Leaving Lanxi / Arriving in Hangzhou

We had a little change of plans this morning, due to a request of Susan's. She felt bad that she had come this far & was unable to see her foster father. When we were there a few days ago, her foster father was working the night shift as a security guard. So Susan asked Danling if we could see him in the morning briefly before we left town.

After a few phone calls, we tracked them down & were told it would be best to come to the factory where he worked as the foster father, foster mother & daughter-in-law all work there. So the bus & our whole group stopped on the way out of town for a brief visit. It definitely made his day & Susan felt much better afterwards too. It was an emotional visit.

One little twist was that the orphanage director of Lanxi was going to accompany us out of town on our way to visit a tourist site. I had not known this & Danling had forgotten (or decided to honor Susan's request anyway) when she started making calls. The director had previously said that she did not want returning families visiting foster families so our prior evening visit was done on the sly. Well, we could not hide this one from her. At first she was not too happy with Danling although she put a pleasant face on for me. In the end, she was very pleasant to the family & said she would let Danling's families visit their foster families in the future.

Next we stopped at an old village that had buildings over 500 years old. It had been untouched by the Cultural Revolution or wars. It currently has about 5000 residents & most are descendants of the same family. Our tour guide was part of the 51st generation. It was very interesting.

We had a nice lunch there. Not much odd food to report except shrimp served in the shell. One of our translators, Cathy, was able to unshell them in her mouth which impressed Susan. Susan & I sat on the Chinese table & the dish was gone by the end of the meal. The American table had a full plate. Something about seeing little eyeballs & hitting crunchy shells turns us off!

We arrived in Hangzhou late in the afternoon. To our relief it is much cooler here. The city is beautiful. Our hotel is across the street from West Lake. It is the same hotel that we stayed at when we met Susan so it brings back many fond memories .

This evening we went to a dance show. It was pretty amazing! People coming out all different places on stage & in the aisles & in the rafters! All of a sudden there is a pond on stage & a waterfall & soon we are getting sprinkled overhead! At one point they grabbed people in the audience to join them on stage & Emma marched right up front & danced along! So brave! It was a nice night but it is now late & time to call it a night. We plan to get up early tomorrow to walk along West Lake & see the people doing tai chi. A day of relaxation is needed after the intense schedule of the last few days.

Cheryl Heley