More Lydia's photos :)

DSC_0119: Lydia sitting on sofa in our hotel room (room 1408) at Lakeview Hotel in
Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China on Thursday, January 4, 2007

DSC_0185: Lydia playing with her toy telephone that rings (a gift from Choo) in her crib at our hotel room (room 1408) in Lakeview Hotel in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China on Thursday, January 4, 2007

I cannot believe that the photos are finally successfully posted on the blog. Thomas was trying all kinds of ways to do it and we gave up after trying numerous numerous attempts this afternoon. I was trying it out for the last time before going to bed and suddenly it just worked!

We will try to upload more new photos tomorrow :) On the Gotcha Day (Jan 4th), Thomas took 600 plus photos!!!! But don't worry, we will not be posting 600 photos :) (This note is from Wee).

Lydia's photos Finally !!!

DSC_0032: Tom, Lydia, and SiowFong in the large reception room at Jiangxi Province Center of Adoption Service. Lydia is still wearing the traditional Chinese outfit with which the orphanage workers clothed her when they delivered her to us!
(Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China on Thursday, January 4, 2007)

DSC_0069: Tom, Lydia, and SiowFong in a small photography room for our family’s notarized adoption finalization picture at Jiangxi Province Center of Adoption Service

(Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China on Thursday, January 4, 2007)

DSC_0094: Lydia laying on top of the diaper changing pad on one of the two beds in our hotel room (room 1408) at Lakeview Hotel
(Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China on Thursday, January 4, 2007)

DSC_0124: Lydia sitting in her crib at our hotel room (room 1408) in Lakeview Hotel (she really enjoyed looking around at almost everything in our room)

(Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China on Thursday, January 4, 2007)

DSC_0109: Bernard, Tom, Lydia, SiowFong, and Ma Wee in the large reception room at Jiangxi Province Center of Adoption Service

(Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China on Thursday, January 4, 2007)

DSC_0118: Lydia and SiowFong sitting on sofa in our hotel room (room 1408) at Lakeview Hotel

(Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China on Thursday, January 4, 2007)

Introducing Miss Lydia Christine Chin (finally!)

----------------------

January 6, 2007 (Saturday: 8:40 PM)


Lydia Update

Early this morning around 5:30 AM, Lydia awoke with a fever without any other localizing symptoms to indicate the source of the fever. We treated her with a combination of infant Tylenol drops and Children’s Motrin, which successfully abolished the fever during the afternoon. Later during the day she developed a slight, occasional cough. Through this situation, she has continued to eat and drink well (she ate rice porridge, steamed perch, some sweet bread, and mashed potatoes tonight at supper). During the afternoon when she was without the fever, she played well in her crib and on the couch, particularly enjoying the pastels of her stuffed animal, a dog, and allowing either of us to clean her body and her mouth. The fever, however, returned shortly after dinner, so we retreated her with Children’s Motrin.

With respect to Lydia’s personality, she is crying less now than two days ago, and this is mainly because she is becoming adjusting to us. She still fusses with diaper changes as she is not accustomed to wearing diapers. (Chinese infants and toddlers wear split pants, which means that the pants are not stitched in the private area to allow the kids to urinate and defecate easily. That is why many kids are potty trained much earlier than in the US.) Finally, she doesn’t like taking baths, even sponge baths like the one she just had this morning. One of the Lakeview Hotel’s maids disclosed to SiowFong that Chinese infants and toddlers usually take a bath about once a week.


Paperwork Plus

The only paperwork remaining is the documentation to formalize Lydia’s adoption from the US perspective and to allow Lydia to get a visa to come to the US from the US consulate. For two hours late this morning, from 10 AM until noon, I filled out paperwork with members of our group in our guide’s room.


The Pace of the Day

Even on a day like today without any outside the home work responsibilities, the day passes quickly with a little one. The only times for rest or for doing other things that are not directly related to Lydia’s care are those occasions when she is sleeping. Fortunately Lydia is one of those children who does not mind playing by herself some of the time, even inside the cramped confines of the hotel’s Chinese crib, which is about half the size of a typical American crib. Without Ma Wee’s assistance, we would really be spent.

