We're going to China!

Our whole family is traveling this time over the holidays. We leave Saturday December 19th for Beijing and will spend a week there. Then we spend 5 days in Shanghai before heading home. We will post photos and some travel notes as we go!
We hope everyone has a great holiday season!
Sheng Dan Kuai Le!
The Greenwoods

We're Home!

We are so happy to be home! We are exhausted and are just trying to keep busy so we don't fall asleep. We opened our bags and found gifts we had forgotten about! It was fun to look through them again. I want to show the boys the DVD of the trip, but am afraid I will fall asleep. We had pizza for dinner, yea! Looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.
Deb and Diana

Back in Beijing!

We left Yangzhou early today via bus to the Nanjing airport. We really did not leave early enough and Karen, Emi, Diana and I were afraid we were going to miss our flight. As we left security they were already boarding our flight. We had to walk quite a bit to reach the gate, but we arrived on time, and the first people from our group. They actually held the plane for the rest of the group. A couple of families had to go to "late baggage check" because they were at the end of our line and were checking their bags with less than 30 minutes. Everyone made the flight, but we will be interested to see if everyone's bags arrived. Karen and I had arranged for a minivan to pick us up, it was quite a bit more than a taxi, but we were hoping the conveneince would be worth it. We were thrilled when the driver was waiting for us with a sign and had a car across the steet. We were on our way to the center of Beijing in five minutes. We think it was the best money we spent on the trip! We decided to arrange for the same transportation tomorrow back to the airport. After we dropped our bags off in our room we decided to walk to The Temple of Heaven, since it was just about a mile or so from the hotel. We made a brief stop along the way for Starbucks and McDonalds. I asked for decaf and they said I was getting decaf, but decaf in China must have a kick because it is 11 PM and this is the first night I have not been exhausted. Hopefully I will get some sleep :). We got a lot of exercise walking there and back and all around the grounds. We saw some interesting sights on the grounds of the Temple of Heaven including hundreds of people in various groups playing cards, rehearsing music, singing, and other activities. We were told that this takes place every Saturday. Of course we also saw the ballroom dancing, but this time it appeared to be square dancing! Since we wil be returning to Beijing in December, I located our JW Marriot hotel on the map and got my bearings. I am little worried about walking these streets for a full week. Even when the "green person" is lighted for pedestrians to cross the street, no one really follows the rules. Crossing the street is a dangerous task. Karen almost lost her mind when we walked to the Temple of Heaven and she saw that the Pearl Market, where we were shopping and being attacked by clerks, was directly across the street from the Temple of Heaven. We really were "wasting" time in the Pearl Market because we did not want to shop any longer, if we had only known we were so close we might have tried to escape.
After a quick dinner, we took a taxi to the Night Market. This is like a "food court" Chinese style with vendors displaying their uncooked food items, many on a stick, but also dumplings, pineapples filled with rice, soup and some unidentifiable offerings. We thought Karen was going to eat a scorpion on a stick, but instead Emi ate strawberries dipped in melted sugar on a stick! We had fun trying to guess what the food items were...hearts, kidneys, testicles, as well as octopus, scorpions, sea horses etc. The final vendor we saw had scorpions that were still alive on the sticks! We ended up at a pedestrian mall with many US shops like Nike and Adidas so we strolled for a few minutes until we found a taxi to take us back to the hotel. Karen and I had sore feet from our long walk today so we decided to try a foot massage at the "health center." For $8 US dollars we had twenty minutes of bliss! So now we are getting organized for the long trip home. We will look forward to our "extra day" since we leave here at 12:40 PM Sunday and arrive home at 9:00 AM Sunday! I told Mark that we were getting Pizza for dinner Sunday night :)
We are all planning to put our whole picture files up on Shutterfly, so if anyone is interested in seeing more photos just let me know!
Thanks for following our journey!
We are ready to come home and see the boys and Dad and the cats!

Farewell Yangzhou!

