Our Day at the Zoo

If this blog seems a little different, it's because this is Phil typing our summary of the day. Right now Jill is in bed with a very upset stomach. She thinks she ate something yesterday that hit her hard today, and she wishes she could get the nausea over with. But even though she's not feeling great now, she didn't let it keep her from enjoying the day.

This morning we left the hotel at 9:45 to go see the local zoo. We had heard it's not that big, but it was actually a lot larger than we had imagined it to be. It took us almost two hours, and we probably didn't see everything, and definitely hurried through sections. We saw many of the typical zoo creatures, such as lions, bears, and monkeys, but also saw some new animals. There were a few animals native to Asia that we couldn't remember ever having seen before, and among them were two ligers. Up until about two years ago I (Phil) thought a liger was a made up creature like a jackalope, but now we've seen ligers with our own eyes, and we have the video footage to prove it. We also saw some very animated tigers because they were about to be fed, and we saw a liger and a Siberian tiger in an argument. Another highlight at this zoo was an area where (for a small fee) people can stand and feed leaves to giraffes. This seemed like fun, and we'd love to do it again if we had the chance, but passed it up this time because we didn't know how Chun Le would react. The whole time at the zoo she was back to her quiet, observant mode. We think she may have never seen very many animals in her life. There's a dog by the gate at her orphanage, but beyond that we don't even know if she's ever seen most pets. When we took a walk through a Chinese pet market earlier in the week, she didn't seem to be familiar with any of the animals, including things like goldfish and kittens.

All in all we had a good time and got back right before lunch. Jill and Chun Le took a nap while Phil went to go pick up our laundry. Most of the gift shops in the area offer laundry services, and it helps so that families don't have to pack clothes for two weeks. We had dropped off some clothes to be washed at one of the shops our guide recommended two days ago, and when we picked them up, they were wrapped in plastic bundles. You can see what they looked like in the picture above. To our friends who've already made this trip and are following this blog, is this typical? We'd never heard our underwear would come back giftwrapped!

After the nap we all took a walk to a local shop called "A Gift From China" where many of the products are made by children in orphanages and all the profits go back to the orphanages. Phil had seen it earlier in the day and spoke with one of the workers there. It was hard to find and we were told to spread the word. It was started by a British lady who has adopted from China and uses this store as one of several ways to help out the orphanages in the area. After returning to the store before dinner to pick up a few gifts, we stopped by another store, famous because the owner will write the new child's name in Chinese characters in nice calligraphy. As we spoke to him, he saw our bag from "A Gift From China" and told us he knew the owner, and will often work with her to help her foundation. If families leave the island and leave extra diapers, formula, etc. he'll pay the shipping to send it to the orphanages. We really enjoyed talking with him a little bit. Whenever we leave someplace, often Chun Le will waive "bye" and this time we even think she said the word "bye" too! We're not sure that it's her first English word, since she hasn't done it since, but we'll keep listening.

Finally it was off to supper where we ate at a local Thai restaurant - really good food but pretty spicy, and is partly to blame for Jill's stomach doing sommersaults. We came back to the hotel room for a bath for our daughter. She always loves bath time, and especially this time because Jill got out the bubbles and Chun Le had a blast popping them, catching them, and chasing after them in the tub (all while sitting down - no worries). We've found that while she is out she is in her quietly observant mode, but when we're back at the hotel, she relaxes and a lot more of her personality shows through. She likes to keep toys picked up, doesn't want crumbs on her tray at meal times in restaurants, and in other ways is very particular, but is also a lot of fun. Whenever we get into an elevator, she pushes the buttons and gets a big smile when the buttons light up. She also still loves to cuddle and be held, but is becoming more vocal and willing to walk around the room by herself a little.

It seems like we're running out of time here, but tonight Jill made the comment that it's good that it seems like we're running out of time, because that means that we're closer to coming home. We're ready to come back to the states and miss Rachel and Isaac. We've absolutely loved our experience and I'm sure I wrote too much, but we're also wanting to see how Chun Le does in Chicago and let her meet Rachel and Isaac and the extended family. We know she's not used to the cold and not used to a house with room to run around in. She probably thinks this hotel room is her new home, and will be confused with the night in Hong Kong before the plane trip, and she'll think, "moving three times in two weeks? Who are these people!" Well, I'd better go for now. Thanks again to all of you who are keeping up with our journey.