A Day to Remember in Jiujiang

Today was an amazing day in Jiujiang and one that none of us will soon forget.

At 9am, we were met at the hotel by the orphanage Director, Mr. Cao, and we all ventured off to the Jiujiang Social Welfare Institute (SWI), the orphange where Hannah was cared for in the first 9 months of her life. Hannah was a little nervous about the visit but started to relax as we neared the complex. The sights along the drive to the orphanage brought back memories of 2000, especially remembering the sign at the gate of the orphanage - "Love in the World".

After departing the van, Mr. Cao led us up the front walkway. There was a big banner across the roadway welcoming Cao Meng Si (Hannah) back to her roots. While we all gazed up at the banner, firecrackers popped up the road in celebration of Hannah's return visit.

We met several of the children currently residing at the SWI, many with special needs, as well as several babies, both healthy ones and those having special needs. It was wonderful to see them all. The side-by-side cribs that Hannah and her friend, Kira, occupied, were still the same as back in 2000 (and in the same location). We were taken to several other areas within the orphanage including a rehabilitation room and a beautiful outdoor playground with padded floor, both of which were constructed within the last 3-4 months through some kind donations.

When we arrived in the meeting room to talk to Mr. Cao, we all received some beautiful porecelain gifts - there was even one for Jennifer. We felt very comfortable talking to Mr. Cao and Miss Yu (the orphanage Secretary, formerly the Vice-Director). We asked Mr. Cao the questions that Hannah had prepared. After receiving a hot-water bottle that the Nannies had used to keep her feet warm, Hannah was warmly greeted by one of her caregivers, who was very happy to see Hannah. A few minutes later, a second Nanny appeared, Hannah's primary caregiver (she was the woman who held Hannah when we first met her in the Gloria Plaza Hotel in Nanchang).

As she embraced Hannah, genuinely remembering her from back in 2000, she was filled with tears of joy, which prompted tears in all of us. From the moment that Hannah met the 2 Nannies, all of her apprehension and nervousness surrounding today seemed to disappear, a smile painted on her face from ear to ear. As with Stephanie, Hannah had completed a circle of love with her return.

Along with Miss. Yu and another staff member, we then proceeded to the supermarket to purchase some supplies for the orphanage according to their needs, with the help of a few Jiujiang families. We picked up diapers, forumla and other essentials for the orphanage, and they were very grateful for them. On the way back to the orphanage, we hopped off the van and walked to the location of Hannah's finding place (what once was one end of the New Bridge, is now a small island of shrubs in the middle of a very busy intersection).

We then returned to the SWI for a wonderful lunch. The fish was out of this world! Even with the head staring back at us, Jane filled her belly!

On full stomachs, Mr. Cao then took us to a couple of local sites, the Pipa Pavillion and the Xunyang Tower.


As seems to be the case on all our excursions with the pleasant, spring-like weather we are experiencing thus far, the strolls through these 2 pavillions were extremely relaxing.

In the evening we walked up the street from our hotel to do some grocery shopping and the dreaded shoe shopping. We also had a nice walk into the centre of the city for some "western" eats, experiencing a bit of the night life and bright lights on our travels. It seemed to jump out of nowhere in contrast to the "blue collar" town we have witnessed in the daytime.

Tomorrow morning, an adventure up the art-inspiring Lushan Mountains awaits us.

...We All Scream for Ice-Cream!!

On Wednesday, we started our day with a visit to the Teng Wang Pavilion. The Pavilion, first built in 659AD, sits on the banks of the Gan(jiang) River. Poems written by the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) poet, Wang Bo, helped to make the tower famous. The 9-storey tower has been rebuilt and repaired 28 times since its inception. The weather Wednesday was again very pleasant, making for a relaxing visit. The views from the tower were fantastic, and we could see the new growth of Nanchang across the Gan River. As part of the tour, we also saw a small show in the pavilion with music and dance.

Following our visit to the pavilion, we grabbed some (again) delicious lunch. The spicy chicken was sizzling hot, but very tasty – Jennifer bowed out early, and the pumpkin “cakes” were delicious.