I can not believe that today was our last day in Yangzhou. The trip has gone by so quickly. I wanted to write our final evening entry tonight, but I am fading fast. I will have to come back and fill in some of the details later. We enjoyed some of the beautiful scenery of the city today. We started off by taking a boat ride on the Slender West Lake. We had a beautiful clear day and really enjoyed the lake, garden and scenic views. We took many photos! The morning was relaxing and enjoyable and just what we needed. After we left the lake, we made a brief stop on the way to lunch to a "display" building. This building displayed everything that was made in Yangzhou and shows visitors the plan for the future. We all left with gifts, the children received another stuffed animal and the parents received a "prospectus."
We enjoyed a nice lunch with a variety of steamed dumplings that are specific to Yangzhou.
After lunch we made a brief stop at another garden to meet Yangzhou's highest official in the communist party. Cindy knows his name, but I can't remember! After the meeting we were heading out to do some shopping. Since Yangzhou is famous for lacquerware, my plan was to buy a piece of lacquerware with the Pagoda from Slender West Lake in Mother of Pearl inlay. I had a specific piece in mind after speaking with Mindy and Cindy. Well, of course anytime we meet people here we receive a gift, and guess what we received? Yes, the exact piece I was planning to purchase! Since our suitcases are completely full, we did not purchase anything during our shopping adventure. We were in an area that was undergoing construction, but was more traditional. The streets were very narrow and decorated with red lanterns with a variety of arts and crafts shops including papercutting, knitting, lacquerware, jewelry, etc. However, there were also many bikes, scooters, cars and people all attempting to use this same small lane. Not your typical day at the mall! We headed back to the hotel to meet Guangjie and prepare for our final banquet.
We enjoyed catching up with Guangjie for a little while before dinner. She brought all of the girls Chinese silk purses with a bracelet and statue inside. We were all so happy she came and made our final evening so special. At the banquet the video of our trip was playing on two very large screens. It was great fun to re-live the past week. It actually seems impossible that we really had this experience. We received our final gifts and we were very pleased. BLAS and YCWI made us a photo album scrap book, and two group photos that were on wood with stands (unframed but finished) and a copy of the DVD of the trip. One member of each country made a short speech along with officials and all of the guides. Everyone was very emotional when the time came to say good bye. We exchanged emails and hugs and pro misses of meeting again. I hope our Yangzhou Yahoo list will be active with our new friendships. Robin and Patty helped to organize a donation site through OCDF for Yangzhou families to donate to a tax deductable fund for the children at the orphanage. We think this will be a great opportunity to give back to YCWI. We are hoping we will have a site where we can share our videos from the trip. Diana does not want the trip to be over. Several times today she was calling Yangzhou her "home town." She is so happy that we came and has learned so much about the people in China and how they live differently here compared to the U.S. We are preparing a power point for Mrs. Washburn's class back in Granite Bay to share some of the things she learned.
We have an early bus ride tomorrow, so need to be all ready to go by 7:30 for our trip back to Beijing. We will have one night on our own with the Karen and Emi before we fly home on Sunday. We will not have a lot of time, but our hotel is in a central location and we can walk to several places. We are hoping to visit the "night market" to look at scorpions on a stick and other interesting food choices. Note that I said to "look" but Emi and Karen may be daring since it is our last night of the trip.
I will up load a photo album of today soon.
Can't wait to see all of you soon.
Love to all,
Deb and a sleeping Diana

Another great day!

