come to Me: September 4, 2012: Day #9 with Cai Yun, Guangzhou, China

Our 9th day together with Cai Yun was one of the mostly free days we had in Guangzhou (with the exception of meeting for paperwork finalization and a photo of our travel group families). We had heard so many adoptive families rave about beautiful Shamian Island, so we tried to take advantage of our unscheduled day, grabbed a cab at our hotel after breakfast and headed that way. We spent a good amount of time just strolling around the island and enjoying the scenery. Then it was time to get serious and hit what seems to be the mandatory shops for adoptive families. With the rows of shops all stocked for us Western adoption trip tourists, this was one of the spots where we bought gifts for our long lists of family members and friends. For Cai Yun, we focused on buying Chinese styled clothes in a series of sizes that she could grow into and little keepsake Chinese gifts for her birthdays and Chinese New Year for years to come. We did the required haggling with the shop keepers who acted like we were driving knives into their hearts. After I do the marathon shopping, I let Max step in to get the deal. We took it pretty easy on them as their business is way down from many adoptive families no longer staying on the island.

As a historic preservationist, I was totally charmed by the island that was steeped in graceful architecture and iron work and laid out in a very interesting plan overlooking the Pearl River. The island's buildings were European influenced, and although I would have loved to see more historic Chinese architecture, they were just so refreshingly to our scale, unlike the waves of modern structures that towered around us off the island. For the three of us, this quiet, pedestrian friendly, green covered space, was a welcome respite from the impossibly congested, noisy, polluted cities that we had been staying in.

Beautiful tree lined streets were the norm on Shamian Island

A little overview of the island is described by travelchinaguide.com

Shamian, previous known as Zhongliusha or Shicuizhou, is an elliptic sandbar in the Liwan District of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. The Island has great historic significance. From the Song and the Qing Dynasty, it served as an important port for Guangzhou's foreign trade. The it became a strategic point for city defense during the second Opium Wars (1856-1860). In 1859, the territory was divided into two concessions, given to France and United Kingdom (of which 4/5 went to the British and 1/5 to the French). It was then embanked and provided with streets, drainage, and imposing buildings and became home to a prosperous foreign enclave. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, most of the public facilities were finished, including political buildings like consulates, cultural buildings like churches and schools, as well as commercial buildings like banks and firms. After 1949, the mansions there became government offices or apartment houses and the churches were turned into factories. But later they were restored... By the early 2000s, the island became well known by Western couples coming to China to adopt, many who stayed in the White Swan hotel (which was closed for renovations when we traveled in August 2012) that was next door to the US Consulate (which has since moved off the island and to another section of Guangzhou), one of the final places adoptive families must visit to finalize their China adoption.

I love the sight of a swaying red lantern and of palm trees!

What caught our eye when getting out of our taxi, and what seemed to captivate Cai Yun the most, were brides and grooms posing for photographs - they almost seemed like they were models posing as brides and grooms - or do the brides always wear their pink Converse under their gowns? Cai Yun taking photo after photo, caught some of the models' attention, followed by big smiles.

A shop full of all kinds of live fish and eels of all shapes and sizes

Part of the fun was discovering the many different bronze sculptures scattered
throughout Shamian Island

Another highlight for Cai Yun was making friends with two little dogs that playfully ran freely around a park area we were chilling out at

Daddy couldn't resist showing off for Cai Yun

Back at the hotel later in the afternoon, Cai Yun dolled herself up with every hair clip I brought for her and her lovely Chinese dress, a gift from her orphanage

Our CCAI travel group photo...eleven newly expanded families

Since the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island was closed, the infamous "red couch photo" shots taken by most adoptive families in China had to be replaced by the China Hotel's grand stair case photos

And now we are three!!

Cai Yun with our gracious and hardworking Guangzhou guides, Kathy and Grace

We tried to capture a few good "family" photos, but Cai Yun had had enough of it
and got sillier and sillier:

Then it was back downstairs to our hotel's Food Street, China's first restaurant with an open kitchen, our fallback lunch or dinner option while staying in Guangzhou.