Welcome to Guangzhou

We finally made to Guangzhou after a three to four hour delay due to heavy fog in Chongqing. After a two hour flight during which we were served a light Chinese lunch, we arrived around 3:45 p.m. local time. Unlike many of the U.S domestic flights, most of the Chinese domestic flights serve a full meal and drinks (at least two to three times during the flight). It was nice having a meal instead of the standard peanuts and pretzels.

Duo Duo did pretty well on the plane. She was not too fussy, although at the end you could see that she was straining while our plane was descending. We figured that Duo Duo was not pooping since we had just changed her diaper a few minutes earlier. We suspected that she was not use to having her ears plugged up due to the decompression. After landing, she was fine. Aside from the occasional scream, it seemed that all the babies did pretty well for their first flight.

Speaking of decompression, Simon related a story to several of the CCAI familes of how when Jonathan was four years old, he told Helen that his ears were broken and needed to see a doctor during a flight from Memphis to Houston. After they landed, he told Helen that it was okay; the ears were fixed and he didn't need to see the doctor any longer.

After picking up our luggage, we were met our by Grace, our CCAI Guangzhou representative. Thankfully, no one was stopped by the customs officer for carrying beef jerky this time around!

The trip to the hotel was another 45 minutes. We checked in at the White Swan Hotel located on Shamian Island on the Pearl River. When we walked through the door, we saw several other families with their adopted child. Most of the China adoption agencies including CCAI use White Swan Hotel due to its proximity to the U.S. Consulate office and its nice amenities. Our room is very clean and includes a baby crib. Our room faces the river. At around 9:00 p.m., we saw a laser light show along the river banks. It was pretty neat.

Tomorrow, we will have a city tour and some other planned activities. On Monday, we'll be completing our Visa paperwork. And, by Wednesday, we should be official - the legal parents of Elizabeth Marie Xue Duo Lin!

Some people wonder why the adoption trip takes over two weeks. Part of the reason is that the U.S. Consulate will not issue the baby the entry visa until the all adoption paperwork is in perfect order on the Chinese side. It takes about 4-5 working days for that to occur on the Chinese end. After that, we can then complete the visa paperwork. Within two days of completion, we are then granted the baby's visa. When you take into account the travel time back and forth from the U.S. and the weekends, it brings you up to about 14-15 days.

Well, we have another busy day tomorrow. So, we better get some needed rest.