After lunch, we started our journey to Jiujiang, Hannah’s birthplace. The drive up from Nanchang was very scenic, with hills and mountains surrounding us in the distance. Along the way, we spotted some collapsed structures from the recent ice and snowstorms in China.

Jiujiang is a cultural and historic city situated on the crossing of the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Kowloon Railway. The 2,000 year-old city has a population of just over 4 million, and is traditionally known as an agricultural region with the outputs of cotton, rapeseed, silk, fruit and aquatic products. From our waterfront hotel window, we witnessed how the Yangtze River provides a passage to move goods in and out of the city. The bridge that crosses the Yangtze River is the largest on the entire river, and is a passage by rail to Anhui province, and by automobile to Hubei province.

The hotel (Chevalier) was quaint, nothing too fancy, but clean. The beds were literally like “sheet” rock, harder than any other bed we have slept on in China – but that’s just part of the experience. After settling in our hotel rooms, we had a lovely, relaxing walk at the edge of the river in the late afternoon. Whether related to our arrival in Jiujiang or not, Hannah seemed to be very free-spirited. To our delight, when picking up some groceries in a small shop, we hit the jackpot…15 cent ice-cream bars!!! This is going to be a very yummy stay in Jiujiang with unusual flavours like Tarot and Green Pea ice cream!!

Well it’s off to bed (??) to rest up for our special visit to Hannah’s orphanage.

A Sunny Stroll in the Square...

Our whirlwind tour of Jiangsu province ended today with our early morning (ughh!) flight to Jiangxi for the 3rd leg of our journey. We had a quick 1 hour flight to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province where Hannah was born. Nanchang is situated about 65 km south of the Yangtze River on the Gan(jiang) river, and has a population of approx. 4 million. The 2, 200 year old city is rich with history, is surrounded by beautiful mountains, hills and plains, and is noted for its porcelain from China's famous porcelain capital Jingdezhen.

Hannah is very excited to be in her birth province and is looking forward to her orphanage visit on Thursday of this week. Our excitement is also mounting as we get closer to meeting our son on March 10th. He turned 3 on March 2nd - we will enjoy celebrating his brithday, along with Jane's and Steve's who both turn 32 and 33 respectively within the next 2 weeks :).

After arriving at the Nanchang airport, we proceeded to Nanchang, a short 20-25 minutes away. The drive seemed much shorter than we remembered back in 2000 - our guide suspected that there have been new roads built since then, offering a different route. We rested in our hotel rooms (Jin Feng hotel) for about an hour before venturing to the Civil Affairs office to apply for permission to visit Jiujiang Social Welfare Institute on Thursday. They were expecting us, and we completed the necessary paperwork and received a keepsake welcoming banner from the Civil Affairs office. Hannah hugged the banner to herself and couldn't wait to get out of the office to open it and read it. We received our itinerary for the day on Thursday and will look forward to visiting the orphanage.

We (including Flat Stanley and Flat Jessica) visited the People's Square in Nanchang, the second largest square in China next to Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The Square honours the famous August 1, 1927 uprising led by the late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and other Chinese leaders. The day has since been celebrated as the founding day of China's armed forces, the People's Liberation Army. We walked around on a beautiful sunny day, taking in the sites and sounds.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch of dumplings and hot pork buns - Hannah, Steve & Jennifer were in heaven, and Jane even enjoyed the pork buns.

We then went on to the porcelain shop to do some shopping. While we would have loved to purchase more, the thought of having to carry lots of porcelain in our hand luggage, with plenty of shopping still to do in Jiujiang, Beijing, and a "new city" in Wuhan, helped us to escape without blowing our budget. Jennifer wanted to bring home a 6 foot porcelain vase, but we managed to talk her into settling for a photo with it instead :-)

Tonight we are laying low in preparation for a visit to the Teng Wang pavillion tomorrow morning, some lunch, and then off to Jiujiang until Saturday.

Raise a glass to Stephanie...

