Thursday in GuangZhou

It was wonderful getting a good nights sleep at the White Swan Hotel. This was one of China's first 5 star hotels. It was built 25 years ago. This hotel has become somewhat famous for hosting adoptive families. Everywhere you go you see new families. This morning I snapped a shot of the restaurant. Once again there were China babies everywhere.

Last night, Linda got a huge surprise. 2 Adoption Barbie dolls were delivered to our room. We had heard about these. It is a special edition issued by Mattel exclusively for folks who are adopting. Every family in the White Swan that is here on an adoption trip gets one (we got 2!). They did not have these when we were here adopting Maggie...when we heard about it, Linda tried everything to get one and couldn't. So this was a very nice surprise and what a great souvenir.

At dinner tonight we learned more interesting things about life in China talking with Simon. He showed us the difference between "apartments" and "dormitories." He described how the older generation enjoyed 2 benefits from the government - free health care, and very inexpensive living. At the time, 20 years ago, everyone worked for the government. You were provided housing (that was built in the 50s, 60s and 70s) for a very nominal amount. At the time, there were no privately owned buildings, and there were not high rises and "apartment" buildings. In 2000, the government announced that they are cancelling both of these benefits. Many older people were panicked and upset...they did not have the money to buy there own apartments. They were given the choice to buy their "dormitory" as it was referred to, or pay a much high rent. Since most of these people did not have anywhere near the savings to buy these properties at market value, the government paid people for their years of service working (remember, everyone worked for the government). In this way, many were able to buy their dormitories. After 2000, construction began like crazy by private individuals and companies to build apartment buildings, high rises and commercial properties (this explains the massive amount of building we have been seeing).

All of the land is owned by the government. No private person can own land. You can own the building and you lease the land from the government. The government ,however, can take your land and property any time they need it and not compensate you. You may sell your building and make money, but at some point, the land is no longer available to you - your lease is up (typically 70 years from what I understand). I spoke with one of the shop keepers today who was very upset with what recently happened on Shiamen Island (where our hotel is). The government decided they needed to renovate a series of buildings in order to preserve them. So, they told the people who lived in them and the shop owners they needed to get out. They were not provided alternative living, and not paid any compensation. So, she asked many questions about how this worked in the US. Simon said something interesting tonight. He said the man who built the White Swan (where we are staying) had a lot of foresight in building the hotel and made lots of money. Then he said that he no longer owns it he gave it to the government. I am confused as to how that works and why someone would do that. Something may have been lost in translation.

After breakfast this morning we explored the area around the hotel. It was a glorious morning. We did some shopping but did a lot of people watching. There are park areas all over where people go and do numerous activities. One activity that is fun to watch is many of the older people dance. It looked to me like they had a few instructors out there with them. They were having loads of fun. We saw some folks playing badminton. Lina had told us that in university, she was required to learn table tennis and badminton...two very popular games. We saw school kids coming out for exercises. They all exercised in unison to instructions and music...it was fun to watch. The schools here don't have big gymnasiums like we do. So, they need to do something to ensure they get physical activity.

We stopped and saw the medical clinic where we walked with Maggie from the White Swan Hotel for her to get her physical for the adoption.

We walked by the Catholic church. It wasn't opened but we walked around the outside. There were a few older Chinese ladies watching us closely. I think we made them nervous and one actually waved us off. We decided to move on. It was a pretty building...but appeared to be very old. We could not tell much about it, all the signs were in Chinese.

We also stoppd outside the US Consulate. This is the building where we had to go to get Maggie's Green Card. That morning, we came around the corner and all you could see was a sea of people. If you look at the photo of the white building with the offical US seal on the building, everywhere you could see in this picture would be covered with people. Melody, taking charge like she had throught the whole trip, forged ahead through the sea of people, said something to the guard and the next I knew, we were pushing through the crowds and entering the gates. We figured that the Chinese don't celebrate Columbus Day. The day before had been Columbus day, but the Chinese people didn't realize that. The consulate was closed. So all of these irratated people had been there yesterday and they weren't open...now all those people have returned fit to be tied. It was an interesting memory of a bizzare event.

We met up with Simon at 1PM and headed for the subway. He wanted to take us over to one of the large malls and do some shopping and people watching. We got on the subway. The whole underground station was amazing. It is extremely clean. It has big flat panel monitors and TVs playing all manner of programs and advertisements. You buy your ticket much like you do at the EL Stations in Chicago for CTA from a machine that gives you tokens. They are cool...there must be a little chip in them. They look like coins, but you wave them past a sensor...much like a Mobil Gas Station Speedpass. The trains were clean, and man did they move fast. We got off a few stations out and walked to one of the Beijing 2008 Olympic stores. China has all kinds of memorabilia that has been produced for the 2008 games. They sell them in stores across the country that are specially designated stores to sell this merchandise. All of the prices are set...so you are guaranteed to be getting a consistent price and quality no matter from which store you purchase your merchandise.

From there, we got back on the subway and went a few more stops to go to a local mall. There malls are very different. Rather than a number of large chain type stores, they have little shops. There are almost like a series of sole proprietors. Or another way of thinking about it, is a very, very upscale flea market where each vendor has their own stall. It was very crowded and packed with all kinds of merchandise. The mall did also have a large department and grocery store in it as well. We walked around and window shopped and worked our way back to the hotel via the subway. You'll notice from the pictures how crowded the streets are. You can also notice they LOVE KFC. There are more KFC stores in China than any other franchise I have seen...KFC is the Starbucks of China, they are almost on every corner.

We got back to the hotel and sat outside at the little deli enjoying a Coke Light (they don't have "diet" soda). It was a very pleasant, almost tropical evening. We went back to the room and rested up as we were headed out for a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. The Pearl River runs through the center of GuanZhou and empties out into the China sea at Hong Kong.

The dinner was a Chinese buffet and it was delicious. The skyline was beautiful as we cruised up and down the river. We got a few shots of the White Swan hotel from the water. It is the building outlined in pure white lights. It was a very pleasant evening with a cool breeze. It was nice to have a relaxing evening to sit and chat. After the cruise we headed back to the hotel.

We stopped to take a few pictures around the hotel. It has been a long tradition to take a picture of all the babies in an adoption group on the "red couches" in the lobby of the White Swan. Linda and I each took our picture with Maggie on the traditional red couch. We have the picture of her with her 11 Xiamen sisters in 1995 in our scrap book. It was interesting talking to some of the shop keepers today. One was amazed when we pointed out that Maggie was Chinese. He didn't think she looked Chinese at all. He actually said he thought the more she lived with us the more she began to look like us. He honestly didn't thin she looked Chinese. Another shop keeper was incredulous over my statement that Maggie was 4 months old when we adopted her. She said that's "impossible." "These children are at least 8 months old before they are adopted." That's because they changed the policy. China will not release any child before the age of 6 months so they can observe them and ensure they are "healthy." By the time an assignment is made and a family travels, the child is typically at least 1 year old. I explained, when we adopted Maggie, the program was brand new and we were in a very early group. The rules were not the same back then. It was interesting speaking with them and getting their perspective. They were all very gracious and genuinely curious.

Well, we need to be packed and in the hotel lobby by 7:15AM. We are taking the shuttle to the train station to take a bullet train to Hong Kong. We should leave at 9AM and to Hong Kong in about an hour. From there, we have a day of sight seeing before heading home on Saturday.