Nanchang visit nears an end

Friday, April 7, 2006, 5:30 p.m.

By Terry R. Cassreino

NANCHANG, China - Our last day here in Nanchang and the Jiangxi Province hit a high note twice today with a trip to an historic pagoda and to get Camryn’s passport.
We began the day visiting the Tengwan Pavilion, about a five-minute walk from the hotel. We toured the pagoda, including the lush gardens on the ground level.
A short elevator ride to the top afforded a spectacular view of the Nanchang skyline and the Gan River. We also caught a brief 15-minute performance of classic Chinese music.
Later in the afternoon, Pam, Camryn, I and other families with Holt International Children’s Services took a chartered bus to the Civil Affairs office to get Camryn’s passport.
If you remember, Camryn’s passport is issued in her Chinese name because she won’t become a U.S. citizen until we touch ground in Detroit on our return trip April 14.
On Saturday, we leave Nanchang for Guangzhou - where we will begin paperwork to process Camryn’s U.S. visa. The visa will be issued on Wednesday.

Hotel thoughts

The Gloria Plaza Hotel has been serviceable, but not spectacular like the Kunlun Hotel in Beijing.
Even though our air conditioning went on the blink two nights ago, the hotel did provide us with a baby crib and a hot pot to warm the baby’s bottles.
The hotel offers massages that go for about $20 a pop (nice, considering Pam got one on a cruise for more than $100). I think tonight I may go for one.
Now, the food is another thing.
The Gloria Plaza’s food was not impressive. I think they tried to please the large number of Americans here by preparing Americanized Chinese food.
Even the breakfast buffet was so-so.

Wal-Mart run

I took one final jaunt today to the Wal-Mart SuperCenter in downtown Nanchang to pick up some baby wipes and shorts for Pam (the weather has grown a bit sticky here).
I also picked up some chopsticks and some of the Wrigley’s coffee gum I wrote about in an earlier post.
One piece of information I picked up from my Wal-Mart trip: Coca-Cola is not that popular here. In fact, many Chinese residents have told us that Pepsi tends to be a bigger drink.
As for Coca-Cola, I still think the Cokes we’ve bought here in China are much better than in the sates. Could it be because they use real sugar instead of corn syrup?
Another interesting Coke product: Sprite Icy Mint. Now that’s a cool drink (no pun intended). Does Coke plan to market it in the United States?

Camryn's moods

Camryn seems to be getting more used to us, or, at least, with Pam.
She’ll now sit on the bed in our room and play with the television remote, the top to her bottle or several Chinese books Pam bought for her at a local bookstore.
In fact, Pam took one of the books, featuring photos of fruit, and read to Camryn the other night. Camryn appeared to listen and look at the pictures - a pretty good sign,
As for me, she’s still not comfortable yet. Maybe it’s the bald head or the twisted sense of humor (Camryn just doesn’t get the jokes). Or maybe she just doesn’t like men.
Who knows?

Correction

One final note: Raymond Joe reminded me that written Chinese is the same across the country while spoken Chinese includes different dialects as well as Cantonese and Mandarin.
I misspoke in an earlier post when I said I couldn’t understand a restaurant menu at a rural Chinese village because it was in Mandarin. Oops. Sorry.


Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.