December 25 -Train Ride and Reed Flute Caves

It was an early start to the day as we made our way to the train station. Our group was heading to Guilin, Guangxi – a place of indescribable beauty. This area has been on my bucket list for years!

Traveling by train is usually quite comfortable in China. The train stations, however, can be quite busy and chaotic. Our guide, Michael, was able to stay with us until we made it to the waiting area, which was very helpful.

We couldn’t have asked a better guide. Michael is organized, looks after every little detail, and has a wicked sense of humour. A fantastic way to start the trip! He thought of everything before we would even have a chance to ask. Saying goodbye to Michael was hard, as we wish we could have brought him with us for the rest of the trip!

We were expecting to be on a bullet train with regular seats. What awaited us was in fact a sleeper train, where three people were assigned a lower bed to use as seats. The top beds were used to hold the luggage. Just getting on the train and down the narrow hallway to our ‘cabins’ was an adventure in itself and each cabin held six people. A train station worker sent us down the opposite way of the rest of the passengers, which made for a tight squeeze and confusion all around. By the time we got to our cabins, everyone was stressed and a little done in. In the end, it turned out to be one of my favourite experiences of the trip so far!

We crammed as many of us as we could into one of the cabins, as the other two cabins were shared with other people. When another single passenger, whose ticket showed that he was to be sitting in the same cabin, saw us loud and crazy people coming in the room, he took off! I said, “He’s abandoning ship” and he must have understood English, because he turned around and laughed. The kids got out their tablets and were happy to sit for awhile. The rest of us started chatting and then all of a sudden,  Tyler, who joined us on this trip, realized that the water he was drinking was not the one he brought with him, but one that had been left behind by another passenger. Tyler is hilarious as it is, so this just threw us all into fits of laughter, to the point where an announcement came on reminding passengers to be respectful of other people in the train – in English!

We work quite well as a team – we had the luggage organized and ready to get off the train quickly, kids lined up and a plan for who is helping who get everything and everyone off the train as quickly as possible.

This time we were met by our guide named Sharon. We all yelped in happiness when we saw our bus – the golden bus tradition lived on - #puregold (our first bus in Guangzhou was also golden in colour). The kids immediately took over the back row and happily played while we made our way to a restaurant for lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the Reed Flute Cave, which I was really looking forward to seeing. We parked the bus and had to walk along a street without a sidewalk to get to the entrance – we called it the street of death. Just a little bit scary! Then we had to climb a LOT of stairs, but in the end, the kids loved it and it was totally worthwhile. They adored the lights, the little ponds, and the stones they could touch. Ailee said this was her favourite part of the trip so far and wanted to keep exploring. She was not happy, though, that the guide was the only one to get a flashlight – the Scientist in her was not impressed!

Once we exited the cave, we walked alongside the river for a more scenic route and to avoid the ‘street of death.’ There, we were bombarded by people wanting to take our pictures. I cannot tell you how many people have jumped into pictures with us or who ask to have their picture taken with us.

Then it was time to head to the hotel and check-in. The kids wanted to hit the pool, but it closed quite early, so that one had to be saved for the next day. We had two rooms for our family in this hotel, so one of the rooms was designated the ‘kids room,’ and Ella joined them and slept over with them. It kept them very happy and busy.

Tyler and Nancy took one for the team and headed to McDonald’s to grab us all food. It was a lot of fun to hang out and chat about our adventures that day. We had a ton of laughs and a great end to a great day.

December 24 - Big Day

This morning we were all feeling a little nervous about the importance of the day. We were ready early and headed down to breakfast.

Our first stop was to visit the police officers that found Ailee. We were fortunate enough to make contact with them through our searcher and have been communicating with them through WeChat. WeChat is an app that China uses to communicate and keep in touch online. It has been very, very helpful to us while we are here and it gives us the ability to stay in contact, once we are home.

The police officers were very kind and they were quite interested in our life in Canada. We had some great conversations and they wanted us to know that they consider us friends and that we are more than welcome to return.

We then drove about an hour to Ailee’s orphanage. We visited the orphanage in 2012 and although we recognized the main building, we could see that there were quite a few changes to grounds since we had been there. The building that Ailee lived in with her nannies was no longer in use – they had built a brand new building and the original building was no longer accessible. We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t show Ailee the room she lived in and that we remembered.

The director toured us around the orphanage, which is now home to children with severe disabilities. It was very difficult to see the rooms filled with kids and to just walk away. Difficult to put into words and it went against every fibre of my being.

When we were on our tour the director realized that Ailee’s nannies had in fact taken a leave for a few days to care for a sick parent. While we understood the unpredictability of a family emergency, we were devastated that after all this distance, we wouldn’t be able to visit the nannies. Ailee took this news quite hard and I felt so guilty for putting her in that position.

Luckily, an hour later, we got the news that they had been able to connect with the nannies and that the wife was going to join us for lunch, even though she wasn’t working. Ailee beamed at this news and I felt very relieved that she would get the opportunity we had talked so much about at home.
Ailee’s nanny ended up meeting us at the gates of the orphanage on our way to lunch – as soon as I heard someone speak behind me, I knew who it was. She has a very distinctive voice. We all headed off to lunch and we were able to spend a few hours together, sharing stories of Ailee and talking about her likes and dislikes. It gave Ailee an opportunity to absorb what was happening and to begin to connect once again with them woman who had cared for her during the first year and half of her life.

When it was time to leave, we all felt completely drained. I felt like I could have slept for days. It took about an hour and a half to get back to the hotel, where we were able to rest for a little while. Then, it was time to prepare for Christmas festivities!

The kids wore their Christmas pyjamas and we took pictures in the lobby of our amazing hotel. Earlier in the afternoon, Lori and Nancy decorated Nancy’s room with a few Christmas decorations and just after we got back, Paul went and got snacks for the group. We then gathered in Nancy’s room and were able to eat together, listen to a Christmas story, and open a few presents. It was a wonderful way to spend Christmas, halfway around the world!

Other photos from the day: