Infamous White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou

This is the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. We were lucky enough to get a room with a view of the Pearl River and got to watch boat traffic going up and down the river, daily and nightly. It was a great hotel, and was great to 'relax' and enjoy a little American-ized hospitality from the hotel....

Where we travelled in China.....

Here is a map of China, which will give you an indication as to where we travelled. We flew into Beijing, spent a couple of days there (Forbidden City, Great Wall, etc), then flew down that first Monday to Nanning in Southern province of China. Stayed there for a week, and flew to Guangzhou (about an hour flight), stayed there for two nights, and then back up to Beijing. Some of the families visited Nanchang and Hubei, which is a little more north of Nanning (and from what we heard, not as nice).....

Guanxi province

This is a map of the province that Bella is from. We flew in and stayed in the city of Nanning (about 3 hour flight from Beijing).

different view....

You can see that the patch of grass is not that large, and it is surrounded by hospital buildings. We take comfort in the fact that we do not believe she was left unattended...alone..for too long...

Bellas found place

As best as we can tell, this is the patch of grass that Bella was left on, under an umbrella....will post different angles, showing that it is right in front of ER area, which was great...

family photo in Nanning

Our last night in Nanning.....this is in the lobby of the Majestic Hotel.....

Back to work......School....

Well it is Tuesday afternoon...and we have slowly got back to 'reality'.....for the most part, we were zombies most of the weekend......trying to get adjusted to the time change........was more difficult for Zach, Tina and I then for Bella....she didn't have much of a problem, except she'd go down a little earlier...Felt bad for Zach as he got SO tired; literally falling asleep at dinner....But, last night, he got back on schedule, and seems to be doing well......Think it also helped that we left weather in the 70's in china and came home to weather in the 70's (and 80's) in Massachusetts.......Course, Tina has already got Bella out shopping.....that didn't take long now, did it???? Work has been fine for me; helped that I could check emails from china, even if i was 12 hours ahead.......Have to travel end of May, so will see how Bella does with me gone....should be fine.....she definitely is getting more and more comfortable at home, and is warming up to the 'non existent' dog, Loki....good news is that Loki can't be bothered with her, except when its time for dinner, and he camps out under the high chair.....things we took for granted with a 6 year old that we now have to revisit....high chairs....nap time...diapers.....car seats......but, wouldn't change it for the world........Not sure if there are still any readers out there, but will work on gettng some pictures posted of us now that we are home......Good to be home.......picture above is an attempt to get about a dozen or so kids on a red couch at the White Swan hotel for a group photo......yes, they were fussing....crying.....but it was fun