2nd Day with Lydia

January 5, 2007 (8:24 PM)


There isn’t any substitute for time when it comes to human relationships. Knowing someone well requires time in terms of quality and quantity. Today was our day 2 of getting acquainted with Lydia.


Meal Time

Lydia loves eating! Lydia’s predominant source of nutrition comes from formula and powdered cereal. According to the Fengcheng orphanage worker who brought Lydia to us yesterday, she drinks a mixture of formula (Nestle’s Lactogen 2) and powdered cereal (Naner Nutritious Rice Cereal manufactured by Nanchang Children Nutritious Food Factory in a 60:40 ratio. She receives 8 ounces of this mixture four times a day at 7 AM, 11 AM, 4 PM, and 7 PM.

In addition to using Nestle’s Lactogen 2 and Naner Nutritious Rice Cereal, we also added some of Costco’s formula that is equivalent in nutritional content to Enfamil, a standard American formula in preparing Lydia’s bottles. With respect to today’s mealtimes, she ate 6 to 7 ounces of that triple mixture at 2:00 AM, 7:00 AM, 11:30AM, 1:30 PM, 4:30 PM, and 6:30 PM, and she will receive another bottle before she goes to bed tonight (which may be around 10 PM, which was her bedtime yesterday night). With each bottle feeding, Lydia eagerly gulps down the formula, usually draining the entire 6 to 7 ounces in three minutes! (Infants in China, particularly those reared in foster homes and orphanages, are accustomed to nipples with much larger diameters than the ones found in the US.)

In addition, Lydia ate some table food today, including banana, mandarin orange, and rice congee (rice porridge) at breakfast and some steamed egg at dinner.


Bath Time

Although Lydia does not mind having a wet washcloth applied to her face or her hands, she is not too fond of bathing. At 10:30 AM, Lydia received her first bath since she became a part of our family. While I was at Wal-Mart (my 4th visit to the store) with members of the other three adoptive families and our New Hope guide, Danlin, Ma Wee and SiowFong were giving Lydia her daily bath. Using a blue plastic baby bathtub provided by the hotel and a small plastic cup, they gently cleaned Lydia. Lydia did not like the process at all, crying throughout the experience. Ma Wee and SiowFong managed to shampoo her hair and rinsed the rest of her body with water. From Lydia’s reaction, they surmised that Lydia was probably not accustomed to receiving frequent baths.


Nap Time

From the referral report given to us in early November 2006, we learned that Lydia does not sleep much compared to her peers. She naps only one to two hours a day, usually in the afternoon, and she retires in the evening at 10:00 PM and awakens at 6:00 AM. (Infants who are around 12 months old usually sleep 12 to 14 hours per day.)

Lydia slept last night from 10:00 PM until 7:00 AM today. She only took two naps today, one from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM and one from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

Before she goes to sleep, she likes to wail for a few minutes. Ma Wee commented that Lydia has a “fierce cry”. (Some of this reaction is probably because we are not as aware or sensitive to her normal daily routine with respect to nap and sleep time.)


Play Time

When we received Lydia yesterday, she appeared cautious and reserved most of the time and did not play too much. Today, however, she began showing more of her true personality, and she was more animated and playful.

Lydia loves a variety of toys. She played with her stackable cups this afternoon, and she had less interest in yesterday’s toys, which included the rattler and the talking telephone.
After dinner tonight, she took a 10-minute slow walk in the hallway with SiowFong holding onto one arm and Ma Wee holding onto the other arm. Later in the evening, she was fascinated by a small water bottle. As I am writing this update, she is uttering a lot of “ah-ah-ah” noises, making good eye contact with Ma Wee and SiowFong, and moving the pillows, bolsters, and other toys in her crib and trying to hand them to Ma Wee and SiowFong.


Other News Today

At 1:30 PM, we said farewell to Bernard, who was then taken to the Nanchang airport for a flight to Guangzhou. He will spend the rest of the weekend there with a friend before returning to Malaysia on Sunday.

Speaking of Bernard and Ma Wee, they have been indispensable on this trip. Bernard helped us in a number of ways, including doing most of the videography of the trip up to this date and doing some of the photography. At 79 years of age, Ma Wee still has the endurance, patience, and creativity to care for young children, and her attention to Lydia and devotion to meeting Lydia’s needs are clearly helping Lydia in her transition from her foster family to our family.

