Guangzhou

We are finally in Guangzhou, starting the second leg of our trip.

The trip here was terrible; a 5 hour flight (with connection) turned into an 11 hour nightmare. Xinxin was pretty good throughout the process, although very restless. He's an energetic little guy (even when sick), so it was hard for him to be stuck in a seat. He is also back to "Mama, mama, mama" all the time and really only tolerates Baba at specific times - mealtime, bath time and when they are playing.

We had to wake him up in the middle of his nap in order to get out the hotel and to the airport, then we were stuck in the airport for a couple of hours before the flight. Then they load us onto a bus to take us to the plane and we sit there for 15 minutes (an eternity for a toddler). Then we get on the plane and we're delayed for over an hour. I finally get Xinxin to sleep and we land at one of the smallest airports I've ever seen. We get off the plane, walk across the tarmac, then stand in a lobby for about 10 minutes, then back on another plane, then we're delayed again! ARGH!!! I finally get Xinxin to sleep, then we land in Guangzhou. We got to the hotel at 1 AM and find out there's no crib. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? We get up to the room and I get him into bed with me to try and get him to sleep and he's completely punch drunk a this point. We hear a knock at the door and there's the crib. Thank God!

This morning we get up around 7:30, we all bathe and go to breakfast, where we run into the McDonald's, who traveled with us to Harbin. They are really good people and we've enjoyed all the time we've spent with them. We also ran into a couple of the other families that we started the trip with in Beijing. It was wonderful to see everyone with their kids.

At 10 AM we met in the lobby to go for the medical exam and TB test. The place was a swap meet. People everywhere (I'll post pictures here. We figured we were in for a long wait, but it went pretty quickly. Thankfully, we didn't have to have all the shots for Xinxin, since we are a non-Hague family. He just had to have the TB test shot. Our guide told him that he was going to get a shot, then a piece of candy and he took it like a trooper. The kid likes his candy. Chip off the old block!

We're in the room now. Xinxin and Tom are taking a nap. We've all been sick the past couple of days. Xinxin came to us with a runny and stuffy nose, diarrhea and a cough and he's passed the cough and head cold to his Mama and Baba. Thanks kid. :o)

More later.