China Diary

This Journal		I spent about 12 days in 1998 travelling to China with my sister Jill as we adopted her child, Mei. While in China I tried to keep a journal of the trip, and since I was the only person not directly responsible for a baby, it was a lot easier for me to do this. The following links go to my record of the trip. I tried to record everything that interested me, but I'm afraid it might be slow going for many readers. Do you really care what we ate for breakfast every day, or what the traffic was like? Probably not. But the meals, and the traffic, and everything else, were fascinating to me. This journal isn't a record of the adoption process, just the culmination of that process as Jill and I traveled to China and received the blessing of returning with Mei.
Where We Went		Our itinerary took us to the following cities in China: Beijing, where we entered the country and met our translator and guide, Cathy. We stayed one night in Beijing and spent a hurried morning touring Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Wuhan, in Hubei province, where we received Mei and processed the Chinese paperwork for the adoption. We spent a number of days in Wuhan waiting for the paperwork to be translated and notarized. We got to tour a number of sites in and around Wuhan. Guangzhou (Canton), where we processed the American paperwork and received Mei's immigration visa. Guangzhou was very developed compared to Beijing and Wuhan, and we got to enjoy a visit to a Buddhist temple along with visits to McDonald's and the Hard Rock Cafe. Hong Kong, where we stayed overnight before leaving China.
Who I Went With		I traveled with my sister Jill who was adopting Mei. We traveled with four other couples who were adopting and a social worker from Wide Horizons, the adoption agency which was handling the adoptions and had made the arrangements for the trip.
The Links		Use the following links to read my journal: Click here to go to the first page of the journal. Or, you can select from among the following links: April 5-6, the Flight to Beijing April 7, Forbidden City, Peking Duck, and Mei Herself April 8, We Have Babies Now April 9, East Lake Excursion April 10, Downtown Wuhan April 11, On to Guangzhou April 12, Easter April 13, Shamain Island
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