Hangzhou to Yiwu

I’m used to getting up at 4 a.m., but when Leah and Cheryl are awake at that hour, the stars need to be realigned. So Leah decided to join me today for a morning run. We found that even leaving at 5:30 a.m. (the sun rises and sets about an hour earlier here than it does at home) we found much activity around West Lake—walking, running, bicycling, marching, practicing tai chi and even dancing. We caused a bit of a stir having this photo of us taken. We asked a lady who apparently didn’t know how to work the camera. By the time she found someone who did, we had a crowd watching us.

Today we traveled by van to Yiwu, a city of two million south of Hangzhou and where the orphanage in which Leah spent her first nine months is located. We will visit it tomorrow. Upon arriving, we had lunch and then spent the afternoon at a very large mall. I’ve never been to the Mall of America (and I hope never to be before I die), but I can’t imagine it being larger than this one. It was laid out like a maze on multiple floors.

One of the interesting things we’ve been observing is how the Chinese approach Leah. We do get some stares when they see her with the two of use, probably trying to figure out the relationship. But at the stores today, most of the clerks would ignore Cheryl and me and directly address Leah in Chinese. Even when she indicated that she didn’t understand, some continued. And in one store an American shopper asked her about clothing sizes, thinking she worked there because, he said, her English was pretty good!