Friday, November 13th- Travel Day

On Friday, after heading to breakfast, we spent most of the rest of the morning packing up our stuff because this was the day we would leave Nanning, Guangxi province and head to Guangzhou, Guangdong province- home of the United States Consulate.  After checking out of the hotel around 1 p.m. we headed to the People's Park with our guide, Miko.  This is one of the oldest and most famous parks in Nanning.

 

We saw some beautiful bridges, landscaping, and architecture.  There were also some boats,  a bunch of rides, and a roller skating rink inside the park as well.

Gorgeous!

People can apparently pay to go inside one of these blow up tubes and roll around on the pond.

I'm so excited to watch the relationship between these two grow as Macie learns sign language.

This is a piece of art that is supposed to represent a folk tale that said it was good luck if you could jump through the hole of the fish.

This was the back side.

I love these bridges that are found all over parks in China.

 Such beautiful landscape and architecture.

 This was one of the girl's ideas. :)

After leaving the park, we headed to the old Nanning train station and got some noodles for lunch. Our guide said this is the equivalent of Chinese fast food.

We were so thankful our guide was able to get a pass to come into the train station and pretty much walk us on to the train before leaving!   We loved getting to know Miko and spending time with her.  We are so thankful for all that she showed us and taught us about the city of Nanning and Guangxi province.  Our train left Nanning at about 5 p.m.

On the train- leaving Nanning and headed towards Guangzhou- about a 4 hour and 20 minute train ride.  We have really enjoyed taking the train to and from places.  It was bittersweet leaving Guangxi province, the birth province of our two newest family members.  We hope to be able to go back some day!

We arrived to Guangzhounan (Guangzhou south) train station at approximately 9:30 p.m.  We have learned that at the train stations, they say the city and then either east (dong), south (nan), west (xi), or north bei).  We realized this might be the biggest train station we've been to yet!  When we got to the arrival area, we didn't see any guide waiting for us.  We weren't sure if we should walk around or stay in one spot. Rick stayed with the kids and I decided to walk just a bit.  Eventually I see Richard walking towards Rick and the kids.  Him and the driver were looking for us because they don't necessarily share the arrival area with people picking up.  It was good to see Richard again!  We had a lot of good chats about kids and advocacy on the van ride to the Garden.   He helped us get checked in and we're not sure if we will see him again on this trip.  He just recently got back from visiting many places with Madison Adoption Associates, our agency, and now he will be going on a trip on Monday with the China director for Agape Adoptions.  He is one busy guy! I asked him if he ever slept and he just laughed.  By the time we got in our room, got everyone bathed, and in bed it was just after midnight by the time Rick and I laid down.  We loved seeing a new province and new scenery, but are now looking forward to a place we are familiar with.  We know where to eat, where to shop, and tourist attractions here as well.  We're excited to meet a bunch of adoptive families (all adoptive families have to go to Guangzhou for the 2nd week of the adoption because that is where the US Consulate is) and to being one step closer to home!