Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The penultimate day in China!
Excited and a little sad that we'll be leaving tomorrow. We have to get out of the hotel or the energy being built up by all of the kids will likely explode at some point!
I don't have much of a reason for writing other than the fact that the boys and momma are down on the fourth floor playground/courtyard ripping it up with Liena and I'm finally in a quiet room by myself for a change.
Yesterday we went to the U.S. consolate for a oath taking ceremony and to get some final paperwork to give to the immigration station in Chicago when we land that they will stamp and do whatever else they need to so that Caleb will officially be a citizen of the U.S.
Other than that little outing, we had a mostly free day. Mom went down and did some exit paperwork at 2:30 and I took the boys swimming.
It was 72 degrees, mostly cloudy and a little too breezy to be in a pool but the hotel is kind of U shaped so you're shielded from the wind a little. Robby couldn't have cared less about the temp or the wind, but Caleb, who is a little gun shy in the pool anyway, didn't care much for it. I tried to occupy him as best as I could but he was much happier sitting in the chair next to the pool, covered in towels and laughing at his fish-like brother.
We came back up to the room to get cleaned up and dressed so that we could go out to dinner with the Gonsalves, or Liena's family. We tried to go to a Mexican joint on Shamian Island but we couldn't get any cabbies to take us. They were getting hostile at the bell hops apparently because we had too many people. They would get noticably irritated and wave their finger in a way to say, "get the heck out of here", and off they would drive. I think we were shunned by 5 cabs before we gave up and decided to walk to a restaurant in the park across from the hotel.
We ate outside on the waterfront patio. The food was good. Liena's dad and I had a Guiness Stout which is not the same as what you would get in the states. I tried to get another one later at the 7-11 but they were out. I wanted to take a photo of it and compare labels once I got back to the states, so I may try to seek one out at a different store later today.
After we were done eating and the kids were going bonkers, I picked up Caleb to take him over and show him the water. He really likes to look at water, just not to be in it. He grabbed my glasses off of my face and threw them at the water. They bounced off the top of the railing and fell. I couldn't hear where they landed because Robby and Liena were dancing and singing right next to me. I squinted the best I could and looked over the railing to see if there were any ripples in the water. It was dark out with no breeze and some really pretty lights across the pond from us so I figured I would be able to see ripples at the very least. Thankfully there were none.
Okay then. That means that they're on the floor somewhere and I've still got two kids (R & L) dancing and going crazy so I now figured I've dodged the water bullet but they're going to get crunched.
It must have been my lucky day because my blind self found them underneath Liena's grandpas chair. Whew...
I nearly threw the car keys in the ocean while we were on a ferry visiting the NC Outer Banks and now the glasses in China. Sounds like there's a song in there somewhere!
I didn't realize it at the time, but when I was scolding a laughing Caleb, Robby and Liena were working out the details of this mornings play date. That's where they are now.
We walked back to the hotel and spent about an hour trying to get the boys settled in for bed (read that as wicked wrestling and tickling matches until Momma laid down the law with the boys!).
I don't have much of a reason for writing other than the fact that the boys and momma are down on the fourth floor playground/courtyard ripping it up with Liena and I'm finally in a quiet room by myself for a change.
Yesterday we went to the U.S. consolate for a oath taking ceremony and to get some final paperwork to give to the immigration station in Chicago when we land that they will stamp and do whatever else they need to so that Caleb will officially be a citizen of the U.S.
Other than that little outing, we had a mostly free day. Mom went down and did some exit paperwork at 2:30 and I took the boys swimming.
It was 72 degrees, mostly cloudy and a little too breezy to be in a pool but the hotel is kind of U shaped so you're shielded from the wind a little. Robby couldn't have cared less about the temp or the wind, but Caleb, who is a little gun shy in the pool anyway, didn't care much for it. I tried to occupy him as best as I could but he was much happier sitting in the chair next to the pool, covered in towels and laughing at his fish-like brother.
