Faster Than A Speeding Bullet...Train

Where do we even start?! Possibly the live eels in the train station, the mass hysteria while boarding our bullet train, the minivan so packed with junk that our luggage almost didn't make it in, or the caravan of men parading down the street just to advertise a specialty drink. Today has been...one of a kind! And to think we thought it was only going to be a travel day.

We started out the day with our last breakfast at the Shangri-La and everyone enjoyed every last bite. Then off to the playroom for some last minute fun before we confined the boys in a train for the afternoon. We've been the most nervous about this day, second only to meeting Apollo, because of the chaos we experienced last year during this part of our travel. After getting settled in for a 1.5 hour wait in the train station with our guide, Michael, we happened across a couple with their daughter who had a 5 gallon bucket completely full of live eels. Mom - this is your warning that there is a pic below - bleh! Apollo was the first to notice and was quite excited to see such a sight. I flipped out immediately and Mike stood there in disbelief with Magnus. This little 4-year-old girl was putting her tiny finger into the mouth of each of the eels. There are no words for my shock! Even our guide was amused and had to learn more which was that they had caught them in the wild along with some edible plants that combined together were quite a rare delicacy.  We'll take their word for it!

 

 

We didn't think it was possible but it was even more chaotic this year while boarding the bullet train. At one point, our guide left one of our suitcases in the aisle for anyone to take or throw off the train as he hopped off and waved goodbye to us. After wrangling our way to our seats, we almost didn't care if we ever saw it again! Although we weren't yelled at this time, there was a whole lot of pushing again. Mike saved all of our clothes and was able to go back and get the suitcase and even find a spot so it wasn't crammed under our feet like one of the other ones. After a pretty uneventful train ride other than Apollo talking to a woman over and over in Mandarin and the boys eating adult-sized bowls of noodles, we arrived in Guangzhou. We will miss our wonderful guide, Michael, and Nanchang but it's so good to be back!

 

 

Our guide, Elsie, who was with us in Nanchang last year, met us at the station and ushered us to an Uber-like minivan which was not ready to accommodate passengers. After one of the seats was removed and garbage was pushed aside, we piled in and were on our way to our beloved Garden Hotel. On our way, Elsie was impressed with a parade of men wearing ornate costumes. We were excited to catch a glimpse of something special only to find out they were literally walking advertisements for an adult drink. Only in China!

After 9 days of Chinese food (which we love) and a stressful travel day, we thought McDonald's was in order and much deserved. Once we were settled into our room, we walked a block down the street and enjoyed some Mickey D's Big Macs. Play doh playing, coloring, silly-Chinese tv watching, super heroing (thank you, Courtney!) and baths followed. The boys fell asleep quickly and then Mike and I video called the girls as we do each day. We miss them more than we ever thought we could!

 

Tomorrow is Apollo's medical appointment where he will be poked and prodded a bit. Please pray for him not to be fearful and to turn to us for comfort as he has been these last few days. We are making huge strides with him - he asks for his booboos to be kissed, approval when he does something he knows is pleasing, and has even let us sing him to sleep which is amazing since he has literally rocked and hummed himself to sleep every night for all of these years. He is letting us in and it is beautiful. We have so much to work through but we are proud of what he has already accomplished. We definitely have another superhero as a son!

Goodnight from Guangzhou!