We had been told last night that we would be going to a park today to see "plants and animals." I think we were all a bit "punchy" as we all thought it seemed hilarious. So we were expecting a quieter day with some sightseeing and then a visit to a school. Well, nothing about this trip has been quiet, so I do not know why we thought it would be. We arrived at the Yangzhou zoo and walked the beautiful grounds and made our first stop at the Panda! There was one large adorable panda relaxing and enjoying a tasty snack while we all watched. There were also two Red Panda's next door. We noticed while we were walking that some of the older children from the orphanage were walking with us. (I had not realized that this park was directly behind the YCWI.) We continued walking and arrived at a large open area and were greeted by women in costumes, orphanage officials, the news media...you understand by now. There was a stage with a large banner that read "Spring Roots Emotional." We were asked to sit in the chairs in front of the stage and our day began. We had lion dancers, puppet shows, yoyo demonstrations, more puppets, people spinning sugar into intricate animal shapes, paper cutting, kite flying etc. The event was presented as a cultural event for the children to have an opportunity to learn some traditional Chinese arts and crafts. At one point during one of the lion dances, children were brought into the group and danced with the women, wore their costumes, waved their scarves, etc. Our girls tended to be in the shy group, not wanting the focus of attention on them, but of course we made them dance for a few photo opportunities. The park was set up with stations surrounding the outside, so the children were free to choose the activities they were interested in. At one station the children put their handprint into some sort of clay and then wrote their name. These were going to be fired and then used to build a wall at the new orphanage. We were thrilled that our girls names will forever be part of the new building complex. Another station was demonstrating how to make Yangzhou Fried Rice. We then had our lunch at the park and ate all of the fried rice! After lunch we toured the New Oriental school, a very large boarding school with 3500 children in the first through 12Th grade. When we arrived we were greeted by student volunteers and led into their performance auditorium. We were treated to a music and a dance performance. Then the children went on stage to learn some Chinese and receive welcome gifts from the school and children. Each child received a hand made art poster or drawing along with a traditional Yangzhou papercut. The principal of the school came on stage in an athletic short set carrying a torch. He told us that he ran the Yangzhou leg of the torch relay in China and that the torch he had was the actual torch that lit the Beijing Olympic flame. Each of the girls took pictures carrying the torch. We then met our volunteer student for a tour of the buildings. Our volunteer was Penny, a 13 year old girl from Yangzhou in the 7Th grade. She spoke English very well, but was very quiet. She told us that she went to school from 7 Am until 9 PM every day and only went home every two weeks for a weekend. She does not study music or art in school because there is not enough time. Her favorite subject was English and she hoped to study English in America some day. Diana and Penny exchanged email addresses, so hopefully they will become pen pals. We saw the gymnasium at the school, the room with about 20 ping pong tables (The only sport Penny participates in) the basketball gym that my Will would scream for, and some science classes. We also saw the "canteen" that seated the students all at once and the dormitory where the girls lived four to a room. They have to hand wash their laundry and they hang it dry on their balcony. They have no television and are allowed no free time except for two days per week. It was a very interesting learning experience. After the tour we met Penny's parents and they drove us to their apartment. Although I had been nervous about the food, the 30 minute drive to their house was much more frightening. I do not think they use the lines on the road here. The swerving and the changing lanes, and the scooters, bikes and people all seem to intertwine. I can not believe we were not in some sort of a minor accident along the way. We sat down and there were not enough seat belts. Luckily Penny offered to change seats with Diana so she did wear one! Her father is a senior manager for manufacturing for a company similar to Amway. They just moved to Yangzhou in August from Guangdong Province. Their home was a fifth floor walk up with two bedrooms, an office, a kitchenette, dining area and living area. They also have a five year old son who speaks English very well and was quite entertaining. While Penny's parents made dinner I played with dinosaurs and read Dr. Seuss to Stanley. We had a very simple meal of vegetables, rice and soup (they were cooking "vegetarian" for me....if you recall from my earlier post I am a vegetarian this week.) Then I was offered some homemade prune wine! Of course I accepted and thought it was very good, it was sweet and fruity and had a kick! We took several photos and made some small talk while the girls played some games together. After dinner they drove us back to the hotel. We were happy to have this experience with a family from Yangzhou. Unfortunately my cell phone does not seem to be working when trying to call numbers here in China and I missed the opportunity to visit with Emmy Mignano's son, Andy. Andy is teaching at the New Oriental school, we knew he was teaching English in Yangzhou, but did not know which school he was working in until after we got home from dinner. It would have been fun to see him at work! Backc at the hotel we were all sharing stories and our experiences were all very different. Karen and Emi sang Karaoke, one family had fireworks, and Lilly ate some sort of "bird feet." I am sure I will hear more tomorrow. Ours was much more quiet and reserved which was perfect for Diana.
We are all once again so amazed at the time and effort that has gone into planning our events to make everything special and meaningful for the girls.
I can not believe tomorrow is our last day here in Yangzhou. We will do some sightseeing and then have a Farewell Banquet. We are also supposed to meet Guangjie!
I stayed up way too late last night working on the blog, hoping to get to bed a little earlier tonight!

China Daily Article

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-03/18/content_7588666.htm

There are seven pages in the China Daily about our trip. My lower body and red carry on bag are in one picture :) The picture with the girl kissing her mom, both from the Netherlands. You can also see Lilly and Chey in the background, I am behind the girls. We were photographed a few times, but when they didn't ask for our names we knew we would not be in the paper.