We came back up to the room to get cleaned up and dressed so that we could go out to dinner with the Gonsalves, or Liena's family. We tried to go to a Mexican joint on Shamian Island but we couldn't get any cabbies to take us. They were getting hostile at the bell hops apparently because we had too many people. They would get noticably irritated and wave their finger in a way to say, "get the heck out of here", and off they would drive. I think we were shunned by 5 cabs before we gave up and decided to walk to a restaurant in the park across from the hotel.
We ate outside on the waterfront patio. The food was good. Liena's dad and I had a Guiness Stout which is not the same as what you would get in the states. I tried to get another one later at the 7-11 but they were out. I wanted to take a photo of it and compare labels once I got back to the states, so I may try to seek one out at a different store later today.
After we were done eating and the kids were going bonkers, I picked up Caleb to take him over and show him the water. He really likes to look at water, just not to be in it. He grabbed my glasses off of my face and threw them at the water. They bounced off the top of the railing and fell. I couldn't hear where they landed because Robby and Liena were dancing and singing right next to me. I squinted the best I could and looked over the railing to see if there were any ripples in the water. It was dark out with no breeze and some really pretty lights across the pond from us so I figured I would be able to see ripples at the very least. Thankfully there were none.
Okay then. That means that they're on the floor somewhere and I've still got two kids (R & L) dancing and going crazy so I now figured I've dodged the water bullet but they're going to get crunched.
It must have been my lucky day because my blind self found them underneath Liena's grandpas chair. Whew...
I nearly threw the car keys in the ocean while we were on a ferry visiting the NC Outer Banks and now the glasses in China. Sounds like there's a song in there somewhere!
I didn't realize it at the time, but when I was scolding a laughing Caleb, Robby and Liena were working out the details of this mornings play date. That's where they are now.
We walked back to the hotel and spent about an hour trying to get the boys settled in for bed (read that as wicked wrestling and tickling matches until Momma laid down the law with the boys!).
Safari? Zoo? Zoofari!
Safari day.
I've heard that term for a few days now. After a little thinking about it, I was going with the idea that "safari" in China is much like zoo in the States. After seeing it, I'm not so sure. Perhaps if I write this well enough, you'll understand why I am still debating that and come up with your own conclusion. If I don't write it well enough, then you'll probably just end up thinking that I'm goofier than what you have already given me credit for. One thing is for sure, Safari in China ROCKS!! Yes, it deserves all caps and two exclamation points. So be it... on with the story.
The Holt families couldn't decide what time to return from safari, 2:30 or 4:30. Some peeps didn't want to stay as long because they figured the kids would need naps and that type of thing. Our Caleb is a little over 4.5 years old at this point and wails like a birthing sasquatch when you put him down for a nap, so for us, no biggie to keep him up throughout the day. We're on bus B, the 4:30 group. Plus, it's a zoo in China for Pete's sake! How many times are you going to have the opportunity to do this?
We arrive at the zoo around 10:30am or so and the first thing you notice is that there is a decent sized amusement park that you drive by on your way into the zoo parking lot. It seems to be closed except for one ride. It's a roller coaster that looked so nasty that I nearly soiled myself and puked just looking at it from the bus. Good Lord, this thing was tall, crazy turns, nearly straight down drops and on top of that, it looked pretty poorly constructed. Not the exact combo I'm looking for in thrill rides, although, I'm sure it delivers on the thrills. Even when I was younger, I would have had the good sense to, at the very least, pause and think about occupying this beast. Note: I had to throw in at least one "occupy" since that's all the rage now.
I'm drifting again... back to the story.
We finally get all of the people and their strollers n' such through the gates. The first thing that you encounter is a flamingo pond. I'm sure that anyone who might still be reading after my roller coaster paragraph is probably now groaning at the fact that I'm talking about a flamingo pond. It's no ordinary exhibit though, and it's not just because I'm seeing all of the local foilage that's different from our mid-western "normal". It's very much set up like what you see in the wild if you were to erase the gaudy wooden fence and the mostly white group of on-lookers from the scene. Very impressive start to things.
