Cooking Class

Today we went to the second floor of a restaurant in Yangshuo for a cooking class. The Cloud Nine Cooking School. Craig, Kyra and Liam learned to make pork stuffed mushrooms, pork dumplings, sweet and sour pork, and eggplant with Sichuan peppers! I made the same except all vegetarian. It was so fun and a great experience!

Liam and his cleaver!

Our cooking teacher.

Stuffed mushrooms and dumplings in a bamboo steamer.

Folding dumplings -- a true art!

Deep frying pork in the wok.

Then we got to eat our dishes for lunch. The kids weren't crazy about the mushrooms and eggplant, but loved the dumplings and pork. Craig and I loved it all. They gave us the recipes -- now we just have to reproduce it at home!

 

Don't you just love the Golden Arches to the left? Yes, even in China!

After lunch, we headed back to Guilin, went to see Elephant Trunk Hill and checked back into the hotel we were in 2 nights ago.

These are the sun and moon pagodas that are across from our hotel.

I never tire of looking at these mountains.

Yangzhou

Today we took a 4 1/2 hour cruise down the Li River from Guilin to Yangzhou. The mountains are stunning. They are what Chinese art is made of. Around every turn in the river, it was like looking at a new painting.

 

This is supposed to be the scene on the 20 yuan bill.

We were on a two story boat with a deck on top. About 100 boats per day make this trip down the river. Needless to say, Guilin and Yangzhou were much more touristy than I had imagined. After leaving the boat, we walked up West Street to our hotel. Kyra, Liam and our guide, Judy, decided to take advantage of some of the exercise equipment.

Shops and restaurants everywhere.

A pagoda built with no nails.

This evening we went to one of the most spectacular shows I have ever seen. It celebrated the culture of the minority people of China. The stage was a portion of the Li River and the backdrop were the beautiful mountains lit up. These pictures do nothing to convey the spectacle we watched this evening.

I don't have pictures on my phone as it was dead, but this afternoon we took a bike ride that was billed as "through the countryside." I will say that this is probably the closest experience we've had to really experiencing China. Our China has consisted of being chauffeured around in vans, staying in 4 star hotels and eating in restaurants where the amount of food seems neverending. Our bike ride today was vastly different. With Craig and Liam on a tandem bike and Kyra and I on single bikes following our guide, we started and ended on a busy road that we were on much longer than I anticipated. So like millions of Chinese every day, we darted through traffic on bikes with no helmets and it was like a death wish. I cannot figure out how hundreds of people are not injured on a daily basis. Our ride through the countryside was a reality check for all of us. We rode through a very poor village. There were gardens and pigs and some houses were fine and some were simply crumbling. We stopped by a farmer's land and with his permission picked kumquats. The poverty was apparent and broke our hearts. It was a new experience and an eye opener for my children. It reminded us that we are beyond blessed.

Changsha SWI

This morning we headed one hour outside of Changsha in Hunan Province to Xiangyin where Kyra's Social Welfare Institution or orphanage is located. I had sent pictures of Kyra's nannies and the staff to our tour operator to see if anyone was still around from when Kyra was there. We were told there was no one. Kyra was fine with it, but I was disappointed. We had a few huge surprises when we arrived.

We were told this woman was Kyra's ayi (nanny). 

My mouth dropped and for a moment, I didn't believe. I thought maybe they just had some woman come in, because I was so desperate to find someone. But then they showed me the picture I had sent them of Kyra's ayi, and sure enough, this was her. She was retired and had come back to see YaXin (Kyra). I was so stunned that I didn't get a picture of their hug. I could tell Kyra felt awkward, but this sweet woman who took care of Kyra for the first year of her life was tearing up, she was so happy to see Kyra.

We gave the staff a photo album of Kyra growing up. Her ayi was especially happy to see that she had a happy life. She gave us her WeChat information (social media available in China) and asked us to keep in touch so she could watch her grow up. She also asked Kyra if she would come back when she was all grown up.

The SWI has only 7 children now -- all disabled. One was in the hospital and one was at school so we went up to see the other five who were all mentally disabled. They were so happy to see us, all smiles. We took them snacks and small toys. It was hard to see them there. They looked happy and well-cared for though. 

The building is run down, even though it is only 13 years old. But we were told renovation will start and older people will start living there. It is good news that they have fewer abandoned children and are providing homes for the elderly.

We were standing outside waiting for lunch when a man came walking up the driveway. His face looked like the man who was the director when Kyra was a baby. It WAS him!!! Craig had recognized him, too. He had come back just to see Kyra!

The SWI invited us to lunch with the staff, which made us feel awkward. We had made a donation to them, but it felt like we should be taking them to lunch. As we were sitting at lunch, the one woman started to look very familiar to me. Two of the ladies had not been introduced to us. It turned out that the woman I recognized was working there when Kyra was there. And so were the other two women. Two of them still work there, but one had come back to see Kyra. They were interested in how she was doing and asked her to come back with her family in the future.

It made my heart feel so good to see how much everyone still cared. I hope Kyra can now see for herself how much she was loved there the first year of her life.