Today was a very special day. We were off to visit Stephanie's birth city, Taizhou, and her orphanage, the Taizhou Social Welfare Centre (TSWC). After crossing the Yangtze River bridge in Nanjing, we drove 2 1/2 hours to reach our destination. Taizhou (known as "peaceful perfecture") is 2,100 years old with a population of 5 million, and is recognized as a historical and cultural city.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a thoughtful welcoming banner and the gracious staff of the orphanage, including the Director Mr. Liu.
We were taken into the orphanage for some snacks (the girls loved the little candies) and some delicious oranges and bananas. The locally-grown bananas were so fresh and tasty, nothing like the much-travelled, bland ones we get back home. After asking the staff several questions prepared by Stephanie, the Director presented Stephanie with a beautiful little ornament to express his thanks (on behalf of the entire Centre) for the care and love we have provided Stephanie. Stephanie was rather shy and a bit overwhelmed by it all, but we think she enjoyed the experience.

We then visited a room of (primarily) babies, some doubled up in cribs, some with special needs, but all very beautiful (sorry, but we weren't allowed to take photos). Three older children (4-6 years old) kept us amused throughout our visit. The oldest (and most mischievious) will be joining her forever family from the USA next Monday. Steve would have taken her home in a heartbeat. The TSWC is very small (currently 24 children, 10 when we visited in 2003). A new complex is being built and will be ready this fall to house all orphaned children in the city. For our other Taizhou mates from 2003, the Taizhou Social Welfare Institute is now solely a home for local seniors.

After the orphange ceremonies and presentation of the donations purchased in Nanjing, it was off to a large, fancy restaurant for lunch with the Director and the orphanage staff. The food was unique and very tasty. Steve even chowed down on some eel. "Slimy yet satisfying"! During lunch, we learned that in China, the host must ensure that the guests have a good time. Mindful of the blog-reading children, let's just say Steve, 48% "wine", beer and glass-emptying toasts = good time :). Other than a full bladder, Steve departed relatively unscathed, looking forward to Mr. Liu's "hospitality" the next time we visit. Get ready Rick!!

We left the orphanage and city of Taizhou, with a peaceful sense that we had closed a kind of loop with our return. We will certainly be back and will plan to spend much more time in Taizhou.

Cheers.

All Aboard!!

On Sunday we sadly departed the wonderful city of Shanghai. It was an experience, though brief, that we will not soon forget. The people, the energy, the sharp contrast between old and modern, has not been matched on any of our previous travels to China.

The day started off with our departure from the Shanghai train station, as we headed towards Nanjing in Jiangsu province. To say that our experience was "memorable" was an understatement (Shauna can attest to this). When Steve thought it would be great to ride a train in China and offered this to the travel service as part of our itinerary, little did he know that typical passengers do not haul 11 pieces of luggage (and DUVETS!) let alone 2 bags, through an extremely busy train station (and we mean busy - though not Guangdong busy). Through some "secret" tipping, we managed to board the train for our 2nd leg of the journey.

The ride from Shanghai to Nanjing was very pleasant and quick (the "D" train was express and reached a maximum speed of 200km/hr during the 2 hour ride). When we landed at the Nanjing train station, we were dropped at the furthest point of the patform away from the exit. All of us including the girls and Fontana (our guide) did what we could to haul our gear to the other end of the platform (there are no trolleys). We were then greated by a large set of stairs. Before we all broke our backs, 2 men jumped in and offered to help. The gesture was very noble, and helped us to get the bags to the waiting van, though our generous tip (in our eyes) was next greeted with a very "boisterous" negotiating session, as the 2 men, our new driver and Fontana worked things out. We threw them a few more Yuan and headed off to our Hotel. If truth be known, we would have paid any amount of money to get assistance.

Once in Nanjing, the girls had a rest in our hotel, the Ramada Plaza Nanjing - well they were supposed to. As we are only here 2 nights, we told them not to empty out their entire suitcases, but they decided to have a fashion show and it looked like the proverbial bomb had hit!!! Oh well, they had fun with their cousin while Steve and I explored the city we'd stayed in when we received Stephanie almost 5 years ago. Later, we all took a very crowded subway (new since our last visit to Nanjing) and visited the central square that was under construction in 2003. The square was beautiful and busy with weekend shoppers. We proceeded to greet Ronald at McDonalds for a much-needed "McD" fix. Even Jennifer looked forward to having a burger there!!

