Not much of import happened en route to the train station from Maoming. Emblematic of this is the fact that my camera was covered with condensation when attempting to take photographs of our guide, Ben, and our driver Mr. Oh – they look completely shrouded in fog. I’m wallowing in a sea of mucous, which makes sharing a train with the Evans-Cohen clan rather uncomfortable. I confine myself to a corner of the ‘soft berth’ – using a saturated cloth handkerchief to try to stem the tide. Five and half hours passed relatively quickly and we were back to the scaldingly-hot and chaotic Guangzhou train station – searching for the blue Lotus flag. Our guide, Jocelyn, brought us back to the White Swan and checked us in. After a swim in the pool and a ‘German cold cut’ bread thing from the neighboring deli – we’re feeling human again and ready to explore.
The White Swan is just as it was in 1999 – save for the absence of Christmas decorations and the presence of significantly more adopted babies with special needs. We’re surprised by how many adoptive families we see – most of whom are toting older brothers and siblings, often also from China. We dabbled in a bit of shopping, but my cold is raging and we quickly gave up and retreated to our soft beds. I’ve been downing Chinese orange juice (think ‘Tang’ accompanied by a bunch of pulp) and trying to lay low to get over this weird virus.
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