Yangzhou Children's Welfare Institute

November 27, 1996 7:10 AM

Today was a day made for Lifetime TV! I am sure I will leave something out but I will try to capture a little of everything. I have placed many photos in an album since I think the photos show the emotion and excitement of everything. We arrived at the Yangzhou Children’s Welfare Institute to a crowd of local people and the sound of drums. As we approached the gate I had visions of the Beijing Olympics as we saw the line of girls in costume playing drums in unison. The emotions overtook us and most of us were crying before we even left the bus. We walked through the gate and were in awe at the size of this event and preparation and planning that obviously occurred to arrange everything. Along with the drums, costumed figures greeted us as we walked down the road. As we walked farther we could see a stage with a huge red banner welcoming the children home to Yangzhou. There were nannies, staff, children, media, and guests all waiting for us. It was very difficult to sit down for their special ceremony! The ceremony started with a Lion Dance followed by welcome speeches by YCWI officials and spokespeople. They showed photographs of how the orphanage has changed in the past 20 years. During the ceremony both Diana and I were very emotional and started to cry and hug each other. Some photographers saw us and began snapping photos and filming with the TV camera. A reporter came to interview us, ask our names, why we were crying and what we thought about the event. I honestly have no idea what I said to her, it is all a blur! We may be in the Yangzhou paper tomorrow, but we may never know! We both actually felt much better and were ready for the next event. We then exchanged gifts (we gave the orphanage a photo album of our 1997 group) and the YCWI gave the girls VERY large Teddy Bears (Diana traded Marissa for a pink bear!) a Yangzhou book and a Yangzhou framed traditional paper cut. The girls then sang “Jingle Bells” (yes Jingle Bells) and other groups sang other songs. They took a wonderful group photo of all the girls with their Teddy Bears on the stage. We then were directed to another large “wall” banner and our next surprise. They had 5X7 copies of the girl’s referral or passport photos copied for each girl and these photos were also on the wall, mingled in with the word “LOVE.” They gave the girls pens and had them sign their names under their picture. WOW! You have to see the photos to understand! Our next event was experiencing Chinese culture. The girls were given aprons to wear and keep and then taught how to make dumplings. They made several and then we proceeded to eat them together in the cafeteria for our group lunch. They tasted great! After lunch we had free time to explore the grounds and take photographs. We were happy to see that the garden was still there and we found the statue, that used to be in front, “placed” in a corner of the garden. We recreated our group shot, of course minus Shae, in the same order the photo had been taken 12 years ago, in front of the Yangzhou gate. After lunch we toured the new building, still under construction, and saw artists sketches of what the finished product will look like. Then we watched a film made about YCWI with the staff and children. It was similar to a documentary, telling of life in YCWI and the process of being adopted, from the first time a baby is found, until adoption day. Many of the older children we saw in the orphanage were in the film. The film was very emotional and I can’t even do it justice to describe it here. Finally the moment Diana had been waiting for, visiting and holding the babies. As we were lead through several of the rooms, she enjoyed playing with the babies and toddlers and held a few of the babies. She was happy to see that they were being taken care of but sad that they did not have a family of their own to love them. The older children performed some songs and poems for us. They were all dressed in new pink clothes, even the boys. One of the exciting things we witnessed was Lilly, Shu Ru, meeting her foster family again. The foster father was so emotional and so happy to see Lilly. He went home and brought back a photo album with many pictures of Lilly and the family together. His emotion made all of us cry again. We also took some photographs of the girls with the “auntie” that placed them into the arms of their parents 12 years ago. When we first heard about this trip, one agenda item that really made us excited was being able to view Diana’s files. However, early into the trip, we heard that YCWI was not prepared to show us files. Several families discussed how important this was to them, and someone must have done some magic because we were told that “files were coming.” They would only let people look at them and photograph them sitting at a table with the orphanage officials watching. We had to do this two or three at a time, so this took quite a while. When it was our turn, and they brought our files, at first they told us everything that we already knew. Then I saw a medical report that we had not seen before. The report discussed that she had been ill and been receiving medication. There was a graph of her temperature as well. The doctor note stated that she needed to be given “special care” so that she would get better. I was photographing all of the pages, when I turned the page and saw it….A RED NOTE WITH CHINESE CHARACTERS! I quickly called for someone to read it to us and she said, “November 27, 1996, 7:10 AM.” Unless you have adopted a baby from China, and especially if you adopted a long time ago like we did, you probably don’t realize how significant this is. This was a note left with Diana when she was left at the orphanage that listed her birthday and the time she was born. We had been told this was her birthday from the beginning, and we were so happy that this was her birthday since it was also her Grandfather DeMore’s birthday, but we were not told she had a note or a time of birth. Diana has asked several times over the past few years, what time she was born, but unfortunately we did not know. On her last birthday, we decided to “choose” a time. This was probably the most important information that we could have found out and it has made Diana incredibly happy. She immediately texted Mark to tell him that she was born at 7:10 AM. I asked if we could have the note, but was told the original had to stay in her files. After much pleading they made a copy for us and of course we took photos of the original. A few others found out exciting information that they did not know, but many files were the documents that families already had. The files also had photos that had been sent by families over the years. We were completely and thoroughly thrilled, ecstatic, elated, and exhausted by the time we needed to leave. We spent the entire day, from 8:30 AM until 4:00 PM participating in this wonderful day. I hope through my photos and videos we can remember this for ever. We ended the day with a buffet dinner and a night boat cruse along the Grand Canal. Diana fell right into bed and is sound asleep. I decided I had to write this tonight so I would not forget anything, although I am sure I have. I hope I have written this well enough so that you can imagine what today was like. It still feels surreal. I wish Mark and the boys were here to be part of this with us. I will have sweet dreams tonight!
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greenwoodfamily6/YangzhouOrphanage#
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greenwoodfamily6/TheRedNote#

