Visit to Hong Kong / last days in Changsha

Hello everyone!  It is Wednesday over here and I leave Changsha and the Butterflies on Saturday morning - bound for the mountains and Midwifery with Altitude.  So I'm catching up before I go as there won't be many computers where I'm going, for a while.  

I believe your weather is improving - hooray for you.  It's better here too, although we have just had 5 days of torrential rain - but on the whole it is better.  The humidity is something else but even that is better some days than others.  I believe up at 4,500 metres it will be quite chilly so back to warmer clothes.

So - update on Butterfly.  The latest moving date is 10th June.  This may happen.  It all looks ready - except for one floor to be laid most of the installations are complete, or enough for us to move, anyway.  Not while I'm there though!  Two local volunteers from the art college have been filling in the time painting pictures on the walls and they are so great, so they'll be ready!

Our Butterflies have changed a little since my last blog.  Our 'bruiser' Paul has gone to Holland with his adoptive parents - I hope he will be OK; he really didn't understand what was happening and his new parents say he is not the boy portrayed by the comments in his Album - but he was chief man at Butterfly so it will take him a while to get used to his new surroundings.  Lots of tears when he left!!  I'm sure he will bounce back soon.  Little Emmanuel sadly didn't make it through his operation and subsequent problems. We all really expected him to do well so that was a sad loss.  The two new babies mentioned in my last blog are still with us - one is very poorly with brain damage and we are just keeping him as comfortable as we can, but he not really conscious and hasn't been for a while.  It will be merciful when he goes.  The other little girl has amazed us - she has very little working brain as shown by scans, and really is not 'with us' - but she came to us crying all the time, not eating and not maintaining her temperature.  Now she doesn't cry, seems to know we are around, will feed from a bottle and is winning hearts so gets lots of cuddles!  The little boy, Luke, who was my first 'new baby' has won everyone's hearts and our cook, Daphne, can be found often just gazing at him in his cot, or in the playroom, and will get a cuddle whenever she can.  Now he has filled out and grown a little we can tell he has Down's syndrome, so he is very loveable!  He doesn't appear to have any of the major problems associated with Down's, fingers crossed.  Hopefully he will be adopted sometime in the not too distant future.  So, the net result of all that is that we have 2 empty beds but the Welfare Institute/orphanage hospital hasn't got anyone they want to send to us at the moment - we are standing by.

In Changsha not a lot to report.  I went to the Botanical Gardens today - my last day off and I thought I should see something else!  The azaleas are out around the flats here so I thought the National Azalea Garden at the Botanical Gardens would be worth a visit.  The gardens were lovely, loads of trees so fairly cool and would have been peaceful if there hadn't been firecrackers let off from surrounding areas the whole 1.5 hours I was there!  It took me an hour to find the Azalea Garden as it is strangely signed.  You go in the entrance and the ticket collector doesn't know where it is or, even, where he is on the map they give you - (there are 3 entrances and I didn't know which one I was at).  You walk for 20 plus minutes before seeing a sign - which points back the way you have come.  So back down again but, at the 3 way road junction, which way?  I had taken a photo of the sign with the Chinese lettering on it but no-one, including garden rangers, knew where the Garden was.  So, after a wrong guess - which was a pretty part of the garden - I went on walking.  I dived in, to look at a sculpture, to find a sign, not visible initially, saying National Azalea Garden.  Hooray.  But no azaleas out - I guess the ones at the flat are rhododendrons...?  However, it was still an attractive visit.  The magnolias here are out too, huge flowers amongst lots of leaves, but none of the 34 species of magnolias at the gardens were out, strangely.

At the flat our new person from the last blog is great.  She's lovely, fun but sensible for her 21 years, and a good nurse to work with.  She is staying for 6 months.  When I leave on Saturday my bedroom will be taken by a Chinese girl who is coming to work in the office.  She has worked in America and her English is excellent so I hope she will enjoy sharing the flat with the others.

So, Hong Kong!  I had such a lovely few days there.  I was lucky in that the sun was out and the humidity down for the 2 days I had to look around.  I spent one day taking the ferry out to Lantau Island and visiting the Big Buddha and walking around.  Lots of wonderful views over other islands, the sea and the green mountains, with beautiful blue sky and fluffy clouds (which you can't see in Changsha due to the smog - I didn't realise how much I had missed the sky and clouds!). I then heading back by a different way.  The next day I took a Big Bus trip which went around Hong Kong Island, including Stanley, with a commentary, then over to Kowloon by Star ferry , then around Kowloon ending up in the evening down by the harbour to watch the laser show.  You could hop on and off the Big Bus so I saw the Botanical Gardens and Zoo there, Stanley Market and some other bits.  It was a full day but varied and interesting - mountains, beaches, amazing houses, Enormous buildings/skyscrapers, bustling streets or leafy quiet parts, big stores, markets - everything..  I can see why people want to live in Hong Kong - I really enjoyed it.  I was extremely lucky to be staying with my neighbour Sally's nephew, who lives there.  He has 2 apartments near each other and I had one all to myself.  The apartments are in an area outside and up from the bustle of Kowloon, surrounded by trees, with just one road up so really quiet and pleasant.  I had a balcony which looked over trees, and 3 beautifully peaceful nights!  Bliss!  (We still have the roadworks at the flats till early hours of the morning...!)

So, a brilliant 'holiday'.  It sort of demonstrated a civilised China.  No spitting/tobacco chewing, barging, queue jumping, and traffic stopped if you were walking across a pedestrian crossing.  Very nice!

Onwards.  Must start sorting out my things and packing up.  After 'up the mountain with Mary' it looks as though I may be able to get a travel permit for Tibet so I'm hoping that my plans may remain unchanged.  If not I will just go to Nepal earlier, I think, and do some walking, before I start my 6 day adventure there at the end of my 4 months away.  I'm looking forward to moving on, now.  Should have lots to tell you all in my next blog.  Heaven knows when that will be - could even be in a month's time when I'm back in Delhi, but hopefully sooner.  I'm not sure when I shall be able to pick up emails after this weekend - maybe not until 19th June, but possibly at odd times before.  

Enjoy the summer and Happy Jubilee.  I'm sorry to be missing that on the tele.  I hope the weather stays good this weekend and you are all able to enjoy whatever you are doing for the celebrations.

Liz xx