#2: Gotcha Day

This is Wee here. Still have difficulties posting :( But will keep on trying.

Lydia is absolutely adorable :) I recognized her immediately as the 4 babies were being brought into the Civil Affairs Bureau (CAB) office. She cried a little when she was handed to me. She would close her eyes and then turned her face away from us initially. Throughout the day, she would cry for a few minutes every few hours. She has strong and healthy lungs for sure! Whenever she is sleepy, she will cry (loudly) until she goes off to sleep. She has been taking her bottle (milk) and likes to drink lots of water. She has 2 teeth, and is still not walking yet but is holding onto furniture. She loves to see herself on the mirror. According to her latest medical records, she is now at 9.5 kgs. She has rather big eyes for a Chinese baby :) She is still getting used to us and has not really smile quite yet. We put her to bed at 10 pm last night and she woke up once for her milk at 2 am, and went right back to sleep after that. She woke up at 5:30 am and went back to sleep again while I am e:mailing this blog. Thank God she slept well last night. Bernard and Ma Wee have been such great help and we would not have been able to manage Lydia that well without their help!
Got to go now. Will try posting the photos again.

Gotcha day!

(Delayed Posting)

Introducing Miss Lydia Christine Chin !!!!

So sorry. We have difficulties posting the photos :( Will keep on trying.

January 3rd 2007 (Pre-Gotcha day)

January 3, 2007 (Wednesday)


The First Adoption Described in the Bible

Have you ever seen the animated movie produced by Dreamworks, “The Prince of Egypt”? If you have not, the film summarizes the second book of the Bible, Exodus, and is essentially a story about Moses, one of the most prominent and renowned Jewish leaders who ever lived and the man whom God chose to lead the Israelites out of Egypt into Palestine. Below is how Exodus describes Moses’ early life:

“But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied and became exceedingly mighty so that the land [of Egypt] was filled with them.

Now a new king [Pharoah] arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph [the Israelite who was second in command in Egypt under the reign of a past Pharoah]. And he said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we…

Then Pharoah commanded all his people, saying, ‘Every [Hebrew] son who is born you are to cast into the Nile [River] and every daughter you are to keep alive.’

Now a man from the house of Levi [one of the 12 tribes of Israel] went and married a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. But when she could hid him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it, and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

Then the daughter of Pharoah came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her.

When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”…he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’”

Source: Exodus 1:7-8, 22 and 2:1-6; 10b (NASB)


Wal-Mart, Trip # 3

As we needed to buy some more things for Lydia, including snacks (primarily cookies) and a toilet bowl seat for toddlers and as Bernard and Ma Wee had never visited a Wal-Mart, we returned there in the mid-morning. Because today is not a holiday (except for the Chinese government workers), Wal-Mart was much less crowded. We walked through the store without any difficulty.


The Powells

The highlight of our day was the time we spent with the Powells, Thom, Kimberly, Paige, and Dale. As residents of Dallas, Texas, Thom, an architect, and Kimberly, a real estate appraiser, celebrated their five-year wedding anniversary in the fall of 2006, and both are delighted by Paige, their three and a half year old adopted Chinese daughter who became a part of their family when she was ten months old. Accompanying them on their second trip to China is Dale, Thom’s 70-year old mother from San Diego, California who was making her first trip to China.

One of the benefits of adopting internationally, particularly from China, is meeting new friends through various places, including SiowFong’s workplace, New Hope Child and Family Agency, and the Internet. It was through the worldwide web that SiowFong met Kimberly in November 2006. (The Powells chose Chinese Children’s Adoption International (CCAI) based in Colorado when they adopted Paige, and they are working with Harrahs, an adoption agency based in Texas, for their second Chinese adoption.)

Although SiowFong has only known Kimberly for two months, it seems as if they have known each other for years. During their online conversations in the Fengcheng adoption chatroom, SiowFong discovered that Kimberly and Thom had been sponsoring Lydia for a few months through the Holt International Adoption Agency prior to Lydia being formally placed with us! With her prior experience of adopting a child from China, Kimberly also liberally shared her perspective and advice via daily emails with SiowFong over the last two months.


