Day 5 ~ Guangzhou

Today we left the city of Guiyang and flew a little over an hour to the city of Guangzhou.  For such a short flight, we feel like we landed on another planet!  In Guiyang we were confined to our hotel unless our guide was with us ~ and then it was just to go a very short walk away.  Our hotel was in the midst of crumbling tenements, horrible traffic and pollution, street vendors, and beggars (which Wu Yi always noticed and always asked us to give money to them!).  Guangzhou is a modern, clean, and tourist friendly city.  Our hotel (The Garden) is beautiful! We are in a two room suite with a view of a waterfall and gardens below us, as well as new skyscrapers with flashy light shows all around us.  Our new guide, Elsie, met us at the airport, took us to our hotel, and gave us a map of the area surrounding the hotel to explore as we wish.  We walked around in the warm weather (70 degrees) and admired the flowers, trees, and upscale shopping centers and restaurants all by ourselves!  What a change!  I was dreading staying another week in China, but now I am feeling a little more enthusiastic (still wish we could come home though!)
It was another stressful day for Wu Yi.  She was quiet this morning, even when Wendy came to take us to the airport.  Wendy got us checked in and walked us to the security checkpoint and then quietly said goodbye to us.  We will miss her ~ she was so much more than a tour guide ~ she was an important transitional person for the 3 of us in this process.  After we went through the scanners, Wu Yi looked back a few times ~ I'm sure she wondered where Wendy went.  We sat at our gate for 20 minutes and when we got up to walk to the plane, Wu Yi started to cry.  She kept looking back and as we got onboard, the crying got louder.  As we buckled her into her seat, we, for the first time as parents, became THOSE people on the plane who can't shut their crying kid up.  :)  The flight attendants came to help us and asked us why she was screaming to let her use the phone!  Once again, I am so greatful to the nice Chinese people who come to our rescue with Wu Yi.  In addition to the flight attendants, we had a couple of other young women trying to help us comfort Wu Yi.  Fortunately, by the time we took off, she slumped against me in exhaustion and fell asleep.
After getting to our hotel room, she immediately went to the phone and started making phone calls.  Because the orphanage didn't recongnize the new number, they picked up and talked to her for awhile.  Eventually, someone hung up on her, and Don discreetly unplugged our hotel phone, so she didn't have to endure that again.
Nice news for us ~ we have American neighbors in the room right next door to us!  The McCains, another WACAP family from the Seattle area, arrived shortly after we did with their new daughter Ella.  We spent some time in our room getting to know each other and it was so great to have that extra support and companionship!  Ella is much younger than Wu Yi, but we are looking forward to sightseeing and spending time with them while in Guangzhou.
Sorry for no new photos today!  Wu Yi doesn't like us taking her picture and she has pretty much been scowling all day anyway.  I am sure we will make some bonding progress while here, as we don't have a Chinese "constant companion" guide for her to bond with.  Sorry, my sweet girl ~ you're stuck with us.  :)