Thursday, January 19, 2006

The following narrative was written by Jeff because he went to Beihai by himself. We thought the trip would be too long for Delaney and she was having a bad day so I stayed behind with her.

I left for Beihai at 8:00 am. When the trip was offered to us, my initial thought was, what’s the point? Delaney is too young to remember, she’ll never live there again, and it’s a full day trip on a bus with no prospects for edible food along the way. However, considering the alternative was to spend the day in the hotel napping and changing diapers, I thought it would be good to get out. Once we pulled away and headed down the road, I began to have the feeling that I would see a lot of memorable things that I won’t soon forget. I was right. I also knew, if nothing else, I could document the trip so that some day Delaney, if she wanted to, could learn a little more about herself by seeing her heritage and where she came from.

The drive took a little over 3 hours with 2 stops along the way. One of the stops is a memory that won’t soon be forgotten. Without getting into any detail, I’ll just say that there are no “Western Style” toilets on the highways in China and leave it at that. I don’t remember those types of facts being described in any of the CHI brochures. Anyway, “when in Rome” do as the Romans do.

One of the first things that I observed along the way, was behind one of the rest stops. I looked out over the countryside and saw a large pond. On the shore of the pond, there were a few families not only washing their clothes in it, but washing their children and themselves at the same time. Within about 50 feet was their family ox, which in this agricultural area is used instead of a tractor. In these parts of the country, the ox is a very valuable possession and it is a tool to make income. I thought this was an odd sight until we drove on down the road and saw the same thing over and over and over again. The highways were a combination of high speed traffic (upwards of 90 mph) and carts drawn by donkeys or bikes. (That combination is sort of symbolic of what I was to find in this seaside town.) As we entered Beihai, I saw a city that was much larger than I thought with massive new (mostly empty) buildings mixed in with thatched huts and shacks. The contrast was striking. I couldn’t help but notice how this country, although growing and building huge infrastructures and rapidly becoming a superpower, still can’t take care of its people. The poverty was everywhere, at least by American standards. The people seem happy, but have very little material goods. Very few drive cars, the majority ride bikes or walk. Jobs are scarce and most people make their income by selling sugar cane, chickens, or fruit. I even saw someone selling 12 little puppies that were caged up on the back of a bike. I want to think that they were for sale as pets, but somehow I have a feeling that they will be used for other means. I just couldn’t take a picture of that.

As long winded as this sounds, I want to write about this stuff because it tells the story about where Delaney came from. There’s no way that pictures can tell the entire story or paint the picture.

On our trip, we were stared at constantly. The staring got so bad it actually stopped traffic outside of the orphanage. People came out of their shacks, apartments and stores to see the strange looking people that are called Americans. I guess that’s what a rock star or the elephant man feels like when he walks around in public. I found out later that most of the people in this part of China had never seen what an American looked like before. It was very uncomfortable at first, but you gradually get used to it.