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Our Second Trip
To China
We
left Copenhagen on November 23rd 2002, and were in China for a total of 13 days,
flying first to Beijing, where we stayed for three days, then on to Hangzhou,
administrative capital of Zhejiang province for a week, before returning to
Beijing. Daji was from Yiwu, about 100 kilometres south of Hangzhou. He was
brought by car, by the Director and a driver from from the Yiwu Social Welfare
Institute. "Gotcha" day was the 28th October 2002.
On
our first trip, to collect Yanmei, we'd left Copenhagen with just 48 hours
notice - this time we had roughly a months notice - so there was plenty of time
to get ready. Despite being well prepared, a sick son and lost passport, both on
the day of travel, brought the stress level to near breaking point.
Hangzhou
was also very very different than Langzhou, where we'd collected Yanmei. Whilst
Langzhou is close to the Gobi desert and one of the poorest areas in China,
Hangzhou is situated on the delta of the Yangtze river, in one of China's most
fertile and richest areas. Historically Hangzhou has been a trade and tourist
centre for China's elite, which in turn led to the famous saying: "Heaven
above has its paradise; this world has Suzhou and Hangzhou".
The
reactions of Yanmei and Daji were also very different. Naturally both were
scared; Yanmei was 2½ and Daji 3, so they were very much aware that something
was happening, even though they probably didn't understand what! Yanmei was
withdrawn and timid, until her first smile, 36 hours later, at which time she
totally opened up. Daji, on the other hand, reacted at almost everything that
happened with excessive laughter, and had occasional bouts of often prolonged
hysterics.
Read
our day-by-day description of the the actual trip by clicking on the dates in
the menu or the link below.
FIRST
DAY (23rd)
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