8/6/2002: While in China, we will try to leave comments about our progress in this spot. Greg & Carol
 

8/13/2002: We arrived in Hong Kong on 8/11 about 10 PM HK time, total travel time: 26 Hours. The next morning we had a half day tour of HK, including a view of the city from Victoriea peak. Later we met Patrick and his family. I work with Patrick and we were fortunate that he was in HK when we were. He took us to some Great shopping stires. Then around 5 PM Jetlag hit us pretty hard we just had to sleep. - 8/13 This was suppose to be our gottcha day, but our plane from HK to Nanchang had mechanical difficulties. So they rerouted us to fly from HK to Shanghi to Nanchang. Instead of arriving at 1 P.M., we didn't get to Nanchang until ~9:30. This was to late for us to meet Lily, so we will tommorow Morning. What is one more day after waiting over 1 1/2 years. Plus 8/14 is our wedding anniverary. Greg and Carol
 

8/13/2002: 8/14 - Gotcha Day! Today a little after 8AM we heard a knock on the door and we were greeted by our new Daughter Lily Hu. We have been anticipating this moment for so long and it went so well. Carol was handed the baby which went amazingly well, seemed just fine to Lily. Lily didn't cry and seemed totatly relaxed. We spent a few more minutes getting to know each other, and then headed to town to the civil affairs office and Notary. Lily was great the whole time. Here we are an instant family. We are bonding with Lily faster then expected. Are we dreaming? P.S. I'm paying for this Internet service by the minute, no time to proof read, sorry. Greg and Carol
 

8/15/2002: We've now had Lily for two days and we can't believe how well it is going. Lily already knows we are her parents. She really enjoys being around other people. She smiles and laughs all the time. She can sit for hours playing with toys and anything else that looks interesting to her. She is fasinated by the hotel phone and the TV's remote control. Our guide says it is very seldom that adopted babies take so well to there new parents so fast. - Yesterday was an exciting day as we toured the orphanage where Lily was first brought to. The grounds of the place were impressive. The staff was very friendly & the overall condition of the orphange was very good. We brought some candy & stickers for some of the older kids, which was much appreciated. Then we met the foster mother and her teenage daughter who cared for Lily for the last 10 months. ther were very nice and caring, and we could tell that they brought her up in a good envinronment. We asked her a bunch of questions and exchanged gifts. They gave us some really nice outfits and a good luck charm. Most precious of all, they gave us photos of her from the last few months. The daughter told us that Lily liked music, especially DISCO!! - Later that day we went to the "Jumping King Pavillion", which is a reconstruction of a 9 story pavillion over looking the Fu He River. For dinner our guide took us to a Chinese resteraunt where we had some excellent meals. For breakfest the hotel has an excellent buffet which rivals many Sunday brunches I've had back in the states. - One thing that has surprised me the most in the Peoples Republic of China is how modernized the country is. Virtually every person under 40 has a cell phone. Internet Cafes are all over the place. In the Civil Affaris office I saw new computers all over the place. Many of the young women where makeup and western style clothing. The country still has a way to go, but it is rapidly modernizing. Greg & Carol
 

8/16/2002: Yesterday we visited the Nanchang Zoo, which included a water show performed by seals. Lily enjoyed this much as she was smiling and clapping throughout the performance. The zoo had all kinds of critters, including camels, lions, black bears, tons of large birds, many primates, and an elephant family with a little one. ---- Later we took Lily swiming for the first time, and she really loved it. She enjoyed being hoisted up in the air and then back down again. When we sat her on the edge of the pool she would push herself back in the water. ---- For dinner we took a cab to the Pizza Hut in town. When I told the cab driver where I wanted to go he had no idea what I was taking about. So I pointed to the word pizza in my English-Chinese dictionary. Still he had no idea, so I had to ask the Hotel assistant to wright it down for me in Chinese. The cab fair for ~10 minute ride cost about 1 dollar. ---- Next to the pizza hut was a high scale department store similar to a macy's. High quality and high price items were availiable, from electronics to clothing. What was amazing was the number of helpers at the store. Waiting at the end of almost every row was a girl waiting to help you. ---- As the hotel Internet service costs about $7/hour I decided to venture accross the street and try the Internet Cafe. Nobody spoke much English, but a young man showed me to the chair. I asked how much it cost, but got no response. My guide mentioned it cost about 30 cents an hour, so I figured it couldn't be much more then that anyway. It was true, it only cost 30 cents for an hour of surfing. A lot of people around me don't surf though, they play games. The cafe is very popular, and the place filled up the first day I was there. Still, there is no spell checker that I can find. Plus, all the writing and are in Chinese. Lucky it is a standard English keyboard, and the IE browser has the same buttons.
 

8/18/2002: The Last couple of days we have spend boding with Lily and lots of shopping. Lily is doing great. She rarly cries and she loves to laugh. She really loves to eat too. I'm not sure if we've found anything that she doesn't like to eat yet. She likes everything from milk to water to soda to drink. But that soda tasting was just a test, we won't give it to her on a regular basis. Don't worry, we won't give her a sip of beer. With food she loves cheerios and baby food out of the jar. She also loves fruit and sweets too, but we try to limit the sweets. --- There was two places we did a lot of shopping. The first was the department center street, which is a street in Nanchang which is open to pedestrian traffic only, no bikes. This blocked off area is about 1/2 mile long. You will find the type of stores you would find in strip malls in America, it is just that they are all Chinese brand stores. I didn't see any American names stores like Radio Shack or Macys. The only American resteraunts we found were the KFC and the Pizza Hut. I here a McDonalds is comming to Nanchang next year. The other area we did a lot of shopping was around the "Jumping King Pavillion" which has some nice tourist type gifts. --- The following are some interesting things I've noticed about Nanchang China: Traffic is crazy. The streets are filled with cars, bicycles and pedestrians. Most intersections don't have traffic lights, so it is a free for all. Cars weave all over the place, including going into oncomming traffic lanes to pass somebody. In order to cross the street, you just look for a clearing and start walking. The traffic will go around you if it doesn't stop. Our driver had a close call when a bike darted on the road out of nowhere. --- The service here as been top notch, from the hotels to the resteraunt to the stores. In the Pizza Hut there is a manager wearing a suit who walks around paying attention to every detail. --- The Fu He river next to Nanchang moves a lot of raw material like grain. I see many small boats about 150 feet long. They are huge dugouts, and many of them ride very close to the water. The Fu He river connects to China's very important Yanze river. --- When you get to a resteraunt the waitress hands you a menu and stays at your table until you order. I would say most in the service proffesion are young women. Men are cooks, bellboys, and taxi drivers. Women are store helpers, waitress, and most hotel staff. --A clear day in Nanchang, and most of populated China, is rare. Only once did I see that Nanchang is surrounded by beutiful mountains. China burns a lot of coal, so this is the reason. --- Today we leave for Guangzhou, which is about a 1 hour plane ride from Nanchang. This will be Lily's first plane ride. At least this is a nice short one. It's the long flight home which should be interesting. --- Greg And Carol
 

8/21/2002: We are in Guangzhou now on the island of Shamian Island. We are staying at the White Swan hotel which is pretty close to a 5 star hotel, it is very nice. Today the US consulate approved our adoption of Lily; so it is official!!!! --- Tommorow we head to Hong Kong by train (2 hours) We stay one night in Honk Kong and then we head back to the US Friday. We have had a great time here, but we will look forward to getting home. This will probably be the last update until I get home. In the next couple of weeks I will post a bunch of pictures from our trip. Greg, Carol and Lily