Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Steve, Allison, Sean, Megan and Ryan!
An invisible red thread connects those who are destined
to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.
-An Ancient Chinese Belief
Today we prepared to leave Urumqi (we found out that most of China spells it Wulumuqi, and pronounces it with more syllabus than the locals). We walked down a few of the "back alleys" where the locals buy food and wholesale goods, bought some stale "nang" bread (it was warm and delicious at Heavens Lake), and saw some bizarre things (it would have been awkward to take photographs). Megan and dad made our last trip to the department store to buy another nipple for the bottle, they knew us immediately and were very friendly (the same for the grocery store).
Overall, we would characterize our time here as feeling awkward and the focus of attention. It is so rare for them to see foreigners, especially a young American girl, that they all seem to stop and stare. To make it even more unusual, they would also notice we had a local toddler...one that was obviously Uighur descent (we can explain later). It wouldn't be a problem for us if it was a few people, but we must have walked past what seems like a thousand eyes and not so many approving glances. While waiting at the gate at the airport, two older men finally got the nerve to ask us if they could have their picture taken with Megan, we said yes (we could've charged a fee!) and I began to visualize a line forming (always thinking about making a buck), but no such luck.
Our plane boarded 30 minutes late, and departure was delayed another 30 minutes due to stormy weather in our flight path. We had first class seats...4 of the 8 in first class, and there was only one other man in first class. We could tell some people were making comments about the American family in first class, but once the curtain was closed between us and them....nothing mattered in our privacy! The flight went great, and Ryan was just fine with the whole experience..not a single tear or concern.
We landed in hot and humid Guangzhou around 1:00am, and checked in the very beautiful and elegant White Swan Hotel at 2:00am, exhausted and setting the alarm for 6:30am for Ryans 9:00am medical exam. We didn't take any photos today, so we are posting photos of the Urumqi area.
