Guangzhou Here We Come...

Leaving the Sheraton

(Our guide Michael (left) and our great host Daniel (right))

Aubree's first plane trip

Aubree and Dad's iPod

Time to catch a quick nap

We woke up very excited this past Friday (April 2nd) as we knew it was time to leave Guiyang and head to the last leg of our trip in Guangzhou. We had one last breakfast buffet and then spent the rest of the morning packing. We had learned from another family that had been to Guiyang in the past through a comment they left on our blog that there was a Papa John's in the city. So, we decided that would be our last meal in Guizhou province. I jumped in a cab and handed the driver the name and location of where I wanted to go that was written in Chinese. I paid close attention on the way there knowing that I might have to walk back if I can't find a cab. The Papa John's was pretty similar to what you would get in the states but it was more of a sit down place. Placing my order was not too difficult because the menu was in both Chinese and English. However, conveying that I wanted a pizza with different topping on each half was a little more difficult. Once I got the pizza I started looking for a cab but could not get any to stop as they appeared to all have passengers already. So, I walked further and then tried again. I did get one cab to stop even though he already had one passenger. I handed him my paper with the instructions and he looked at it and then shook his head "no" and gave the paper back before taking off. I suppose he was willing to take me if I was going in the same direction as his current passenger but that was not the case. So, I kept walking and decided I could hoof it all the way back, which turned out not be too bad of walk but the pizza was pretty cold when I got back. We enjoyed the pizza as it was pretty similar to home but not quite the same.

We had a late check out at 3pm arranged by Michael and took all our stuff to the lobby. We ran into Daniel, who was one of the waiters in the hotel restaurant that was very kind to us during our stay. Daniel could speak some English and he helped us a lot with food choices for Aubree. He told us it was his last day on the job as he had landed a better job, but was glad to have met us. He gave us his email address and said he wanted to keep in touch. We took a group photo in the lobby with both Daniel and Michael, before saying our final good-bye. Michael had one last stop for us on the way to the airport. It was a museum that had lots of information about the province and the local area. We learned a lot about the Miao minority, which we believe Aubree may be one. The Miao is one of the largest minority groups in China with about 1.9 million of them in the country. They also are the most dispersed Chinese minority around the world because many of them had migrated to Vietnam and Laos many years ago. Some ended up fighting with the US and South Vietnamese while others fought for Chinese backed North Vietnamese. When the war ended those in the south had to seek refuge in the US and Europe. These Miao people were referred to as Hmong people when the migrated to the US. Many of them still live in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

We then headed to the airport and Michael helped us get checked in. Once again we had no difficulties with our luggage (weight) or our carry-on baggage. I would say the restrictions we were warned about were not nearly as strict as we were told. We provided Michael with a gift and a tip has this was customary and headed through security. Once we were at our gate we were united once again with the lady from Colorado that had adopted the 5 year-old boy as they were flying to Guangzhou as well. We had a nice visit and enjoyed watching her son get excited for his first ever plane ride. We boarded our plane and although the flight was very full, we bought a break and had an open seat by us. It was not a long flight but I had my first break through with Aubree when I discovered that she liked listening to music on my iPod. She was growing much more comfortable with me, but I still had a long way to go. Once we arrived in Guangzhou we had to wait for our guide as he was late to pick us up. While we were waiting I had more progress with Aubree as I was able to make her smile and giggle by doing silly things. (I am sure as a grown man I looked pretty ridiculous but I didn't care what anybody else was thinking, I was just thrilled to be making my baby girl smile.)

We had a long van ride to the Shamian Island to the infamous White Swan Hotel. It was getting late and we were tired so we quickly checked in and made our way to our room. We instantly realized that we had been spoiled by the Sheraton as the White Swan was nothing special. The rooms were very small, the beds were like sleeping on the kitchen table and the bathroom was the size of a linen closet. This place might have been something in its day but it was very tired now. Lila and Aubree crashed and I went exploring the hotel grounds and the nearby area. I found Lucy's Bar & Cafe, which we had been told had good American food so I stopped in and had some fries and a coke. It had been another long day so I headed back to the room. Life was good.