After our visit to the village, where the brothers were so helpful as to arrange a train ticket for us, (this saved us a lot of waiting in line, a favourite Chinese pastime) we were chauffeured back to a train station, from where we travelled quite comfortably to Beijing.

In Beijing, we had an entire day to fill before the next train, to Shanghai, would depart, which gave us the opportunity to relax a bit. Although we fervently stated before that we surely wouldn’t want to eat anything for at least a couple of days, the first sight of a McDonalds, I’m ashamed to say, did make our mouths water. After very carefully consuming a medium-sized breakfast, our stomachs reminded us that they were still busy digesting the previous meals, hence, we were forced to find a Starbucks and rest our weary bodies. The advantage of the Starbucks we selected (for those who know: the one overlooking the walking street south of the Forbidden City) was that the general mob of shoppers was clearly visible to us, while being blissfully unaware of our stares, finger pointing and ridicule. If you have travelled in China, you know how we felt after nine hours on a Chinese train, and I am sure you can sympathize. Our favourite diversions were 1) Describe the foreigner (e.g. who is he/she, why is he/she here, and if it was a man, who is that Chinese woman next to him? Obviously, the answer “his wife” was too obvious and therefore not good enough);

2) Take a picture with as many people wearing a panda-hat as possible; 3) Enjoy the hilarious situations created by a security guard trying to clear a path for a tram in the middle of a busy shopping street; and 4) Find out exactly how much caramel is required to make the perfect caramel macchiato! (Answer: you can never have too much caramel!) Obviously, one can only find such things amusing for so long, so we decided to go for a rickshaw-ride through the Hutongs (the old centre of Beijing) and visit the Olympic stadia. The Bird’s Nest and the Watercube are quite a sight once night has fallen!

Around 21.00 hrs, our train to Shanghai would depart, and we were very happy to discover that it was a quite luxurious high-speed train, in which we had our own cabin. (Thanks again to the brothers!) Although not very cheap, the first thirty minutes spent on pushing all the different buttons and marvelling at the individual television sets and the softness of the mattresses were definitely worth the money.

Upon waking up in the morning, we arrived in Shanghai, where we were picked up from the train station / airport by Sam. Sam is the oldest son of Paul and Toni, the lovely couple that had invited us to stay a couple of days. Sam has a realknack for trains and is well on his way to becoming an engineer. Sam’s younger brother, Jackson, is the family-artist. He loves his music, and, judging by the pictures in his room, might also become involved in the world of graphic art. Currently, his magic flows through his yoyo. His tricks were very impressive! Paul and Toni also have a little girl, Chelsea, whom they adopted a few years ago. Chelsea is a lovely little princess who thoroughly enjoys listening to stories and dressing up, and she even taught me a few Chinese words! Paul and Toni both teach at the international school, though in different departments. They are very different people, loving and interesting in their own ways, but what is most amazing is that, in spite of all the stuff they have to deal with while living in a foreign country, they also find the time and energy to make this family work.

Next to these three amazing kids, Paul, and Toni, this family also includes Christopher. Christopher was taken in by the family to allow for him to have surgery. Suffering from Spina Bifida, Christopher was almost constantly in need of care, but has greatly improved after several trips to the hospital and the benefit of all the love and care of this wonderful family. He is always eager to do things by himself (I do it!) and very proud to show you he managed to do something (I did it!). Unfortunately, the family that saved his life by taking him in and paying for the required care cannot adopt this amazing little man. Because of his disability, his parents never registered him when he was born, so he is without identity, and therefore, without a passport. Legally, he doesn’t exist. This nice example of Chinese culture and bureaucracy makes it impossible for a family in China to adopt him, as in China a person is required to “be somebody”, and have “papers” to support this. For the moment, Christopher remains in limbo-land, informally part of a loving family.

I spent a lot of time playing with the younger kids, who were very adorable. Christopher and Chelsea introduced me to the Wiggles, and I spent several mornings waking up to their (excessively happy) tunes, singing along with Captain Feathersword and Dorothy the Dinosaur, who prefers to eat roses. (Mind you, these guys have been in the game of children’s entertainment for over 19 years, and make money by the truckload, so I guess there must be something to it!)

Naturally, I didn’t spend all my time playing with the kids. When in Shanghai, one must also go and see The Bund and the Old Street, and shop at Marks & Spencer’s (expensive, but they have cheese!). We were allowed to use the kitchen to cook for the family, which was a lot of fun, and Paul and Toni took us to lunch and dinner. They took us to an artsy/shopping district, which was very interesting, but, easily the best place they took us to was a restaurant called “Whisk”. If you are ever in Shanghai, find it! It is a heaven for chocolate fanatics like myself, where everything is rich and creamy and dark brown, to an extend where the fridge had to be labelled specifically to keep off customers who can’t control themselves. (see pic: yes you would!)

The day before we were to fly home, we went to Suzhou, a village west of Shanghai, to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Suzhou, famous for its beautiful gardens, is also home to a multitude of bridges, in all shapes, sizes and degrees of maintenance. Christine and I hired bikes to explore the city, which turned out to be an excellent way to discover the backstreets and cover some ground without having to wait and pay for cabs all the time. We saw a beautiful temple and had an overall relaxing day, which ended in a rather bold scooter ride to the station where we caught the high-speed train back to Shanghai. After a last lovely evening with the family and a smooth flight to Guangzhou, we arrived safely back in Zhongshan, weary of all our adventures, but with a heart full of new and exciting memories.