Amelia's Journey: Goodbye Chengdu.....

Our final, full day in Chengdu was spent at the Panda Research Facility and then doing a "scaled-down" city tour.

We left the Pandas and headed to lunch at a typical Chinese Restaurant that caters to tourists. Naturally, there was place to shop right outside the restaurant. This was a shop that sells embroidery. But not just any kind of embroidery....this embroidery is done with silk thread and it has the same details on BOTH sides. It is very beautiful and also pretty pricey. Acquiring a piece of this embroidery was on my shopping list, so naturally I was excited to enter.

Demonstrating how the embroidery is done.

Sichuan Province is known for their embroidery and Shu Brocade. I wanted to make sure that Amelia has a piece of each type of art work for later.

Then we headed to the Brocade Factory. After a tour and a demonstration of this ancient art that is passed on from Master to apprentice, I shopped some more. Again, I got Amelia a lovely brocade scroll titled "Four Beauties". The scroll shows four beautiful Chinese woman from various Dynasties. I have them all packed away right now. I'll have to get them out later and send photos. It really is beautiful work. Again, not cheap, but something that I wanted Amelia to have.

Shu Brocade is done on a loom about 12 feet long. It requires two people to operate it. It all looks very complex and intricate and it is. There are approximately 800 silk threads that are the base of the brocade. I feel sorry for the person who had to string those threads!

It takes about 8 hours to weave 2 inches of brocade. YOWSA...talk about labor intensive.

A brocade loom, this man is doing the weaving.

This is the second guy working the loom, he is sitting at the top.

The second man pulls threads up and down...I think. It's all very intricate and complex. I couldn't quite get all the details. You can see the black, silk thread that is the base of the brocade piece.

Panda Brocade

Next stop, Jin Li Street. This is a famous street in Chengdu that is full of street vendors. To my delight, there was also a StarBucks and I treated myself to a Raspberry Tea Frappucino Drink. It was cold and slushy and delicious!

This street is a famous tourist spot. There were loads of people taking photos of each other and it was very crowded.

Entering Jin Lin Market Street (see the StarBucks on the left)

Silly self-portraits of Mama and Elise

Happy and content in the stroller...for now!

A look down the street. It is very authentic and interesting.

The Chinese Version of an Arcade Shooting Game. They were shooting real arrows....don't think you'll see that in the States!

On another note, it's good to know that there are some things that are the same universally. We got to see two women in a "cat fight" while shopping. It was like a train wreck, people were gathering all around them. I was waiting for the Yuan to come out and the betting to start. We didn't stick around to see the outcome, although I was tempted.

Chengdu....at night out our hotel room window. It's actually a little tame since the photo was taken at 10:30, many lights are turned off.

We spent the evening in our hotel room, eating pizza and packing. Amelia loves to play with the stacking blocks. She doesn't walk yet, but she will pull herself up to the table and cruise around. She does crawl, but she drags her right leg a little. It's really nothing that I didn't expect, but she'll definitely need some PT when we get home. She has braces for her feet, but it's only to help her walk on the bottom of her feet. Otherwise, she would be walking on the sides of her feet. She chatters up a storm and she prefers me over Steve. But I believe that is because I'm the one who feeds her all the time.

Speaking of eating....she's a real pig. It's like she doesn't have an "off" switch. She'll eat as long as you put food in her mouth. That leads us to our next problem...bowel movements. This maybe TMI for some of you, so skip this paragraph. When we got Elise, we cheered when there was a #2 diaper. She was so bad, that we went through about a 1/2 bottle of suppositories while in China. So, this time, I came prepared....suppositories, children's prunes and in abundance. HA! Don't need them this time. This child is eating rice and bananas for the duration of this trip. I only hope that she doesn't have anything serious like Giradia. On the other hand, Elise is lucky to go everyday three days. It will be good to get home and start regulating their diets a little bit better. (Just another tidbit, I had to change TWO poopy diapers while typing this! Where is Steve, you might ask? Well let me tell you , he's in the Beauty Shop getting a haircut, yep! That's right!)

Did I mention that stacking blocks ROCK! I brought one set and had to buy another set since Elise thinks everything is hers and she's having "issues" sharing!

A crowd waiting for a store to open....it must be like Walmart the day after Thanksgiving!

A picture of McDonalds...they are EVERYWHERE in Chendgu!

So is Pizza Hut!

I call this a "Bicycle Traffic Jam"! It's actually people on bikes waiting to cross the street at a cross walk.

I'm of the mind that all of the HUGE cranes are in Chengdu and Beijing. You can't count them, there are so many in the skyline!

We left for the Chendgu airport at 9 a.m. for our final leg of our journey...to Guangzhou to get Amelia's VISA so she can come home. I'm always nervous about flights and getting there on time etc. Our guide, Andy, took care of getting our tickets and getting us to security. Before we passed through, he stopped each one of us to say goodbye. He looked at me and said, "I know your baby will have a good life." I could barely speak to him to say thank you. I always wonder how they feel when one of their own leaves their country. Are they sad, happy or both? My heart aches for all that China will lose when they lose a daughter to adoption. At the same time, I'm grateful to parent these amazing beauties!

Our flight was only about two hours and Amelia slept for the first hour and looked out the window for about the last hour. She was very good on the flight. The only problem I had was when she wanted to get on the floor and I wouldn't let her. Then the power struggle began. I had to hold her extra tight and tell her "Bu", which means NO! She didn't like it, but she eventually gave up when she realized I was giving in. She did the same thing to Steve on the bus. I heard him say, "You're not going to win, so you might as well give up!"

We did have one little guy that cried almost the entire flight. Naturally, he was with first time parents. It never fails that they get the fussy one in the group. I feel so bad for them...then I sit there with two little girls that are happy and content. Let's hope that continues during the 30 hours of travel time going home!