Day 3

We have reached our final destination!!!! We landed in Guangzhou at 3pm, there was a van waiting for us that took us to our hotel. We're staying at the Victory Hotel on Shaimen Island. It's beautiful! The "island" is about a square mile and it is surrounded by a small river/stream. The island is like a world of it's own. It is very layed back. Sage and I went out after checking in to scope it out. We even stayed out after dark and didn't get scared! Everyone has told us of this resturaunt called Lucy's, apparently they cater towards the American adoptive families. We weren't impressed. Sage ordered a cheeseburger and said it was def NOT beef. I ordered a seafood rice dish, there was something staring at me....lost my appetite quickly. 

We've had an interesting day....by 7:30am I was so proud of myself, I hadn't cried yet! Managed to skype with the boys and still held it together. Our flight to Guangzhou changed that. Worst flight ever. Turbulation was so bad it brought me to tears. Then we get to our hotel and they want a $1400 deposit! Our room won't even cost us that much for our entire stay. Ok, no big deal (not like we have a choice, right?). We give her cash, only for her to say they don't accept the new $100's. Ok, where can we go to exchange money? The bank...off we go. Only, it's Sunday and the banks are closed! Quickly I'm going into stress mode! On our way back to hotel we passed an American looking couple with a Chinese daughter. Our saviors! They traded some old $100's for our new so that we could at least check in. What a day! 

So Guangzhou is interesting...it seems cleaner than Beijing but still has a lot of smog. It's green, there are flowers, and even palm trees! Temp was 65° when we landed, I'm pretty happy! The buildings seem newer, tons of skyscrapers, only a lot of them are apartment buildings instead of office buildings. It's funny looking at these huge buildings because everyone has their laundry hanging out to dry!  There are McDonalds EVERYWHERE! (Except the island!) We did stop at a 7-11 to buy some snacks. It's interesting what you can buy in China at a 7-11, you'll be glad to know that they sell Slurpies! There is a beautiful river on one side of the island and at night there are river boats that take you for a dinner cruise and you get to see the lights of the city. Google it if you get the chance, dinner cruise in Guangzhou. 

I'm going to try and add photos tonight but the wifi here is really slow. Fingers crossed that it works!!!! *****photos just aren't gonna happen tonight, I'll try tomorrow....

Tomorrow is our Gotcha Day! At 3pm we'll get Haylie, so around midnight your time. Praying this goes as smoothly as it possibly can! Can't believe in less than 24hrs I'll be holding my baby girl!