Saturday, April 12, 2008

Jiangxi

So now that we have Grace's referral and know where she is from we have started to try and learn a little more about her province. Jiangxi is located in South Eastern China and its climate is considered sub-tropical. So the weather should be very comfortable when we travel there next month. Jiangxi was also where the last season of Survivor China was filmed.



Jiangxi

The capital of the province is Nanchang which is in north central Jiangxi. I believe we will be staying in Nanchang while we are in province when we meet Grace for the first time.


One of the sites that Nanchang is famous for is the Tengwang pavillion. This structure was first built in 653 AD but has been rebuilt many times since. We have been told by other adopting families that have traveled to Nanchang that this is one of the sites that we will visit.


Nanchang is also the site of the former world's tallest Ferris wheel called the Star of Nanchang. I think they recently built one in Singapore that is a bit taller. We rode on the London Eye on our honeymoon so I am hoping we get to ride this Ferris wheel while in Nanchang. Although Jen seems to have developed a growing fear of heights so I am probably not going to get her on this with me.

About 100 miles east of Nanchang is Yifeng SWI, where Grace is currently waiting for us. The picture above is the building where the babies live. A family who recently traveled to Yifeng took this picture. Not sure if we will be allowed to travel to Yifeng but I really hope we can. Would be good to have an opportunity to see where Grace has been living and thank the nannies who have been taking care of her for the past 6 months.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on Grace! She is absolutely beautiful. My husband (Steve also) and I are LID May 2006. Sometimes blogs like yours where I get to see the happy ending are all that keep me going. We will follow the rest of your journey with interest. Good luck!
Laurie
P.S. I'm a teacher too!

Gail said...

Nice Post!
I'm hoping for comfortable weather.

As far as that ferris wheel???
I will be the one on the ground taking pictures!!

Two Pearls said...

Steve/Jen...We went to Nanchang last year - same time that you'll be there. If you stay at the Gloria Hotel, you will be right across the street from the TengWeng Pavilion! It's very nice.

It will be HOT and HUMID when you're there. We lived on the gulf coast of FL (near Ft Myers) for 8 years before coming to New England, and I can tell you that the weather in Nanchang was the most humid I've ever experienced.

The Gloria Hotel also overlooks the Gan River, where there is a LOT of barge traffic. But it was fun to watch.

Two Pearls said...

Oooo...I just checked and there was a family from our travel group who received twins from YiFeng. I'm pretty sure they didn't visit the orphanage, but I will check. We are seeing them soon. Anything else you want to know from them?

Mindy said...

Hello, my name is mindy, my dear friend received her beautiful chinadoll last year. Since then I have come to love reading the stories on the "china adoption stories" website. I just wanted to say that your Grace is beautiful! Congrats. Also to tell you that there is the beautiful song by BEN FOLDS called "GRACIE". He wrote it for his dauughter. I heard it and thought I would pass it along.
All my best
Mindy

Snowflowers Mum said...

all I can say is that we just travelled to get our daughter from Yifeng...and the concensus from everyone we asked is DONT RIDE THE FERRIS WHEEL...it's apparently not safe.

good luck. I just posted photos of Yifeng on our blog.

Hayley
mum to Paisley and Piper

Anonymous said...

Oh I love scary rides...but you could not pay me ENOUGH to ride that ferris wheel. Jen- don't let Steve even try to get you on it!!
MY GOODNESS...my stomach flip flops just looking at the picture!
YIKES!