Isn't this picture funny - these people are so facinated by Avery!
I forgot to mention that Danielle loves stickers. She places them all over her hands and face - and can't resist putting them on mine too!
C'mon, do we really need a typhoon to complicate this trip? I am told that Guangzhou will be impacted by Typhoon Megi on Friday - that is the day we are scheduled to get there. We do not want to fly into a typhoon obviously, not that the airline would even let us. We have requested that Danielle's passport processing be expedited. The authorities here in Urumqi are trying to help us out. They are trying to get her passport ready for tomorrow so we can leave tomorrow night. We really would prefer not to be in Guangzhou for this weather system, but if we wait, and get delayed or cancelled from our Friday night flight, we would likely miss the medical appt on Saturday. If we fail to make that appt. then we throw off the rest of the processing.
Today we headed to Heavenly Lake. This is about 2 hours outside of Urumqi up in the mountains. Beautiful. The mountain peaks were amazing, the lake was stunning. We also saw many Kazak nomads and their yerts (round houses). We saw goats and cows and sheep in the pastures and major coal processing plants outside the city. The most fun was at the top of the mountain near the lake, crowds of Chinese tourists noticed Avery and her blond hair and, I am not kidding you, swarmed her for a picture. I have a picture of a crowd around her as she was sitting in the back of the trolly. It was as though these people never saw a girl with blond hair before. If we charged for taking a picture with her, we would have made enough to cover the jade shopping we did later! Our guide had to play body guard and scoop Avery up after a couple dozen photo ops and escort her out of the crowd. It was hysterical - thankfully Avery was a great sport about it. We ate lunch at another authentic Chinese restaurant and tasted some great shrimp (yes, we are nowhere close to any coast line) and chicken dishes. We visited a jade market. Jade is the popular local commodity. White jade in particular. We made some purchases, thankfully they took credit cards!
Danielle has been up and down with her emotions today. She started the day OK, but had a bit of a hard time at breakfast. When we hit the hotel breakfast buffet, we are the only Americans, and we clearly stand out in the crowd. I get the sense she is very uncomfortable with all the eyes on her. She wilts. I see her shrink when she notices that everyone is looking at her. This happened at breakfast. She got pretty sad, so we went up the room to work on our sticker book, which cheered her up. We left for our road trip to the Lake and she did not feel well - I think it was a little grief and a lot of car sickness. It took her until lunch to show her smiles again. This evening, as I write, her and Avery and Jack have a major competition going with hide and go seek. Danielle is having a blast!
She loves Skyping with her oldest brother, Austin. She repeats, "Na How Austin" at the screen and waves. Then if we call him on the phone, she takes the phone and starts with Na How Austin and then babbles on and on, and we have no clue what secrets she has just laid on him. He just listens for a while, tries to get a word or two in, and then says "Can I talk to Mama" and she throws the phone my way! Very cute.
Well, we'll check in tomorrow with our typhoon update!
C'mon, do we really need a typhoon to complicate this trip? I am told that Guangzhou will be impacted by Typhoon Megi on Friday - that is the day we are scheduled to get there. We do not want to fly into a typhoon obviously, not that the airline would even let us. We have requested that Danielle's passport processing be expedited. The authorities here in Urumqi are trying to help us out. They are trying to get her passport ready for tomorrow so we can leave tomorrow night. We really would prefer not to be in Guangzhou for this weather system, but if we wait, and get delayed or cancelled from our Friday night flight, we would likely miss the medical appt on Saturday. If we fail to make that appt. then we throw off the rest of the processing.
Today we headed to Heavenly Lake. This is about 2 hours outside of Urumqi up in the mountains. Beautiful. The mountain peaks were amazing, the lake was stunning. We also saw many Kazak nomads and their yerts (round houses). We saw goats and cows and sheep in the pastures and major coal processing plants outside the city. The most fun was at the top of the mountain near the lake, crowds of Chinese tourists noticed Avery and her blond hair and, I am not kidding you, swarmed her for a picture. I have a picture of a crowd around her as she was sitting in the back of the trolly. It was as though these people never saw a girl with blond hair before. If we charged for taking a picture with her, we would have made enough to cover the jade shopping we did later! Our guide had to play body guard and scoop Avery up after a couple dozen photo ops and escort her out of the crowd. It was hysterical - thankfully Avery was a great sport about it. We ate lunch at another authentic Chinese restaurant and tasted some great shrimp (yes, we are nowhere close to any coast line) and chicken dishes. We visited a jade market. Jade is the popular local commodity. White jade in particular. We made some purchases, thankfully they took credit cards!
Danielle has been up and down with her emotions today. She started the day OK, but had a bit of a hard time at breakfast. When we hit the hotel breakfast buffet, we are the only Americans, and we clearly stand out in the crowd. I get the sense she is very uncomfortable with all the eyes on her. She wilts. I see her shrink when she notices that everyone is looking at her. This happened at breakfast. She got pretty sad, so we went up the room to work on our sticker book, which cheered her up. We left for our road trip to the Lake and she did not feel well - I think it was a little grief and a lot of car sickness. It took her until lunch to show her smiles again. This evening, as I write, her and Avery and Jack have a major competition going with hide and go seek. Danielle is having a blast!
She loves Skyping with her oldest brother, Austin. She repeats, "Na How Austin" at the screen and waves. Then if we call him on the phone, she takes the phone and starts with Na How Austin and then babbles on and on, and we have no clue what secrets she has just laid on him. He just listens for a while, tries to get a word or two in, and then says "Can I talk to Mama" and she throws the phone my way! Very cute.
Well, we'll check in tomorrow with our typhoon update!
Hello Nowlin family! Wiping tears away as I have read every inch of your blog. What an amazing journey! We are anxiously awaiting your safe return and the chance to welcome Danielle! With lots and lots of love, Stellas'
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