Today we plan to take cab to Shamian Island in the morning so we can do a little souvenir shopping and let Thalia play at the little park. (Our guide took us to a more expensive shop yesterday where she gets a cut of what we spend, but we've done this enough to know that there are true bargains elsewhere!) If it's still there, we're going to have lunch at the Cow and Bridge, a Thai restaurant that we love. Things on the island have really died as the numbers of international adoptions have drastically dropped. Another factor is that the White Swan Hotel is being overhauled, so there's really only one big hotel on the island still in operation. A lot of the shops have closed, and even the medical facility where adoptive parents would go for the required medical exam no longer operates for this purpose. The new clinic location is off-island.
As for Thalia, she's still happier than a clam and doing great. She wants to be carried everywhere, which is physically impossible for us (like most low-tone kids, she feels like a sack of potatoes and doesn't help much when being carried), but she's a trooper about walking. She's got some great motor skills; she can jump with both feet off the ground, can go up and down steps with alternating feet, and has a great pincer grasp for writing/coloring and pretty darn good chopstick mastery.
As I was typing, she woke up and came to my bed to snuggle, so I guess I'll quit and enjoy the moment. :) More later!
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