the bullet train to guangzhou

train travel in china is not for the faint hearted. when i learned we were traveling from changsha to guangzhou by train all i could think about were stories from friends who had nearly lost children or gotten trampled on the way to the gate. the high speed train is new and the chinese are very proud of the system. the station was modern and huge and we calculated could hold about 10,000 people. it all seemed orderly enough.

until it was time to put the ticket in the machine and go through the gates. i had the luggage and my mom had the girls. we were swept into a sea of people surging to the train. down the escalators to find our car number on the platform. order came back momentarily until it was time to get on the car for our assigned seats which someone else was in. once that was squared away we settled in for the 2 and a half hour ride south.

we traveled through miles and miles of rice paddies, small villages and farms. it was lush and green and beautiful from a distance . the mountains were deep emerald dotted occasionally with a small temple or pagoda. the train was moving so fast it was hard to identify people or animals but occasionally a coolie hat or an ox appeared in a field .

guangzhou is another big city -13 million. we are staying on shamian island- the adoption capitol of china. all u.s. families must come through here to finalize paperwork. the girls just lit up seeing a pair of 11 month old twins who will go home to california. i spent some time with a lovely family from alaska who adopted a 13 year old. the pool at the white swan is a great place to hang out and we spent the afternoon there.

its nice for the kids to be here it seems familiar to them- they have seen all the photos from my time with them as babies and they keep asking if its the same. we ate at the cow and bridge tonight for some great thai food. i had the stinky fruit pudding for old times sake.

tomorrow we will sleep in, do some shopping and get organized before heading to fujian and hazels places the following day.