Post 26 - An Amazing Day in Guang Zhou

Our entire travel group was very glad to be back in Guang Zhou. We actually staged a revolt and went back early! We were all tired of being hot and smelling the off gassing of adhesives used in the hotel renovation, so we found out a way to shorten our stay in Nan Chang (which we really did love) and change our flights and get an extra night in Guang Zhou. Here are the pictures I took along with comments during our family tour on our first day back in Guang Zhou.

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Chairman Mao has been defeated, and I am back on an Asian diet. It is possible that my system reacted to some typical western food I ate the night before. Thanks Sarah for filling in. Guangzhou is huge and SO diverse – WOW! Pictures can give a little feel for things here, but not much. For less than a $1000 US, a person could fly here, lodge in style for a couple of nights, eat out all the time (make sure you don't drink the water – even melted ice – our room has a first class water filter) and walk around all day very safely from what I can tell. We were warned by one local that befriended us and showed us around to be careful of pick pockets and dishonest merchants, but our journey through the city with Gabe and Sarah seemed pretty safe. Gabe seems to be very popular here with his Hong`' To- fa` (red hair). A couple of young girls asked to have their picture with him. Every picture I took for this day has something interesting to say about this city. I have cropped and reduced every picture on this website, but as I look through the pictures for this day, I cannot imagine cropping much, so I have reduced them to a reasonable website size.

This is a very nice public playground on the Shaiman Island of Guangzhou near the 

Victory Hotel that we stayed at.

The architecture near the hotel was very nice and very similar to French and/or English architecture. 

At least the influence seems evident.

An example of some of the public life. These people are playing batmitten without nets.

Note the use of individual AC units rather than central air for buildings. This seemed rather common.

One of the many interesting monuments on the Shaiman Island. This one devoted to international adoption. A western man with a video camera followed by a Chinese “Auntie” with a Chinese girl in a stroller.

This statue illustrates the rapid cultural transition of the Chinese people. The right most statue of the young woman in short shorts seemed somewhat extreme compared to what we commonly saw. That is why I was happy to have the little girl in this picture. She is more indicative of what we saw among the local Chinese.

In this statue, a Chinese businessman with an abacus, and an English gentleman negotiate on some business.

 We grew more and more fond of the red-headed Asian boy that we picked up. 

He was very popular with the Asian girls.

Hmmm ... I think this is a farmer offering some sugar cane after some refinement work to two Chinese youngsters. Go figure.

Prerevolution Chinese children.

Much like what I came to see the commune system of teaching to be, 

young ambitious violinists want-to-be's following their master violin teacher.

The Shaiman Island is noted for three major things: International Trade, American adoptions, and weddings.

On our first day out, there were several new couples getting their wedding photos taken. 

If you want to see a Chinese person without black hair, 

it is likely to be some type of artisan (or so it seemed to me). 

Several of the photographers had dyed hair.

Shaiman Da Jia (or Shaiman Avenue – Da Jia literally means big road). 

This is a very beautiful and long walk way with many different types of public areas along its length.

It was easy to steal pictures. Wait for the pro's to set them up and jump in at an non-obtrusive angle.

Another example of the beautiful walking avenues between the buildings, shops and hotels on the Shaiman Island.

This statue was interesting, and I felt it must be evident of the prerevolutionary European occupation. Here, a Chinese woman (possibly servant) is doing neddlework for a European couple.

Comparative dance between a young European girl and a prerevolutionary Chinese girl-friend.

One of the canals that divided the Shaiman Island from the rest of Guangzhou.

Sarah was enthralled with her tour of Guangzhou ... most of the time.

Being the Ives family and the brave adventurers that we are, we left the relative safety of the island, held our wallets tight and walked into the city.

I couldn't resist this picture of some men working on renovating a shop. The guy to the left used his ladder like walking stilts when he needed to move it down the walk. No one held it for him. Eat your heart out OSHA! Or course, there's a good chance he's gotten hurt by now too. 

