Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Andy's Home Town

Hello from Pingliang,

Today was a day of travel from Lanzhou to Pingliang. The trip was about 200 miles and we by van with our two guides and the driver (of course). The ride through the countryside was fairly slow but the roads were not too bad. All of the hillsides have been terraced and are being used to grow crops. Mostly wheat, corn and potatoes from what we could tell. On the way we stopped for lunch and met with Andy's nanny and orphanage director, Mrs. Yang. It was nice to see Andy with them again and a good opportunity to ask her questions about Andy and the orphanage. She said Andy is the most active boy in the orphanage, I can believe it! We asked Mrs.Yang what the orphanage needs so we can buy the gifts with the donated money, and she said they need shoes. We arrived around 3:30 pm and checked in to the Pingliang Hotel. It has two buildings, a main hotel and a VIP building, the guides set us up in the VIP building. We had dinner at the hotel restaurants just the four of us, the guides ordered our food and then left to go get their own dinner. We had rice, chicken, tofu, beef and mutton. Andy usually eats the rice with some of the meats and vegetables mixed in. He is still a very good eater, but high maintenance at mealtimes because he will grab and throw anything he can reach. To give you an idea, dinner for the four of us cost 118 yuan which is about $17. After dinner the guides took us to a little children's store along the street to buy the gifts for the orphanage. It was quite a circus, the women at the store were grabbing shoes of all sizes and colors for girls and boys. We also bought socks, blankets, toys for all ages and formula. The little store owner was so appreciative for the business they gave us a pair of shoes and socks for Andy at no charge. The store also paid for Andy to ride the little rides in front of the store so he would be occupied while we were trying to checkout. Lynn did a great job of keeping the rides going for him, since the whole event took quite a while. Tomorrow we will see more of the town and go to the very popular mountain nearby, I don't remember the name of it.

1 comments:

Sharon said...

Hi Teri!
I am so glad they got to visit the orphanage. This was my ONE regret while we were in China.
Mrs. Yang told us Hudson was the naughtiest boy at the orphanage. We thought we were "in" for it when we got home but he by far my most obedient child so far, maybe still in the honeymoon phase. We think he was quite spoiled by his nanny (The same as Andy's).
Anyway, Can't wait to read the post of what they saw and thought.
Andy is such a honey!!
Sharon

 
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