Chinese leftovers

What good is a blog without Michael or Louis in it? Not much, I'd say.

Still, this is a post I started a few hours before we met Michael. And if Blogger had been able to upload the photos in a more timely way, you might have read it while hitting refresh to see whether we had met our son.

As it is, you may be thinking, "More about China? Who cares?"

But here's the thing. John and I didn't used to care much about China. We never planned to travel there at all. In fact, we were never going to board an airplane together. Ever. Then all of a sudden we realized we had a child waiting for us in China. And then another. And now we have traveled twice to this country and spent four of the most amazing, memorable weeks of our lives there.

So there we were, on the day we were going to meet Michael. We went to a meeting that morning with the two other families with our agency adopting from Guangdong Province. And one of the fathers suggested taking a walk through the neighborhood around the hotel--and he didn't just mean to the 7-11 or the Golden Arches.

What else did we have to fill our day? Naturally we tagged along.

We walked past a fantastic museum.

I do wish we had found time to pay a visit there, but our days were pretty full with Michael.

We passed a newspaper stand.

I took photos of Chinese transportation for Louis.

Then our guide generously offered to show us some of the restaurants within walking distance of the hotel.

I'm not sure what we expected.

But when we stopped at the first place, John and I didn't even need to exchange looks. There are moments you know you married the right person--and adoption trips are full of those moments for me. No matter how terrific this authentic Canton cuisine may be--and I actually suspect some of it is--let's save this for the heritage tour.



No one would describe us as adventurous eaters. And the menus, even with their pictures, were a bit intimidating.

That is, until we turned the corner and saw the place that is famous for its eel.







"Back home," John said, "we use eel as crab bait." I'm not sure what they use for crab bait there, but they had crabs, too.


Anyway, we kept walking. Some of the families did go back to one of the restaurants later in the stay, and they said it was terrific. And it may have been. But although you may hear me expressing regret that we didn't get to do something or see something while in China, you won't hear me saying that I wish we had tried some of that delectable eel.

What we did learn on our trip, however, is that Cantonese cuisine is different from the food in other parts of China. It is lighter and very fresh and not fried. Rather than frying fish, they steam it. Our guide Joyce explained to us that different foods are believed to help certain parts of the body. She told us this on our bus ride to the river cruise where we ate Papa John's pizza, which probably doesn't help any part of the body, except for the part that is craving American food after two weeks of Chinese cuisine.

Anyway, as we walked on Michael Day, we turned down a little street. It was almost an alleyway, not really wide enough for a car, and cluttered with people and bicycles and shops.

It was a new glimpse into the neighborhood around our five-star hotel, and there was so much to see.

The stretch of road made us think of the type of neighborhood where Louis spent his first two years with his foster family, and our guide Anson said he suspected this was similar to where Louis had lived, though we don't know for sure.


I like to imagine Louis visiting these open-air markets and making a persuasive argument for buying grapes.



I imagine he would have been curious about this butcher shop.




Both our boys would have stopped to see these birds (pets, not food, I was told). The Cantonese are known for eating everything with legs except the table and chairs.



But what our sons would have been most interested in, I have no doubt, was seeing the Pleasant Goat rides.



Michael had one of these in his orphanage, and it was his favorite toy.



My mother even went online while we were in China and sent me the link to a place in Guangzhou where we could buy one for $250. Somehow I think we could have bargained these shop owners down to a lower price. But even if we could figure out how to get it home, we'd have to get rid of something in our house--the dining room table, perhaps? Still, they were fun to see.

John ran into this shop in search of a flyswatter for his wife.


No such luck, even though I was sure there had to be one along this stretch of road.

It was so warm outside that many people were carrying umbrellas for sunshade. The Chinese people are cautious about sun exposure, especially for children. When we took Michael to his orphanage, the director politely (and in Chinese) asked me to step into the shade with him. She was pleased he was wearing a hat. (Thank you, Aunt Maureen!).

As we walked along, we saw people relaxing and chatting. We watched them eating lunch--some of which looked very appealing, actually, but you can't eat just anywhere unless you have a strong stomach. We also saw many people hard at work readying their produce for sale.

John suggested we take some photos looking up at the sky, trying to capture the number of people who live in this small space.

It certainly makes our townhouse on our postage stamp of green look pretty luxurious.


 We could use a few palm trees, though.

For some reason I enjoyed the signs a lot on this trip and tried to capture the blend of American and Chinese culture.

On our first trip to China to meet Louis, it was bitterly cold and gray in Changsha. We barely left the hotel in his province, Hunan. This time it was hot and humid but it was much more pleasant to venture out into the world. And we found ourselves appreciating Michael's province in a way we didn't get to enjoy Louis's. We have fantastic memories of both trips--but they are different.

Since he was living for the first part of his life in his orphanage, I doubt Michael ever saw anything like this. But it still gives us a glimpse into his home province--and into the country where both our sons were born.

Even though we were very sorry not to be staying on lovely Shamian Island this time, we did feel we saw more of Guangzhou and encountered more of China--even without tasting the eel.

Then, of course, we returned to our hotel, pausing on our way back to enjoy these signs at a parking lot nearby...

...and to appreciate the air conditioning in the hotel next door to ours.

Just a few minutes' walk from people chopping chicken in a butcher shop and others trying to stay cool under umbrellas you can find an air-conditioned lobby with a plush carpet beneath a grand piano--and a restaurant where you have to spend $100 minimum to get a table.

It was just a brief walk, just a small taste of China. Still, we feel sure we will return to the country again. For one thing, Louis is already planning our next trip to China. In fact, we fly there about a dozen times a day. "Ready to go to China?" he says. Then we buckle our seat belts and take off into the sky. Then we land a few minutes later.

Now, that's the flight I want to China.