A bravely risked my life to step out into the middle of the road to get this picture looking down a somewhat typical street in the herb and medicinal district of Guangzhou.

A lot of the time, we walk along, look above the shops, and you see dwellings, and a lot of the time you see clothes hanging out to dry.

RATED PG-13 Here, are some common animals used for food in China. I ask you, who seems more reasonable. The country that puts excess pet animals to death and send them to the landfills, or the country that eats the excess pet animals – your call. Yes, there are rabbits and cats in this picture.

If you look closely at the larger version of this picture, your eyes will not deceive you. I asked the lady selling these, “Hen`' hao`' chi- ma`?” She affirmed, “Hen`' hao`' chi-!” Very delicious. YES, they are scorpions.

One of the many herb shops.

A look down another herb shop road / community.

Yes, these are real pearls. I kept telling this guy in Mandarin that I would return later, and he kept lowering the price on the calculator. To make a long and often hilarious story short, we ended with more than 10 strings of pearls for about $8.00 U.S. Wow. Wasn't trying to cheat the guy, but he wouldn't let me go.

Here are our pearl merchants working at a small table. They were really a kick and very nice to deal with.

Gabe liked this picture, because it was yet another view of the shops with the dwellings above.

A Guangzhou man, that spoke good English, took us deeper into the city. We were initially unsure of his intensions, but he was truly benevolent, and took us to some nice places. There was so much to see, and we regretted not being able to explore longer. We could sure turn some heads with our looks and by having Sarah with us.

Sequence Picture 1 of 4: This was a beautiful open square connected by four large walking avenues. The next three pictures are part of a sequence of pictures of this area. Note the McDonalds. We heard various reports of it tasting exactly the same and not the same. We never found out for ourselves :-)

Sequence Picture 2 of 4.

Sequence Picture 3 of 4.

Sequence Picture 4 of 4.

Some of the nicer store fronts deeper into the city.

Post 25 - Leaving Nan Chang for Guang Zhou

I have not posted in a while. I got busy doing some other things for a while, and I really missed working on this blog. It was quite surprising to look back at what I wrote on April 8th, 2005 to start writing this post. I got behind at this same point then, but for different reasons :-)

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Dear friends of my Mom and Dad,

You might have noticed that my Dad has not been keeping this site up as well lately. Well, he kinda drank a drink with some melted ice by accident, and he kinda got Chairman Mao's revenge if you know what I mean. He also doesn't have quite the highspeed connection that he did in my home province, so he is kinda behind. But, he has diligently been playing with that flashy thing that makes these pictures of me and my birth country, so I am sure he will catch up. For now, I will tell you about the first part of my really big trip to my new home as I leave my birth province. Below is a picture of me in a hip hugger with my Ma Ma. Hey, put me in anything as long as I am with my family, I do not mind, but I do like Ma Ma the best. Please don't tell Ba Ba and Ge Ge though. They try, but they just are not Ma Ma.

   

Me in my Hip Hugger with Ma Ma

This next picture is a picture of me on a Gong- Gong` Chi` Chea- (a bus in Mandarin). I have been on a bus before, but I thought you might want to see my first tooth. Look really close right below my tongue.

Me Showing Off my First Tooth (right below my tongue)

Dad got a picture of Aunt Mary on our way to the airport. She took great care of my parents and the parents of my orphanage sisters while we were in my home province of Jiang Xi. She is a special lady and she lives in Nanchang, and you will have to ask my Ba Ba or Ma Ma why in person.

Our Last Trip with Aunt Mary

Here I am with Ba Ba after we checked our bags. I am getting ready for my first flight! I will fly about 1 hour from Nanchang to Guangzhou. Wow, I thought Nanchang was big. I am going from 4 million to 15 million. They are both a lot larger than Shang Gao where my orphanage was.

