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If you have Google Earth loaded on your computer, I have added Placemarks of some of the places we have been in the "Google Earth Placemarks" menu.
Back in Canada
January 20th 2007
After a relatively smooth 14 hour flight, we arrived safely at Toronto Pearson International Airport shortly after 3:00 pm. I quick rubber stamp from Immigration and Nyomi officially became a Landed Immigrant.
Nyomi is doing very well adjusting to her new home and having her own bedroom for the first time in her life. However, she is having a difficult time adjusting to the 13 hour time difference between Beijing and Peterborough. At 2:00 am she thinks it is 3:00 pm and is wide awake expecting to be feed and full of energy to play. Application for her Canadian Citizenship has begun. Thanks to friends who have gone through this process, we discovered that getting Nyomi's Health Card was only a five minute process at the MNR building. She also now has her Social Insurance Number. Nyomi is scheduled for a complete physical and required immunizations later in February.
After five days of keeping Nyomi awake during the daytime, she is now getting back to her normal sleeping schedule and everyone is happy again :)
Tracy and I wish to thank everyone for the warm wishes and support during this special event. The response we have been getting through email, phone calls and cards has been amazing. We are very happy to hear the joy that this web site has brought to many readers.
Beijing
January 13th - 20th 2007
After a two hour flight, we safely arrived in Beijing. Nyomi is a quite the little traveler. She seemed to enjoy the flight better than me. The Holiday Inn Hotel picked us up at the airport and after a one hour bus ride through the city of Beijing, we arrived at the hotel. The hotel room is awesome!!! For a Holiday Inn Hotel, we were all quite impressed. A crib and a baby wash tub was already delivered in our room.
At 9:30 the next morning, we all got on a coach to head for the 1 1/2 hour drive to the Great Wall. On the way to the Great Wall, we made a brief stop at a Pearl Factory that cultivates fresh water pearls as well as manufactures jewelry. After removing some excess weight out of the wallet, we were off again to the Great Wall. The relatively flat terrain of Beijing suddenly became mountainous as we approached the Wall. The Wall slowly began to reveal itself as it followed along the mountain ridges and into valleys. It was as spectacular as I had expected but much more difficult to climb than I anticipated. Each step up the wall is different in height and most have been worn down by centuries of erosion and climbing. At times, the steps were extremely steep. To add a degree of difficulty to the climb, I carried Nyomi in a Snuggly on my stomach as well as a camera bag. After over an hour of climbing, Nyomi and I reached the highest tower on this particular stretch of wall. The climb down was not as easy as would be expected due to the uneven step heights. You had to be very careful to not land down hard on larger steps. After the Great Wall, we ate at the Friendship store and shopped for numerous Chinese crafts.
Monday morning was spent at the International Clinic for Nyomi's medical immigration requirement. She passed with flying colours.
On Tuesday, we visited the Summer Palace which was the residence to many emperors during the summer months. In the summer, it blooms with numerous gardens and is considered a World Heritage Site. Afterwards we had lunch at the Silk Factory and again lighten the wallet on several beautiful silk items.
On Wednesday, we visited Tianamen Square and Forbidden City where numerous emperors reigned. Forbidden City was named so because commoners where forbidden to enter it. In the evening, we were all treated to a traditional Peking Duck dinner at a local restaurant and it was delicious.
On Thursday, we enjoyed a Rickshaw tour of the Hutong Village. This included a stop at a Kindergarten school and a traditional home. Afterwards, we went to the Silk Street market and enjoyed some good old fashion haggling. In the evening, we had a tractional Mongolian Hot Pot dinner.
On Friday, we visited the Temple of Heaven followed by a drive around the new 2008 Olympic village. We ended the afternoon at a Jade Factory and further lightened the load out of my wallet.