Afternoon Activities with the Powells

Shortly before noon, we met them at their hotel, the Gloria Plaza Hotel, in downtown Nanchang, and we ate lunch with them at very modern restaurant adjacent to the hotel. Even though this was the first time we had met them face-to-face, it seemed as if we had known them for years. Because of their friendly, approachable, and candid personalities, the conversations flowed smoothly, and two and a half hours quickly elapsed. This day is particularly special to them since they will receive their second Chinese daughter, Renee, at 4:00 PM.

After lunch, Thom, Paige, and Dale returned to their room while Bernard, Ma We, and I rested in the hotel’s lobby. Meanwhile Kimberly and SiowFong strolled to a store recommended by other members of the Fengcheng adoption chatroom called Tiffanie’s Place, a store that offers a variety of services to adoptive families who stay at the Gloria Plaza Hotel – including providing free laundry services for all adopted children at the hotel and giving adoptive families an original hardcopy of the finding ad of their child that is published in the local newspaper!

After they returned to the hotel, Kimberly showed SiowFong a special adoption scrapbook called a lifebook that highlighted Paige’s first year of life. Upon initial inspection, one could easily tell that this colorful, image-filled memory book took many hours of labor and love to produce.


Gotcha Day at Gloria Plaza Hotel

Eight families received their Chinese infants at the hotel from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM. We stood in the hotel foyer, waiting with anticipation to see which vehicles would contain the adopted children. Spilling out of the orphanage vans and cars would be two orphanage workers for each child; one carried the child, and other brought a bundle of paperwork and a few baby supplies.

We remained at the hotel to witness and document the Powell’s receiving of Renee Qiulu Powell, a 14-month old daughter from Fengcheng who has spent nearly all of her life with a foster family. Bernard worked the Sony HDR-SR1 camcorder (a hard drive camcorder), and I used two Nikon D70s digital SLR cameras to document this auspicious, lifechanging event. Dressed in a traditional red Chinese parka shaped in the form of a sleeper to cover all of the child except for the face, Renee, with her reddened cheeks, appeared calm when she entered the hotel. To SiowFong, who had seen her official adoption pictures, Renee looked much different because of the intervening months of growth. In the hotel lobby, SiowFong also met Mr. Wu, the director of the Fengcheng orphanage who was holding Renee. All of us then followed Mr. Wu and his assistant as they went to room 1319 to deliver to the Powells their bundle of joy!

What a day!

January 2nd 2007: A day trip to Fengcheng

January 2, 2007 (Tuesday) (8:02 PM)


Introductions

When someone meets someone else for the first time, one of the first questions that follows, “What is your name?” is “What do you do?” Shortly thereafter, another question that commonly occurs in such a conversation is “Where are you live?” In his autobiography, Walking from East to West, Ravi Zacharias, a Christian philosopher, comments that the response to that last question potentially provides a lot of information about a person, which might include socioeconomic status, education level, religious background, and / or ethnicity.

A universal challenge that adoptive families face is discovering the past details of their child’s life. Although some countries like Korea and Taiwan keep meticulous records about their children who are available for adoption, other nations like China have much less detailed documentation about their adoptable children.

To learn more about Lydia, SiowFong arranged a chartered taxi to take us to Fengcheng, a town in Jiangxi Province located 60 kilometers away from Nanchang. This place has major significance in Lydia’s life because it is not only her place of birth but also her only home since she was born.


Fengcheng, China

Promptly after breakfast, Bernard, Ma Wee, SiowFong, and I left the hotel in the taxi at 9:30 AM. An hour and forty minutes later, we found ourselves in Fengcheng, a town surrounded by farmland.

Compared to Nanchang, Fengcheng is definitely more rural – no skyscrapers, people carrying things in bamboo baskets that hang down on opposite ends of a bamboo pole which is then supported on the back, and men pulling 2-wheeled carts that contain bricks, wood, and a variety of other goods.


Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Our first extended stop was the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Fengchengshi Zhongyiyuang) on whose steps Lydia was found. As a large brick building with four steps leading to a covered entranceway supported by eight metal columns, the place was abuzz with activity. During the thirty minutes that we were there, patients steadily streamed in and out of the facility.

Tri-shaws, modified rickshaws that were essentially tricycles with a canopy and a passenger compartment, were constantly picking up or dropping off passengers. A number of them were lined up at the curb like a queue of taxis, ready for the next customer. Inside the building, SiowFong and I saw Chinese doctors dressed in long white coats examining patients in their offices.


Fengcheng Social Welfare Institute

The Chinese do not use the term orphanage for their buildings that care for the adoptable children; instead, they employ the words “Social Welfare Institute” to describe these structures, which are also home to the handicapped and elderly.

Two years ago, the new Fengcheng Social Welfare Institute was built, and this was our second key destination in the town. An imposing, modern creation with lots of windows and glass, this red and white concrete structure resembles a contemporary building in America. We met with two of the social workers at the facility. They informed us that the orphanage currently cares for thirty children and that the infant to caregiver ratio is 1 to 4. They also disclosed to us that most adoptable children are now placed into the care of foster families.

We also had an opportunity to see four of the babies living in the orphanage. Some of them were sleeping in standard wooden cribs, and others were resting in cribs that were essentially made from half of a wooden barrel. Ma Wee especially liked an infant girl with a fair complexion and dark hair; the only health problem the child had was a partially deformed forearm and hand.

When SiowFong and Ma Wee were asking about Lydia, the lead social worker remembered seeing Lydia’s name and thinks that she knows the foster family who live very near the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She stated that the foster family’s only request of Lydia’s future adoptive parents is to send future pictures of Lydia back to the orphanage as she grows and develops.


Hongkelong Department Store in Nanchang

On our way back to the hotel from Fengcheng, we asked our taxi driver to stop at this department store which was recommended by our New Hope representative, as a retailer that carried baby strollers. Located next to the Jiangxi Hotel, we finally found a lightweight, umbrella stroller for 24 US dollars.


The Powells

SiowFong also spoke with her very newly found friend, Kimberly Powell, this afternoon and tonight. The Powells, residents of Texas, are here in Nanchang as they are picking up their Fengcheng-born daughter, Renee, tomorrow, and they hold a special place in Lydia’s life as they sponsored her through Holt International Adoption Agency before the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs selected her for us. We are looking forward to meeting them at their hotel, Gloria Plaza Hotel, tomorrow at noon for lunch, a few hours before they receive Renee at 4:00 PM.

New Year's Day (delayed posting)

January 1, 2007 (Monday)

Laundry

One challenge of being away from home for more than a week is the problem of cleaning one’s laundry. We are dealing with that dilemma in two ways. For washing undergarments and socks every night, SiowFong bought two 320 gram bottles of liquid underclothes detergent that is produced by Beijing Lvsan Chemistry Co. Ltd. For the two weeks that we are in China, this product, which Wal-Mart stocks, is a necessity.

With respect to blouses, shirts, and pants, we found a small shop that does wet cleaning and dry cleaning that is about a leisurely ten to fifteen minute walk from the hotel that has been recommended by other adoptive families who stayed here. Located on Wenjaio Lu in a space no larger than a one-car garage, the three ladies who work there run a good business with a fast one-day turnaround time for their labor. We dropped off five articles of clothing, and the total cost for the wet cleaning will be 14 Yuan. (The hotel also offers daily laundry service, but the cost of cleaning one shirt is 20 Yuan. One US dollar equals 8 Yuan.)

Afternoon Activities

We made a second trip to Wal-Mart in the late morning to look for an ultralightweight umbrella stroller, and once again we were engulfed by a sea of shoppers in the shopping center area surrounding the store. Once inside the store, we again encountered legions of people. The lightest baby stroller weighed about 12 kilograms, so we decided not to buy it.