Getting Ready for my First Plane Ride with Ba Ba 

(You too could look this GQ if YOU had a beautiful Asian Daughter)

I like this real food stuff my fumu (No, not my Daddy's friend from the Congo - that is the word for parents in Mandarin) give me. If you look carefully in the picture below, you can see me eating one of my favorite new foods, Honey Nut Cheerios, just to the left of my finger. Flying was really pretty underwhelming. At least I got to be on Ma Ma and Ba Ba's laps the whole way and play with Ge Ge.

Me Eating a Honey Nut Cheerio on the Flight from Guangzhou to Nanchang

I guess I found flying to be pretty underwhelming

Post 24 - Another Day of Exploration in Nan Chang

It is hard to not fall in love when you wake up to this ...

Our Little Angel

This is the report that I wrote on 4/7/2005 in Nan Chang, Jiang Xi, China

It is hard to explain the belief system here in China. The population is going through rapid changes economically and culturally. I have seen what I believe to be Buddhist priests walking around the city, but I am not sure. I would love to visit a home church, but it would be to hard to find one and too risky to the home church too even if I could find one. Below is a large Buddhist temple that Gabe and I went to look at while Sue and Sarah rested in the room together.

A Massive Buddhist Temple in Nanchang Near our Hotel

Even though Gabe was quite disappointed with the commercialism inside the temple, and that the temple was not restored inside to original, we had a nice time. It has an elevator and nice marble stairways now, and about 3 to 4 shops on each level. Regardless, the Chinese art and much of the original structure and wall paintings inside the temple are really great. Gabe and I liked many pieces, but this one struck us the most.

One of the Many Art Pieces within the Buddhist Temple

We also visited a Chinese commune for the performing arts. There was not as much rehearsal to watch as we might have hoped for, but we were able to see some dancers, and we did meet a violinist who graciously performed some pieces for us on Uncle Henry's violin. Essentially, this is a gated community where talented people live and practice their arts under the tutelage of great masters.

A Violin Master that Lives within a Performing Arts Community

This picture is the entrance to the community of artists. The sign at left basically has the name of the province, Jiang Xi, and a list of the arts practiced here.

The Performing Arts Community that We Visited

There were many great pieces of art in the Buddhist temple, and we also did a bit of exploring where we found a broad walking avenue and many shops not too far from our hotel. In order to save space and still able to share this very interesting day in detail, I put almost all of the pictures for the day into the video below. The Buddhist temple was quite impressive ... and tall.

Post 23 - The Chinese Orphanage

On April 6th, the fourth day of our trip in 2005, we traveled with our travel group 2 hours bus ride South West into the interior of Jiang Xi province to Shang Gao county where our daughter's last orphanage was located. We drove passed many places that looked like the poorest parts of Mexico, and we drove passed areas that rivaled the newest parts of a beautiful U.S. city. We also drove passed some enticingly beautiful mountains with roads going up into them ... so much to explore in life, so little time.

Our Travel Group on the Bus with Henry, Our Guide, Up Front

There are still some images that are vivid in my mind to this day that I was not able to capture with the camera. The most vivid image during the road trip was of a man in a muddy field with what looked like a water buffalo plowing a field with a wooden plow. It was as though I had been transported back in time 300 years as I watched him for that brief moment speeding by in the bus. We also had to go through a checkpoint, and I cannot remember why now.

Lyle, Our Marine Buddy Stationed in Japan, Telling a Story to Pass the Time

Our group had a wide variety of people in it. Most communicated a devotion to Christ for which our family was very grateful. The big guy in the white shirt with the microphone is a Marine named Lyle. He is safe as long as you do not set off fire crackers. I loved Lyle. He is stationed with his family in Japan, and they traveled to China from Japan to pick up their daughter (an older daughter). 

The video below details more of our trip.

Note Lyle at the left side of the gate with his Camera. When babies are left at the orphanage gate, they would typically be left at the side of the gate where Lyle is standing. However, we knew from pictures that our daughter had originally come from a different orphanage. We believe government officials move the girls around as necessary to give them a chance at the best home possible.

The Orphanage Gate. Babies are Usually Left at the Left Side where Lyle is Standing.