Nanjing ("Nan" for South, and "jing" for "capital") lies on the south bank of the Yangtze River (longest river in Asia and the 3rd largest river in the World) and is the capital of Jiangsu Province. It is known as the capital city of 6 - 10 Dynasties in China's history and has a brilliant cultural heritage. It has a population of 5 million people.

To all the Taizhou families, we wanted to let you know that we had a great time shopping last night (Sunday evening). Our guide, Jennifer and I (Jane) went to Walmart (yup, Walmart in Nanjing) and had a ball buying all kinds of things for Taizhou Centre and Institute. We found out they both needed baby clothes, diapers and formula. We had two carts overflowing and the poor check-out clerk just looked at us with these huge disbelieving eyes. 40 minutes after we lined up, one of the Walmart greeters helped us to a cab across the street!! We had such fun and got tons of clothes, as well as diapers and formula. Fontana took a picture of us in the store with our goods so we will post as soon as she sends it to us. What fun and all for a great cause - thank you to everyone who donated!

Shanghai Delight!!

Blog junkies rejoice….we have updates!!

Our busy Saturday in Shanghai began with a visit to the Silk Factory. It was fascinating to learn about the production of silk, and Jane was especially thrilled to learn about silk duvets :). In the tour, they covered everything from the life cycle of a silk worm to single and double cocoons and how the double cocoons are stretched again and again and again to get to the desired size of a duvet. We all had a chance to pull the silk to the duvet size and realized it takes real arm strength to do it!! Hannah has lots of pictures about the life cycle to share with Mrs. L's class on her return as well as a couple of the silk worms' cocoons!

Our next stop was lunch in the bustling Temple area of Shanghai. While the previous day opened a window into a Shanghai work day, Saturday offered a view into a day off, with masses of people enjoying delicious food and fun-filled shopping. Hundreds lined up to to sink their teeth into mouth-watering dumplings. While we would have liked to try some, we avoided the long waits (long queues of at least 30 minutes!!) and had a nice meal in a quieter restaurant overlooking the busy courtyard. The girls are really enjoying the frequency with which they get noodles on this trip (even as part of the breakfast buffet!!), and Steve is just enjoying the great variety of authentic Chinese food.


After lunch, we had a quiet stroll through the beautiful Yuyuan Garden, mere steps beyond the crowds. The Yuyuan Garden was completed in 1577 by a government officer of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Yu in Chinese means pleasing and satisfying. The garden was primarily built for the officer's parents as a place to enjoy a tranquil and happy time in their old age. While at the Garden, Jennifer, Hannah & Stephanie were needing a visit to the local toilet. While this is not something overly noteworthy for this blog, it became noteworthy when Jennifer returned saying "That is not an experience I'll soon forget" - nor would Hannah or Stephanie who came back laughing hysterically. Not wanting to miss out on anything, I (Jane) decided I too had to go, and yes, you guessed it, they were the infamous squats!! Carolyn & Ann - if you are reading this, you can tell Janiecke that our "intense pose" in fusion class was great training for the squats. Apparently, us Westerners do not generally have the ankle muscles (developed since the age of 3 years old in China) to use these toilets, but yoga certainly does help in this matter. What more can I say?? Enjoy the pic!!

Our need for speed took us next to the Maglev Train which travels from the Shanghai Financial District to the Shanghai Airport (a distance of 30km) in only 6 minutes, at a speed of 431 km/hr. What a ride!! For those that are not familiar with this mode of transport, this transrapid system is the fastest commercial transport system in the world. It is designed to travel as high as 500km/h, but has a regular "cruising" speed of 430. A Maglev defined is: "an advanced technology in which magnetic forces lift, propel, and guide a vehicle". It was kind of like being on a roller coaster without the loops. We just went to the airport and back for the ride.

To cap off a great day, we witnessed an exhilarating acrobat show (similar to Cirque de Soleil). The girls really enjoyed the show - half the show anyways, after dozing off just before the intermission. They missed an amazing motorcycle stunt where 8 motorcycles simultaneously sped their way around a caged steel ball.

We arrived home at 9:30pm and got to bed in preparation for the 2nd leg of our journey. Stay tuned...