Nihao from Zhongshan City

Nihao (hello) from China -30 hours after we left our home in Orlando....over 10,000 miles and over 18 hours in the air we arrived in Guangzhou at 11:30 pm on the 19th. We arrived safely and with all of our luggage...yeah!!! Our AWAA guide, Lee, meet us at the airport and will be with us for the next couple of days. We checked into the China Hotel Marriott to catch a few hours of sleep before we drove to Zhongshan City this morning. Zhongshan is the city of Kylie Grace's birth. We did not see her today, but were so grateful for the opportunity to visit her city. It is exciting and overwhelming all at the same time to take in all the sites, tastes, and sounds. Here are a few of the things that we saw today.

We started out our day with a visit to the area where we believe Kylie Grace is actually from in Zhongshan City....Minle Village in Dongfeng town. This is the Dongfeng Middle School, newly remodeled in the last three years. We were able to walk around the outside of the campus. There were lots of children leaving on their bikes. They had some classes on a Saturday morning, but it was an early dismissal day.

Below is the field inbetween Minle Village and the Dongfeng Middle School. We believe that this is Kylie Grace's finding place. It was very powerful to be standing there. Please pray for her birth parents as that had to be an immensly difficult thing to do...just over three years ago this month. As we stood there, several of the school children road their bikes down this path, a gentleman drove his scooter by and a person was working in their field close by. It was a path that was well used...a place where she would have been discovered quickly.



We had a very authentic Chinese lunch. Lee selected all of our dishes and everything was wonderful...fried sliced pork, beef with vegetables, broccoli, pork/tofu dumplings, pork with noodles, cucumber/taro root soup, and some wonderful oolong tea. We were treated like royalty...our cups were refilled after every couple of sips. We were truly the only foreigners that we saw in Zhongshan City all day.

Driving around town, we took in many sites. There were tall very modern buildings as well as someone's soon to be dinner driving by.... Yes, those are crates with chickens on the back of his scooter.

Anyone for some sheep or duck?

Here is a view of Zhongshan City from one of the highest spots.

Zhongshan City is renowned as the birth place of Dr. Sun Yet Sen, the father of new China. The people here are very proud of this fact. There are many things named after him and memorials to him. Below is a bust that is located in the Sun Yet Sen memorial museum.

We had a very full day of sightseeing and are pretty wiped out. We have managed to stay up to do this entry, but will be hitting the sack soon. Tomorrow we will have another day of sightseeing around Zhongshan City.

Thank you for the notes that you have left...it is fun to hear from you and a blessing to stay connected to you all. We are grateful for you continued prayers. Until next time...