There’s a Starbucks not 5 minutes from the hotel. I am one unbelievably happy camper!

We were reunited with the other four families from our adoption agency who are also staying at the White Swan. The others arrived yesterday so the Hendersons were the last ones to join the party.

After Karys’ physical and visa photo, our group met for a short joint road trip to the local mall. Eliana and Katherine were the dynamic duo and kept us busy chasing them down and trying to round them up. I’m glad they have each other to play with.

Look at this brood of mama hens gathered around the jewelry counter!

At 6:00, we finished up and went to dinner at a nearby restaurant. When you walk in the door, you’re greeted by all sorts of creepy-crawly things just waiting to be delicacies on your plate:

There were snakes and eels and many other choicy morsels.

Still hungry?

No lie…Eliana was crying when we sat down at the dinner table. She was sure that we would be eating them.

We had a short period of rest in our hotel room before taking Karys for the requisite physical exam. She was none too crazy about being poked and prodded.

I guess she passed. They took our money anyway.

We made it to Guangzhou a little before noon and have checked into our room at the famous White Swan hotel.

Our guide is named Elvin. We’ve heard good things about Elvin so our last few days in China should go well.

Woohoo! The party is in our room! And let me tell you…it’s a nice room.

I’m preparing to put away the laptop as we pack up for the final leg of our journey.

We meet Amy in the lobby at 6:45 am for the 1-hour van ride to Beijing Capital International Airport. Our China Southern flight is at 9:15 am and the destination is Guangzhou in southern China. The flight is 3 hours long as the crow flies at 600 mph.

It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to Amy. She was absolutely wonderful and a better guide than we could possibly have imagined.

See you down South!

Today was another busy day that started with a visit to the Beijing Zoo. We didn’t visit the zoo in 2002.

This was the normal scene in our van as Eliana talked Amy’s ears off for the entire 30-minute trip.

How about a 3-point road turn in the middle of a busy street by a bus?

The main attraction is, of course, the pandas.

Funny sign at the panda compound.

Come here, mom!

We passed an ice cream stand and just had to stop. Carmi started out giving Karys just a taste of her ice cream and the Littlest Empress decided she wanted the whole thing.

This is what happens when the ice cream runs out.

There were Red Pandas.

I’ll be darned if Godzilla wasn’t there too. I guess he swam over from Japan.