Wuhan

Today we are on our way to the Xi'an airport to fly to Wuhan in Hubei Province. Wuhan is the city where we met Wren and became a family on October 30, 2006 - almost exactly 4 years ago! We had hoped to stay at them same hotel (the White Rose) but it is closed for refurbishment. Instead, we will just take a taxi over to the area and walk around and show Wren all the things we did our first days together.

We've been really proud of how Wren has handled all the attention she has gotten here. Many people have wanted to stop and try to talk with her and some have even picked her up. She gets a little shy but she does well and uses the very basic Chinese we know thanks to our Chinese teacher Wanda. And my high school friend Erica Fox Brindley was nice enough to type me up a phrase in Chinese that explains Wren is our adopted daughter and speaks very little Chinese. This seems to help the local people (and us too) greatly, so THANKS Erica! She also typed out a phrase explaining we are vegetarian and this has come in quite handy too!
-----------------------
Okay, arrived in Wuhan to RAIN - yuck! And it rained all day. :(. The rain made it a bit unpleasant to walk Wren around and show her all the sites of our first days together as a family but we trudged through anyway.

We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel and the first thing we noticed was all the roadwork. The city is putting in a subway and so many of the city roads are just a big mess.

We stayed in a different area of Wuhan this time and our hotel, the Marco Polo, was very nice. Actually, I told Jason that any place with Louis Vuitton and Tod's shops in the lobby was a little too fancy for us! :)

Wren in hotel room tub.

We had a taxi take us to the area where we stayed in Wuhan four years ago. The driver dropped us off right in front of the Carrefour (kind of like Super Walmart but it is a French company) which is the store where we and the rest of our travel group bought initial supplies for the babies.

After walking around the store we headed down the street to the square that was across the street from the White Rose Hotel. In late October 2006 there was a wonderful flower show there but now the square has been obliterated by the subway construction.

We next walked over to the White Rose, which we thought was closed for renovations but it was most definitely still open. So we went into the lobby and looked around and snapped some photos. There was a large skyscraper building being constructed in front of it that obstructed access a bit though.

Afterward we continued walking down the main street and ended up eating dinner at the Pizza Hut where all 14 families celebrated the girls 1st birthdays together with a beautiful cake our guides were able to arrange for. We had planned to eat at the Taoist Temple at the end of the road where we had eaten before with the Millards but the miserable weather made us go for the easy choice.

The waitress told us where to catch the bus to get back to our hotel and we made it back around 8 pm. It was a fairly productive day considering the weather!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch