Consulate Appointment

Monday was our Consulate Appointment day!  This is downtown Guangzhou, where the consulate is now located.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the building, but it was a special morning.  All the adoptive parents and their children who had the same appointment time as us all took an oath that all the documents are true and that all the information we had provided for the adoption was correct.  It was led by an American woman, which was comforting.  This experience was a little emotional because we knew that this was one of the last steps to her becoming an American! 

 From the Consulate, our guide took us to the markets where you can buy all kinds of goods cheaper.  We started at the pearl market and bought Vivi a pearl necklace and got a bracelet for Sydney.  The building was a seven-story mall full of pearl stores!  It was pretty interesting.  We also shopped in the clothing and the embroidery market.

This was a triple decker Mc Donald's that we ate at in the shopping area in Guangzhou. 

 Most interesting of all were the food markets.  These markets sold bulk quantities of food for restaurants.  It was fun to see the spices.

 They also sold live scorpions and snakes at the food market.  After seeing them on sticks in Beijing, we weren't surprised!

They also sold pets and pet supplies.

 This is back on the island.  From the shopping area in Guangzhou, we walked over a beautiful bridge to get back to Shamain Island to our hotel.  This is outside the Victory Hotel's West Building.

All the buildings looked like these on the island.  It was beautiful and everyday there would be tons of photographers taking wedding photos or advertisement photos.