Wednesday, August 02, 2006



















Here are a few more pictures from today. The first two are of us playing with Sophie in the afternoon. We then went to dinner in the evening with most of the other families (one of the dishes is pictured above - fish with a sweet and sour pineapple sauce - it was delicious). After dinner, Stephanie saw a monkey trainer on the street and had her picture taken with the monkey.

Chris, Caroline, Stephanie and Sophie Posted by Picasa

Temple Blessing




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We had a more leisurely day today and didn't have to leave the hotel until 9:00 :) Getting two kids ready and ourselves is always a mad rush.

We went to the six banyan tree temple today for a buddhist blessing. It is a small temple (relatively speaking) located in the heart of Guangzhou. The centrepiece of the temple grounds is the 9 storey pagoda style structure which you see pictured here. We don't know much about buddhism but were fascinated with what we saw. There were many people praying at several temples throughout the grounds and lighting incense. The ceremony was quite brief. All the babies and their mothers sat in on the ground (you had to remove your shoes) and a monk struck a drum like instrument and chanted for a few minutes, then dipped a leaf into some water and sprinkled each of the babies (kind of like the Christian baptism rite). After the ceremony we toured the grounds and I (Chris) and some other adventurous parents climbed the nine floors of the pagoda structure. There stairs were quite steep and narrow with a low ceiling (I had to stoop to go through). It is an interesting piece of architecture. Each floor had stairs leading up to a rotunda (inside) which featured six buddha figures behind glass and then stairs leading up to an outside level. It was quite confusing as each floor had six archways but only one went up and the other down. The remaining four archways led to the inner rotunda (I know it sounds confusing and it was!!!). One of the pictures above is of the Guangzhou skyline seen from the top floor.

We really like Guangzhou much better tf than Beijing. There is plenty of sunshine here and the air seems less polluted. Also, Guangdong province is one of the most affluent in China and you can tell. There are some very chic and expensive stores (saw the Rolls Royce and Lamborghini dealerships - no we didn't buy matching his and her vehicles :)

After our tour of the temple we stopped at a local mall which featured arts & crafts and souvenirs. There was lots of really nice stuff like porcelain vases, white jade, carved bone and sandalwood. Bought a few souvenirs for people back home. One of my favourite items for sale was "snake schnapps" a bottle of liqueur with a pickled snake inside. Apparently, its a good curative for rheumatism - don't know and likely don't want to know.

Sophie is really starting to change and become more comfortable with us. She is sleeping through the night (9-5:30) and is starting to take her bottle with more enthusiasm (not sure if we're getting the mixture right or if she's just given in to us). She is definitely inquistive and stares at us with those big brown eyes. She's quite strong willed and seems fascinated with little things (like a loose hair on a shirt). She also has a knack for putting her little finger through mommy's earring loops (quite a feat considering that these are tiny loops). She's also discovered her thumb and sucks on it when she's sleeping. So far, none of the babies from Sophie's orphanage seem to like soothers and most do not eat anything from a spoon. We tried some prunes (needed some help in the bowel department) and she had a few spoonfuls (I'm happy to report that they achieved the desired result). We also tried some peas without much success.

It's really quite amazing the bonding that occurs after such a long time. While we know that there will be difficult moments ahead, we've really been lucky with Sophie who quite h nestly has been an angel. After only a few days, it feels so comfortable.

Well this has been a long post. I have a few other pictures taken at this evening's supper which I will post separately. Tomorrow, we are off early to visit Sophie's orphanage, which will likely be a very emotional visit for all involved.

We hope that everyone back home is keeping well and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Love Chris, Caroline, Stephanie and Sophie.