After a light lunch in our room consisting of bread, instant noodles, and fruit, I fell asleep due to jet lag. SiowFong, however, soldiered on, and she completed a number of tasks while I was resting, including speaking twice with Lin, New Hope’s representative in China who called us late this morning and copying the required adoption paperwork on A4 sized paper that the Chinese use for business in the hotel’s business center,

Arrival of Bernard and Ma Wee

The highlight of the day was anticipating the arrival of Bernard and Ma Wee. So many adoptive families that come to pick up their child from China come alone. We are so fortunate that Bernard and Ma Wee are with us on this journey.

Around 6:15 PM tonight, a private taxi brought them from the Nanchang airport to the hotel. Their journey to China began at about 9:00 AM this morning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After a four hour flight to Guangzhou, China, they boarded the connecting flight to Nanchang at 4:00 PM, which arrived in Nanchang at 5:25 PM. Both looked and felt well-rested, and we enjoyed each other’s company while eating the dinner buffet at the hotel’s restaurant and talking with them in their room, which is adjacent to ours.

Arrived in Nanchang

December 31, 2006 (Sunday)


Flying the Friendly Skies

After we departed from Los Angeles on December 29, 2006 at 11:50 PM, we spent fifteen hours in the air in a Boeing 777. We arrived safely at Guangzhou International Airport at 7:00 AM (China time). By 7:30 AM, we had cleared customs.

We paid 10 Yuan each for a speedy 10 minute airport cart ride to the gate numbered B-108; otherwise, it would have taken us 25 minutes to walk this distance. (8 Yuan equals 1 US dollar.) Commenting on how clean and modern the airport looked, Siowfong asked the driver of the airport cart how old the airport was, and she responded that it was only two years old.

By 8:30 AM, the Boeing 737 had left Guangzhou airport for Nanchang, and by 10:00 AM, we arrived at our destination where we will spend the next nine days. After we disembarked from the plane, we noticed several airport staff riding bicycles to the aircraft with their cleaning equipment to prepare the plane for its next flight.


Introduction to Nanchang

When we landed at the Nanchang airport, two Lakeview Hotel staff who arrived 30 minutes prior were ready to meet us outside the baggage claim area. They quickly drove us to the hotel in the hotel’sedan, a trip that took about 35 minutes. During the trip, SiowFong learned that Nanchang has a lot of red soil, and one of the hotel staff, the bellhop, commented that he was from Fengcheng, Lydia’s birthplace.

The hotel, a 21-floor cylindrical structure, is accustomed to housing foreign adoptive parents, and is the first hotel in Nanchang that is managed by an overseas firm. Some of the hotel staff also communicate in English in a manner that more resembles the British style of the language rather than the American style. It also helped a lot that SiowFong can communicate in Mandarin.

After settling into our room, we ate a sumptuous buffet lunch that featured about 25 entrees, including bird’s nest (which SiowFong ate), beef, lamb, crab, shrimp, chicken, duck, pork, and fish. Both of us enjoyed the stir fried Chinese broccoli, and we ended our meals with fresh fruit. Also available were salads, ice cream, and a variety of desserts.


Wal-Mart, China-Style

In the mid to late afternoon, we took a ten to fifteen minute taxi ride to one of the two local Wal-Mart Supercenters. During the ride, I was thinking about how much the traffic in Nanchang resembled what I had seen in Malaysia. The main difference is that a number of Chinese still use bicycles as the primary mode of transportation whereas bicycles were a rarer sight on the streets of Malaysia.

As soon as we stepped inside this three story Wal-Mart, we realized that Wal-Mart is just as popular in China as it is in America. Hordes of people were shopping inside. At some places inside the store where a number of shoppers surrounded the merchandise, people could hardly move around each other.
The store was well-staffed as an employee wearing a green Wal-Mart vest was stationed down every aisle to help customers. Crowds also lined up in front of the 30 to 35 active cash registers at checkout where clerks in red Wal-Mart polo shirts did their work (the store has 75 check out stands)

The store has nearly everything the average consumer in China would need. In contrast to America’s Wal-Marts, this Chinese version is a three-story store, and it had some interesting items not found in the US stores, including a variety of dried foods, some of which were smoked, plenty of live seafood (clams, crabs, fish, mussels) that customers could select themselves, and traditional red, gold, and purple Chinese garments for infants, toddlers, and adults.


Smiles,

Tom for Tom and SiowFong