Playground on the Grounds out Front of the Orphanage Building

(Note the Red Headed Asian Kid - Very Rare)

A rare red-headed Asian child was on the playground as I took the picture above. This child was extremely rare, because he also had fair skin, freckles, and annoying habits and behaviors similar to mine, so we brought him back with us too. 

When we arrived at the orphanage, we went to a large meeting room at the top floor of the orphanage and met with the director, the aunties and the foster parents. Each parent got ask questions about their child and to tour the orphanage. We were treated to a lunch there as family members of the orphanage. They thanked us for devoting ourselves to the care of these daughters of China.

 

The Orphanage Director (right) and Sue, Sarah, and Gabe Listening to the Director Speak (left)

(Eldest was Enthralled with the Speech)

Our Daughter with her Auntie (Nanny)

We met with our daughter's auntie (nanny). It was clear that she loved our daughter, but it was also clear that she had not been with her as long as some of the other babies, which was further affirmation that she had come from a different orphanage originally. This had not occurred to us until we got back home and compared pictures that we had received of her while she was still at another orphanage. The nanny still held her quite a while. She told us that she liked her, and that she never fused much. This may sound good, but with a room full of babies, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. And she did have a pretty strong diaper rash when we got her. Ooops! Did any of you want to hear that?

Ives Family Version 5.0 with Our New Daughter's Last Auntie

Our daughter cried when her old Nanny first took her, and then she settled down when I stayed near and tried to talk in Mandarin with the Nanny. (We know now that she was afraid that she might lose us. She would cry at other times after coming home if she saw a Chinese person or someone that looked Chinese. We're pretty sure that she may have thought that someone had come to take her back! She is way past that now at nearly 6 years old). 

One of the Many Care Rooms at the Orphanage

The orphanage is a nice building with very nice grounds and adequate facilities and staff for caring for the children. However, as we have learned after 5 adoptions now, nothing but a family is adequate for a child, and every child on this planet should have one. 

Our Wonderful Travel Group

We've stayed close to one of the friends we made from our travel group. She is a single mom that was here for her 3rd Chinese daughter. We still trade pictures with her to this day. In the picture above, we are only missing two families from our travel group.

Elderly being Cared for at the Facility

Clearly this was more than an orphanage. It is what we might call a social care facility. Here, these elderly people are staying together at what would be equivalent to an assisted living home.

A Worn Out Girl on Sleeping on Her New Momma

Once found at the orphanage gate, it is a procedure for the staff to run an add in the paper for 2 months, stating that a child was found, and where it was found, in hopes that the parents will come forward. They take every precaution to make sure that the child was not stolen / abducted against the parents wishes. Seeing Sarah, it's hard to comprehend how anyone could leave her at an orphanage gate. This country has gone through some very strong changes over the last 60 years. They are still very much recovering from much of that rapid change and turmoil. I could just begin to explain the changes in economic philosophy in the middle of this trip. I couldn't tell you if they are still the same now in February of 2010. The width of the economic spectrum was, and probably still is, very broad in China, especially Jiang Xi, due to the latest economic reforms, which most people are very happy with. Sarah's province has the most agriculture, and it is likely that Sarah's parents are farmers who are “Wanting a Daughter and Needing a Son,” which is the name of a book about adandoned daughters in China. The pressures felt by this culture are best explained in those books. It is a tough book to get through. We also recommend “The Lost Daughters of China” and “Wild Swans.”

The Classic Ives Shot of Baby Sleeping on Mom's Chest
(Normally, we try to get this at about 1 week old.
1 year old was the best we could do with our new daughter.)

In our bedroom, Sue and I have 4 pictures of our biological children sleeping against Mom's chest when they were one week old. Our new daughter was a year old in the picture above – the best we could do. Appropriately, we took this picture while driving home from the orphanage as if to say, “We will take you into our hearts and home little Yi Pu (her orphanage name). We love you and want you very much. We are sorry to take you from your home country, but it is the best we can do for you right now.”