in the middle of the W.S. lobby.

These Red Couch photos are of a famous red couch in the W.S. where most adoptive children get dressed up in traditional Chinese clothing and are photographed before leaving to go back to the US. We have some pictures of Brooklyn on this couch from back in 07. The difference from then till now is pretty staggering.