Day 11: U.S. Consulate & Shamian Island

For our last day it was consulate day where we would do all the paperwork at the US consulate so we could get Bailor’s visa to leave the country. We didn’t get any pictures as we had to surrender our phones and the outside was also equally secure, but it was set up pretty well. We waited to do the various steps with other adopting families and they had toys and everything for the kids to play with. Bailor was most interested in a slightly deflated red balloon and running under the counters that were just slightly taller than he was and acting like he was hiding or knocking on the wall like he was seeing if anyone was home. (This would come in handy for Halloween Trick or Treating. ) They seemed to be experts in this only requiring one parent at a time to do paperwork so the other could watch their child. It wasn’t an excessive amount of time before we had our sealed envelope we would need to provide at US customs in order to get Bailor into the US. 

After the consulate appointment we had the opportunity to go to a place called Shamian Island. It is associated with adoption as the US consulate used to be there and many of the buildings are adoption related and many shops cater to adoptive family tourists. There are lots of statues around the island many relating to children including a famous one of children in a line where it is almost obligatory at this point for you to take a picture of it with your new child in the line. We sort of got one of those pictures. Bailor wasn’t super keen on that. :-) The island was really cool and almost reminded me of the style and architecture I would think of in a combination of Savannah and New Orleans. Lots of old buildings pedestrian paths and fountains and apparently the place to be if you are getting married or pretending to get married for like a photo shoot. There is also a church here where many adoptive families attend services while they are there, but that didn’t work out with our scheduling. We found some food and explored the island and got a few more souvenirs, but we were pretty much set there too. We did check out the big fancy hotel there on the island that had a big olympics display advertising an Olympic themed bbq sandwich. We also were able to find the coveted western bathroom and checked out a bake shop that had interesting juices and baked goods. We got some watermelon and it was delicious and refreshing in the crazy heat. We also sampled moon cakes which we had seen around at our hotel and other places, but hadn’t tried yet. We gathered from the literature that this was something to celebrate the fall harvest, like something you would give family members. They were delicious so we made a note to save some RMB for the ones at our hotel. 

Bailor’s favorite part was walking around in his stroller. He wasn’t a fan of the stopping. 

Back at the hotel we  organized a little bit to prepare for our shuttle ride the next day to Hong Kong.

That night we went out again to just check things out one more time in Ghanzhou. We ended up at… wait for it and don’t judge now… Pizza Hut. Now let me explain a little here. Pizza Hut is a completely different experience in China. Where in the US your main decisions are pick up or delivery and cheese stuffed in the crust or not, this is a nice sit down experience. There is an extensive menu that contains pizza, but there are salads, lots of appetizers, soups and drinks and special desserts. We also happened to be there on what was apparently called Love Day which resembled Valentine’s Day in the US. There was even a special menu where you can order champagne and special entrees to go with your meal or do a fixed price meal. We had a combo  pizza that had 4 different toppings including sausage, shrimp, avocado and eggs. It was awesome for us foodies and Bailor took the shrimp and eggs. :-) After heading back we finished packing our suitcase and got ready for the next day.