Yangzhou!

We had a long travel day today and it is late right now! At the Beijing airport our group was followed and photographed by "reporters" from The China Daily newspaper. We were told that there was going to be a full page article in the paper tomorrow regarding our group and visit. We are anxious to see the paper in the morning! We flew from Beijing to Nanjing, then had a three hour bus ride to Yangzhou. When we arrived at the airport we finally reunited with Donna and Marissa who have been living here in China. They had traveled by train to meet the group at the airport. The girls were so excited to see Marissa again. We all boarded the bus, now with two new "volunteer student helpers" from Yangzhou. We were told that we would be stopping on the way to the hotel for dinner. We did not realize until we arrived in Nanjing that we were stopping for a special dinner event. We pulled up to a hotel in Yangzhou and a red banner was waiting for us, welcoming home children from Yangzhou! We were greeted by the Mayor, the orphanage officials, and the BLAS representatives. We then went inside to a large banquet room all decorated with a wall size red banner, red bows tied on the chairs, flowers, etc. The evening was hosted by a local television personality and was being filmed by Yangzhou television. There were welcome messages by the Mayor and entertainment for the audience consisting of music, magic, a puppet show with caligraphy and singing. We were served too many dishes to count, they just kept arriving! We met a new family that just joined our "Green group" tonight, the Krafts from Indiana. Their daughter, Claire, recognized Lilly (Shu Ru) right away from living together in Yangzhou. We enjoyed our evening and meeting new friends. We didn't actually get to our room until almost 10 PM! Only a few photos taken tonight, mostly video. When I get home and figure out how to post these videos, I will!

Civil Affairs Ceremony

http://picasaweb.google.com/Greenwoodfamily6/CivilAffairsCeremony#

This morning we attended a very special event. We all met at the Civil Affairs office in Beijing. The head of the department and several other officials, along with the CCAA director and director of BLAS welcomed us with a slide show of photographs we sent prior to our trip and arrival photos at the airport. The room was decorated in red with a huge banner. We listened to special speeches about our daughters and how happy they were that the girls were happy, and thriving in their countries and with their families. There were families from Denmark, Norway, Canada, The Netherlands, England and the US. We all had individual family photos taken with the directors and they presented us with special gifts. Diana received a red "ox" since it is the year of the ox. We also received a glass etched Great Wall statue and a welcome letter. We then took a group photo. The television station was also there and they interviewed several families including Mindy, Hannah and Lilly. We were overwhelmed with emotion at the end of the ceremony and were so happy and thankful we were able to bring the girls back to attend this event. The link has more photos of our event. We are back at the room packing up and getting ready for our flight to Nanjing. Next post will be from Yangzhou!

Photos from Forbidden City

http://picasaweb.google.com/Greenwoodfamily6/ForbiddenCity#

Link to BLAS Chinese website with our group photo

http://azq.mca.gov.cn/article/English/

Several photos and description of the event written by the organizers.

