Circus fun

Tuesday night, after our trip to Shamian Island, we went to the Chimelong International Circus. It was 1 1/2 hours of non-stop entertainment. We had a blast.

Jude seemed captivated by it. He couldn't take his eyes off what was going on, although his expression hardly changed. We figure he might have been overwhelmed by all the sound and lights, but he did clap often and smiled some.

That's an elephant balancing on one leg on a stool and spinning around. Amazing.

Watching in awe and amazement.

The opening act.

Six motorcycles in the Sphere of Death. 

More sightseeing

On Tuesday, we went to Shamian Island for shopping. The island has changed a lot since we were there in 2008. The White Swan hotel is closed for remodeling, and we've heard when it reopens it won't cater to adoptive families. Many of the shops are still open, but some aren't around anymore. Lucy's still is there, offering American food.

On Wednesday, we had our consulate appointment. Everything is done, we get Jude's Chinese passport with his visa to enter the United States on Thursday, before we head out of Guangzhou and to Beijing for our quickie trip to the Great Wall on Friday before our trip home.

Also Wednesday, we visited Yuntai Garden in Guangzhou, our last sightseeing trip.

Here are some pics:
The White Swan hotel. Our home in Guangzhou in 2008 when we adopted Jake.

Lucy's.

Fidding around with one of the fiddler statues on Shamian Island.

Yuntai Garden in Guangzhou.

Cruisin' on a ... Monday night

We went on a dinner cruise along the Pearl River in Guangzhou on Monday night.

It was a fun experience. Many of the buildings along the river are lit up brightly and quite colorful. Plus, Jake and Jude had a blast.

Here are a bridge and the Canton Tower all lit up. The Canton Tower was - and maybe still is - the tallest structure in China at more than 1,960 feet tall.

Here is another of our traditional family self-portraits.

Jake and Jude had fun on the cruise, playing with balloons the woman who entertained handed out. Jake also got to spin a soccer ball on his finger, but I missed the shot and got the smiling aftermath. ... Kevin

 

An easy day

Our second day in Guangzhou was an easy day.

We finished all of our paperwork for the U.S. Consulate and now just await our appointment to get Jude's visa.

We went to a park today and went shopping.

Here is Jude feeding the fish in the pond at our hotel, the Garden Hotel.

Here's a view from our hotel room of the hotel's waterfall.

Here's another view of the city outside our hotel window.

This statue of 5 goats symbolizes the city of Guangzhou. It's in the park we visited today.