Shamian Island and our last days in Guangzhou

Tuesday through Friday were essentially free days for us in Guangzhou. 

On Tuesday we stayed around the hotel and enjoyed taking our time at breakfast and playing on the playground that was in our hotel. In the afternoon our guide delivered Milo's visa paperwork to us. His citizenship paperwork came in a brown envelope with strict instructions to guard it with our lives and not to open it.  It felt really good to be done with the official parts of our trip and to know that all the paperwork we had slaved over for the last 18 months was correct! 

On Wednesday our guide took us shopping and to Shamian Island. Another adoptive dad and his son who were also using our guide joined us as well. Spending time with other adoptive families was one of the best parts of our trip!
Shamian Island has a really interesting history. Until recently, the US consulate was located there and it is still the location of the Polish consulate. It also used to be where almost all Americans adopting children would stay. I have read so much about Shamian Island while researching Chinese adoption, it was amazing to finally be there! I've heard many people say it feels like New Orleans and having recently been to New Orleans ourselves, we had to agree! It was very peaceful and felt like a different world compared to downtown Guangzhou.

Shamian Island is a very popular location for weddings and fashion photo shoots

For lunch our guide and driver took us to a traditional Cantonese restaurant on the island and it was easily the best meal we had on this trip. It was really delicious and included a chicken dish, a seafood dish with tiny whole shrimp, noodles, a broccolini dish and steamed egg for Milo. Brian also got to enjoy a Chinese beer!

Thursday was our last day in Guangzhou. This was a tough day for Brian and I. We were missing our pets, family and friends at home, but we both agreed that we weren't ready to leave China. We knew this was a once in a lifetime experience and we weren't ready to see it end. So, we decided to explore as much as possible and really make the most out of our last day. 
In the morning we went to Yuexiu park, which was right down the street from our hotel. We were really lucky that both cities we visited had amazing parks with tons of trees and walking paths. Yuexiu park is located on 212 acres and has a lake, amusement park and is also home to the Five Ram sculpture. As CSU Ram fans we knew we couldn't miss that! The sculpture has a lot of history behind it, click on this link to learn more about the legend of the Five Ram sculpture. 

We think that people make wishes on those red cloths and throw them into the tree. It looked even more amazing in person!

That afternoon we took a taxi to a different part of Guangzhou where the Garden Hotel is located. Many adoptive families stay at the Garden for it's great location, so we decided to check it out. We stopped by a Target like store called Aeon and spent a lot of time checking out the cool and different products. We would have bought a lot more if we weren't already panicking about how heavy our suitcases were going to be. 

Our long trip home started bright and early on Friday morning. More on that to come!