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| There's a smile under that towel! |
On Wednesday our guide took us to visit the Yuelu Academy which was started in 976 (no we didn't leave out a number, it was actually started in the year 976). This Academy is the only ancient academy that is still used today as a college. Hunan University students go there to use the library and study in the peaceful grounds. It was raining pretty steadily when we visited, but it was still one of the highlights of our trip. You could just feel the history walking through there. It's hard to explain how much respect I now have for the Chinese culture. They really appreciate taking time to meditate and enjoy your surroundings. After how rough our first few days were, it felt really good to be in such a peaceful space.
Next we visited the Orange Island park, which had lots of orange trees that smelled SO good! It also a huge stone monument to Mao Zedong, who was born in the Hunan province. We finished the day with a great local dinner (the best meal we had in Changsha!) with our guide consisting of meatball and pear soup, steamed lotus root, steamed pork, duck, and steamed egg for Milo.
It was a long day, but we were so glad we got to explore Changsha. Milo did amazing through the whole day! He loved being in the carrier and even fell asleep a few times.
The next day Brian left us to visit Milo's orphanage in Hengyang. I was a little worried about keeping Milo entertained all day by myself, but we both agreed it was really important for Brian to see where Milo came from. He will be doing a separate post on his experience, but it was a very powerful day for him.
While Brian was gone, Milo and I played "how to entertain a toddler in a hotel room". I skyped with our family back home (skype was such a lifesaver while we were there, it was so nice to see friendly faces!) and we played and played and played some more. In the afternoon we were both getting a little stir crazy and thankfully I got a message from another adoptive mama (who adopted an adorable little girl) to walk to a nearby store with her. I was so thankful to have a reason to leave the room! We went to the "Friendship store", which was essentially a giant maze like mall with tons of stores. We literally got lost trying to find the exit!
That evening, once Brian got home, we joined the same family at the restaurant at their hotel. The menu was huge, but you could tell we were all craving something familiar as we all ordered hamburgers. Although they were not nearly as good as the burgers back home!
On Friday we headed to Guangzhou via the high speed train. We had to wait until late afternoon to pick up Milo's birth certificate and our official adoption documents. It felt so great to have those in hand! Our guide and driver then took us to the train station. Our guide was even nice enough to help us carry our bags inside and point out which door we should go through to get on the train. She was so wonderful! The train station was really up to date. It had several restaurants and shops and we were happy to have some extra time to eat (yay McDonalds!). Milo ate his first french fry and loved it (although there wasn't much that he didn't love at that point). The train was a great experience. We had first class seats and were able to have our bags right next to us and have extra room for Milo to play. It was a very smooth ride and really fun to be able to see some of the Chinese landscape. I highly recommend it to anyone traveling in China!
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| Goodbye Changsha! |
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| Ready for our train ride! |
Next up are posts about Milo's medical appointment, a fast paced shopping trip and Milo's consulate appointment!
Thanks for sticking with us as we slowly recap our trip!
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