Jan 18th

I think the trip is catching up with all of us...  We were all kind of cranky today.

This is the quietest she was ALL day

There was no agenda accept to be ready to go to the airport at 2:30pm, so we took our time with breakfast, then went for a walk so we could eat lunch (we both have the "China Roll" sounds like a sushi roll, but really its the belly roll, cause the food is just so good!!  I did my best to navigate the busy streets to the "waking street" (just a street of shops that is closed to cars), but we never found it...

Lunch was Oh So good

I think of all the food we have had here the Hunan Province is the best.  The fried pork with green chili is the best thing I have had in a long time.  It is just a very simple dish, made in a wok with soy bean oil, small pieces of pork and a ton of green chilies (they look sort of like Anaheim chilies) its pretty spicy without being overwhelming, but the flavor is just out of this world!!!  I asked our guide for the recipe, i want to try and make it when I get back home.  So of course, for our last lunch in Changsha, we had to get it again.









We left early for the airport, since Friday traffic is really bad, so we ate dinner at the airport.  We found a place that had some good noodles, and some beef and rice (not too bad for airport food.  Estee wanted a fancy drink, so we pointed to what looked like a picture of a milkshake on the menu.  Our first clue that things were amiss, was when the waiter set the drink down and said, "very hot"!  Turns out this thing was a thick ricey oatmeal tasting drink...  But it looked like a milkshake!

I'm happy when I get to go where I want to!

sat next to Estee without crying for 60 sec.

Chloe was having an off day too, she cried when we picked her up, she cried on the elevator, she cried in the van to the airport, (till I gave her my iPhone, playing music).  We are learning that she is a very strong willed girl!  She wont let us hold her without crying (which turns into screaming), and she doesn't sit down (unless its the stroller).  So I spent one hour walking around the airport with her (after 10 minutes she wouldn't let me hold her hand) so I spent the rest of the hour just following her unsteady gait around the little airport shops.  We got alot of looks!  Since we had learned about her stubborn streak, we had a plan for keeping her quite on the plane, and it involved a big bag of cherrios, and goldfish!  When we got in our seats, she would only be quiet if she stood on her own, on the ground in between my legs.  She wouldn't even let me pick her up for takeoff (and being in China, no one said anything about it!)  then when she started to fuss, I would distract her with cherrios...  it worked pretty well, accept I accidentally dropped about 50 cherrios on the floor, which turned out to be a blessing, as she was very busy, squatting down to pick everyone of them up!  But then she ate them too...  Oh well, I'm sure she's had worse germs in her life.  Thank goodness it was only an hour flight, at the end of the flight, she was so full, she didn't want anymore food, thus we had nothing to keep her quiet.  Another thing we learned in China, since you are only allowed 1 child, they are very precious, so EVERYONE, looks at the Chinese baby with the  foreign family, so when she cried, people were standing up on the plane to see what was the matter.  Needless to say we did everything in our power to keep her quiet.





Once we landed, she wouldn't let us carry her, and the stroller was at baggage claim, so we had to walk at Chloe pace for the 3/4 of a mile trek from the gate to baggage claim.  When we got to baggage claim, ours were the last bags on the carousel.

The hour drive to our hotel started off okay, cause I let her stand in front of my seat, but she was falling asleep, so I picked her up, then she went ballistic.  We pretty much didn't get her to stop crying till 9:30pm...  what a day!  At least she is asleep now...

Things that make you go "hmmm" (sign at bathroom sink)