Our Adoption Story

I've been writing this blog mostly for friends and family at home, but we'll also share this with the CWA mail list when we get home, so I thought I'd better share some tips about staying in Guangzhou.

First thing - we've seen lots of people on the CWA mail list talk about washing laundry by hand in their hotel room. DON'T DO IT! If at all possible, hold your dirty laundry until you get to Guangzhou. When you go out from the White Swan, there are lots of shops that will wash your laundry for you. Our guide recommended "Jennifer's" which just across the street from the White Swan. We just picked up our laundry (we've had washing done there twice now) and we're very pleased with the service.

They wash it, press it, and even wrap the shirts up with cardboard inside to keep it wrinkle-free, then seal it in plastic. My wife is really going to miss this when we get home. Here are some prices...

T-shirt - 8 yuan ($1 USD)
Shorts - 5 yuan ($.62 USD)
Underwear - 2 yuan ($.25 USD)
Socks - 2 yuan ($.25 USD)
Baby Clothes - 3 yuan ($.37 USD)

If you drop off before 11 AM, it's done by 4:30 PM.
If you drop off before 2 PM, it's done by 7:30 PM.
If you drop off AFTER 2 PM, it's done tomorrow by 4:30 PM.

The picture is the load we just picked up, which was a pretty large sack of laundry. It cost 94 yuan ($11.60 USD). The only downside - it's not dried in a dryer. The clothes is clean, but it has that "clothesline" smell to it... and it's not a "fresh outdoorsy smell"... it's kind of a "urban outdoorsy smell".