Nanchang
January 7th - 6th 2007
Sorry that I have not updated the web site for a while, but internet speed in Nanchang is painfully slow and I had a bout of food poisoning giving me a fever of 101.5 degrees farenheit. Some medication from the Hotel Doctor and I'm now starting to get back to normal. So much for experimenting with the local food :) Everything else is going well. Nyomi now responds to her new name, and gives her new mama and baba lots of smiles. The pollution level in Nanchang is no better than it was in Hong Kong and I'm sure will be even worse in Beijing. Tracy and her parents have been having a bit of a tough time with it. It will be interesting to see how well the athletes fair in the 2008 Olympics. Monday morning was spent returning to the Government Adoption Building to complete necessary paper work, transfer of funds and receiving official adoption certification. Tuesday afternoon was spent visiting Tengwang Pavilion, originally built in 653 AD. Wednesday morning was spent visiting a local village. As can be seen in the photos, life for these farmers is quite impoverished. It is quite likely that Nyomi may have come from such a village. Wednesday afternoon was spent going for a walk through one of the streets of Nanchang so that Tracy could purchase yarn. We attracted a lot of friendly interest from the locals who were curious about Nyomi and where we were from. Thursday was spent at getting Nyomi's Birth certificate and Notarial Certificate. Friday morning was spent at the Police station to receive Nyomi's "People's Republic of China" Passport.
We will flying to Beijing Saturday afternoon were we will meet up with the other 13 families of our travel group. We are scheduled to visit the Great Wall on Sunday. Nyomi will undergo her medical on Monday. Tuesday is to be spent at the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Summer Palace. Hopefully, internet access will be more reliable in Beijing and I can update images more easily.
Adoption Day
January 7th 2007
We arrived safely in Nanchang after a 1 1/2 hour flight from Hong Kong. We were greeted by our guide Ellen, who informed us that we would be getting our children in 2 hours. Ahhhhh!!!!!! We had originally been told that we would be picking Nyomi up the next day and therefore planned to use today to get organized and purchase needed supplies. Needless to say, it was a war zone in our hotel room as we all went into panic mode trying to get everything ready. After recovering a few misplaced items such as our "passports", we where off to the Government Adoption Building. Nanchang is considered sub-tropical and even at 6 degrees celsius they don't heat their buildings and it was very cold (Paying hotel customers do however get heat in their rooms). We entered a cold room where Nyomi was waiting for us. We immediately recognized her. She looked just like the photos we had gotten of her; with her big rosy cheeks. After showing the officials our letters of permission to adopt, Nyomi was handed to Tracy. Nyomi seemed somewhat distraught, with several brief periods of crying, but held up better than expected. Soon after our group of two families got our children, several more children came into the room followed shortly later by families from Holland who were adopting these children. It wasn't long before the room became quite noisy with excited parents and crying children. A very emotional experience.
Back at the hotel, Nyomi is doing very well and is quickly warming up to her new mama and baba.
Hong Kong
January 3rd - 6th 2007
After 28 hours of traveling, we finally reached our Hotel in Hong Kong. The 14 hour flight from Vancouver was quite smooth with some few brief turbulent periods, but "frigin" long! Service in Hong Kong is amazing. They have people to help with everything you can think of. Starbucks in Hong Kong is very expensive, $94.00 Hong Kong dollars for four coffees. That works out to be $12.00 Cnd.
Friday afternoon was spent doing a Hong Kong Island Tour. This tour included Victoria Peak, TSE Sui Luen Jewelry Factory, Aberdeen Fishing Village, Repulse Bay and Stanley market. One of the most notable experience was a boat tour of Aberdeen Fishing Village. There is a sharp contrast to the living style of the fisherman living on the water in their boats and the modern condominiums along the shore line. Photos from Victoria Peak reveal the haze of pollution that is attributed to Hong Kong's population of 7 million. To promote the use of public transit and help reduce air pollution, a 110% tax is added to all vehicle purchases. Even with high tax there is no shortage of exotic vehicles. On our way home from the tour, the numerous signs that dominate above all streets began to lite up. Shopping in Hong Kong goes well into the night, but we have been too exhausted by our long flight to take advantage of the long shopping hours. Many skyscrapers are decorated with creative light designs. Electrical power generation does not seem to be an issue in Hong Kong :) Hopefully, I will have photos tomorrow night of these spectacular lighted streets and skyline.
On Saturday,I hiked the Wong Nai Chung Gap Trail which commemorates the Canadians who defended Hong Kong Island against the Japanese during World War II. The weather was quite warm and I got a little sun burnt. The evening was spent at the harbour front where we watched a spectacular laser light show that utilizes most of the skyscrapers.