Hello, Guangzhou (China Day 3)

We started out today by walking to McDonald's for breakfast near our Hong Kong hotel.  If you guessed that Chinese Mickey-D's is nothing like the US, you were right.  From the GCB sandwich (Grilled Chicken Burger thing, I presume?) to Honey Pear Tea and a red bean-mint McFlurry, the menu is quite different in many ways.  However, we were able to get ourselves some Egg McMuffin meals.  It seems that fast food tastes, universally... well, like fast food...  wherever you are.  Side note, Starbucks put their own spin on things by offering a red bean & green tea Frappucino.  Yummy (we didn't try it).

After packing up our things, we checked out of the hotel and walked down to the train station.  Realizing it would be several hours before we'd again be able to eat, we had McDonald's for the second time in one day.  We got another standby, Chicken McNuggets.  They, too, tasted identical to those in the US.  But in the US, you don't get to choose from chili garlic or wasabi sauces.

So yeah, we ate more than double our share of MSG for one day, but oh well.  After lunch we checked our large bags and went through Customs enroute to the train.  The train ride was surprisingly pleasant, albeit a little warm.  Two hours later, we arrived at Guangzhou.

Once we made it through Guangzhou Customs, our new friend Jordon was waiting for us.  Heather found out about Jordon based on recommendations online.  He used to have a storefront on Shamian Island, where the US Consulate used to be located.  When the Consulate moved inland a few years ago, many businesses on the island had to close shop because of lack of customers.  This was true of Jordon's store.  Based on a large list of exceptional networking and recommendations of past clients, Jordon started getting jobs as a tour guide.  We booked him in advance and he is one great guy.  He took us to our hotel via the metro/subway, which only cost 4 Yuan per person ($0.63 USD). Other private transit here can cost upward of 400 Yuan (~$65 US).  We can assure you that we were the only foreigners down there.  We thus experienced our first official Chinese-shoving-into-a-crowded-place event.

Here's a picture of us with Jordon and his son, Jimmy:

For those reading this blog that know Jordon's story, good news:  he's opened up a store again off the island!  We were actually able to get a lot of our gift shopping out of the way already today.  Following our time at his store, he gave us a very authentic tour of China.  It was very educational.  We also walked through various markets and ended up eating at an amazing Chinese restaurant.  We had rice noodles, fried rice, and *real* sweet & sour pork (literal translation:  fruit juice pork steak).  It was all amazing!  Take a look:

After dinner we made our way back to the hotel, exhausted.  We aren't quite adjusted to the time difference yet, but it's getting better.  If we can stop waking up repeatedly at night and then being up for good around 5:30am, we'll be in much better shape.

We're now winding down and getting ready for bed.  Tomorrow is a big day.  A HUGE day.  It's Gotcha Day!  We have an orientation with our agency's local staff at 10:30am tomorrow, and at 2:00pm we'll be on our way to get little Helen.  Words cannot even begin to express what we're both feeling right now.  Some combination of anxious-nervous-excited-scared to death-excited-stressed-worried-excited might come close...  At any rate, this is our last blog post as a family of four.  After tomorrow, we'll be blessed with one more wonderful little one in our midst!  We can't wait!  Just a little reminder of the latest picture we've seen of our little princess.  By this time tomorrow, you all will be seeing our 16-month-old angel in her mama & baba's arms!!!