Ministry of Civil Affairs link

http://azq.mca.gov.cn/article/English/Homecoming/

Hello to Mrs. Washburn's Class

Hi Mrs. Washburn and the fifth grade class at Eureka School. We made a video for you all to see, but we can not upload it to Youtube. We have tried for about 2 hours, so we may have to give up until we get home. Diana is writing in her journal, learning about China and preparing a presentation about China and her trip for when she returns. Diana wanted to share with you all how we have to brush our teeth in China. Since you can't drink the water you have to have a special plan. First we boil water (each room has a hot pot to boil water) then we let it cool and pour the water into two cups. The first cup we use to rinse our toothbrush. The second cup we use to rinse out our mouth. We have to be really careful not to rinse our toothbrush under the running water so we cover the faucet with our towel to help us remember. The other tough thing is to not get water in your mouth when showering so you have to think and pay attention when you shower. We also have to be careful about the food we eat. We do not eat any fruit unless it is something we can peel like oranges and bananas. We also can not use ice because it may be made from contaminated water. We are staying in a nice western style hotel, so it is pretty easy. Our next hotel is a Chinese hotel, so things may be different. The breakfast buffet here is full of items you would recognize...bacon, eggs, omlets, mini waffles that taste like friend dough, cereal, yogurt, and then of course traditional chinese breakfast items like noodles, congi, and other unique items. Lunch and dinner is served on a large lazy susan and is alwasy family style. You turn the lazy susan and bring the dish you want toward you. We typically have at least 10 or so items brought to our table for each meal. Much more food than we can ear.

Shopping as an endurance sport!

I enjoy shopping for trinkets and souvenirs as much as most people, however today's experience was something we have never experienced. We had, guess how much time? yes 90 minutes to shop, and I use this term loosely, on four or five floors full of vendor stalls, all competing against each other. We were warned by our guide that we will be overcharged and we would need to bargain. The suggested plan is to offer only 1/3 of their first price, then bargain down and to not pay more than half the original cost. At first, that sounds doable and orderly. Then we entered the sports arena. As we walked the hallways we were accosted by mainly Chinese girls yelling out, pushing items in our faces, and occasionally blocking our way. But a few times, physically touching us and not letting us pass. Since we had already done more than enough shopping and were already worried about fitting our purchases in our suitcase for our flight tomorrow, we had one agenda item. For those of you who know Diana you can probably guess what we were looking for....yes, jewelry. We headed straight for the third floor and encountered probably 100 individual stalls. We went to to the first one we saw and looked "disinterested" with the items, trying to prepare for our bargaining. We found exactly what we were looking for and were initially told the items were 85 yuan each (about 12 US dollars) so we played the game and countered a few times, Diana said she thought they were too expensive, then we said we would purchase two for 75. When I pulled out my 100 I had hoped she would not want to give me change and offer me the third for the 100 yuan.....and success. So we purchased three charms with Chinese characters for roughly $14.00. We were proud of our bargaining skills. We ran into our friends and walked through the stalls with our new Chinese words "Boo ya Xie Xie" or No Thank you. (That may be spelled wrong...) Diana was amazing...she was so strong walking through the gauntlet of vendors yelling Boo (no) and Boo ya Xie Xie. We laughed hysterically when Karen ended up with a Chinese soccer shirt for roughly $7.00 and they threw in the shorts too. Hannah purchcased some "Ughs" which we think must be knock offs, but still a great price for leather boots at less than $24.00. We all had a good laugh and heading for the "knock off" starbucks with the copy cat logo before returning to the bus. Our day finished with dinner in a minority restaurant with some folk dancers. It was a little hokey, especially the one dance with "air guitars." We were not sure these were really traditional performances :). I think all of the girls had plates of rice and french fries for dinner. I think Diana is ready for a Pizza hut dinner soon. We finally returned back to the hotel around 8 Pm and Diana promply fell asleep. We have another early day tomorrow, meeting the bus at 7 am to head for our "official ceremony" at the office of Civil Affairs. This is the office that completed our paperwork for our adoption 12 years ago, however in Nanjing. We are told this will be a very special morning and we are very excited. We will leave for the airport to fly to Nanjing around 11:30 am. We will have about a 2 hour flight and then a couple of hour bus ride to reach Yangzhou. I am hoping we have internet access at our Yangzhou hotel. It is a Chinese hotel, not a western hotel like the Radisson here in Beijing.