Heading to Guangzhou - Bittersweet

Woke up early again this morning, we had a lot to do before we headed to the airport to begin the USA portion of this process.  Breakfast at Starbucks (I just could not eat anymore fried noodles and buttery eggs for breakfast), Little Miss ate close to half of her body weight in panini which was wonderful to see.  Went back to the hotel and started packing up...right after we went to the Walmart to buy some duct tape - for our suitcase - yep, we were that family...sigh... Somehow managed to get everything packed up and then headed downstairs to wait for Hannah to come say goodbye.  Everything went smoothly with the checkout and there were plenty of cabs around so we had a few moments to hang out and relax.  Hannah arrived and she had a small embroidered bag in her hand.  She knelt down to Yashu and spoke to her for a bit then pulled out a gorgeous embroidered, colorful ball\decoration.  She went on to explain the significance in Yashu's local culture and that the bag was hand made by people of her ethnic group.  Man, the tears were flowing at that point - myself, John, even Hannah was tearing up.  She was such an incredible person that I don't even have words to explain our gratitude for what she did for our family.  We said a long, sad goodbye then hopped into the cab and headed out for the airport. 

So, remember the story where John was stopped at customs because he doesn't really look like his passport photo anymore and they took several photos of him when we got to China?  Yeah, keep that in mind for a moment.  Walked up to the counter, check-in guy spoke English fluently, it was a little warm in there but air was moving, all things going as planned.  Then we handed over our passports...he typed in John's info then picked up the phone and made a call, then made another call, then one more to be safe.  I am glaring at John and mentally willing him to take off his glasses or look more tan, something to make this go by more easily.  Finally we ask him if something was wrong.  He responded with "There is something weird about your passport number and info, but my boss said to go ahead and let you go through.  If you have any problems at the other checkpoints, just come back here and I will stamp you through."  Sigh...Made it through security (sans glasses and puffing out the cheeks a bit) waited for our flight that was a bit delayed then arrived safe and sound in Guangzhou.  Even our luggage made it!!!  Duct tape dangling off of the side, but in one piece none the less!

Our hotel is beautiful as is the area, Shamian Island, that we are staying on.  Since we got in so late, we just ordered room service and called it a night.  Can't wait to explore more tomorrow!

xoxo - n.

Saying goodbye to Hannah