Caleb thought so too! His eyes were glued to these birds and when I turned to walk away from them to move on to the next animal exhibit, he tried his best to publicly flog me. It occurred to me that he has likely never seen anything like this in his 4.5 years and I should probably keep that in mind the rest of the day as he's trying to beat me silly.
I should also mention at this point, that I'm wearing one of those harness things that tie up over your shoulder and around the kiddo so they're in somewhat of a pouch. It's an effort to save the back some as he often wants me to carry him. I know the name of this thing but I don't know how to spell it because people always think I'm talking about the alcoholic drink of the same name, mai tai's. I'm guessing it's My Tie, but I really have no clue. Here's about the best photo we have of him in it. Looking at the photo now, he doesn't look all that comfy...
Again... I drift.
Next we see some decent sized water tanks. There are a couple of Green Sea Turtles in there plus some type of sea lion or something swimming around the turtles. I didn't have time to look for a sign because of the 4.5 year old punches being landed at various spots on my face as I went from above the water level to below. Caleb was trying to keep track of the sea lion and whatever I did to assist was wrong and I paid. We're working on the hitting (and kicking, scratching, glasses grabbing and biting). Off we go.
Up next? Asian elephants. Probably 8 or so of them. There are some Chinese dudes out walking around with the them trying to stir them up for us pasty- faced on-lookers! Nice fellows! He is amazed at the elephants as well and I think he's starting to get the idea that if we leave one animals area, there's quite likely another animal coming up. No beatings as we left the elephants.
Pandas are next. NOW we're are getting somewhere. These things are amazing. Their fang teeth are about as big as my thumb and the lazy critters are just kicking back and eating full mature stalks of bamboo which sound a lot like what I would imagine human bones crunching... not that I was thinking about that with the panda 6 feet away.
I'm not really sure how many pandas they had, but I would guess maybe 10 or so? Pretty impressive. A couple inside, most of them outside in yet another impressive habitat.
The Chinese are a crafty bunch not only in manufacturing, but in marketing as well. You see, there is no way to get out of the large panda exhibit without exiting through the panda gift shop. Yep, a gift shop bigger than your local Subway sammy shop and it's nothing but panda crap. Suckers that we are, both boys are now the proud owners of some plush pandas.
I really have no idea what came next at this point. We saw so many animals and walked quite the impressive distance (made possible by my daily portions of bacon and sausage, no doubt!) so it's a bit of blur at this point. We were going through the zoofari with Liena's family so Robby and her are having a great time. Caleb is just simply amazed.
At the giraffes, they sell bunches of leafy twigs that you can feed to the beasts. Robby and Liena were happily feeding them but Caleb wasn't having any of that noise!
He was back in the hut where they sell them, barking out commands and directing traffic from a more than safe distance. He was out of his pouch thingymabob at this time so I tried to coax him closer a few times but to no avail.
Again, this is all new to him so I don't blame or mock for that kind of fear. Heck, put a spider on me and I'll wet myself, so I won't be pressuring anybody into anything when it comes to critter fears.
The tigers were another thing that were so captivating. They had one good sized pen with a large glass wall that contained 6 tigers, if memory serves. There were white tigers mixed in with your more traditional orange variety. The thing about them was that they were playing (I HOPE!!!) with each other. Pouncing, sneaking up on one another, chasing, you name it. All of them were very active which makes me wonder what, if any, nasty things we do to the big cats in the States. Perhaps it's our climate that makes them lazy or if they just adapt to our American culture.
There were some white tigers in another more natural habitat. It was built into the side of a large hill and probably used up 3 acres of the zoofari land. Too hard to explain correctly so I won't try.
There were more tigers that were isolated and in glass enclosures that you can walk right up too. One of them was up pacing the glass eye-balling all of the little kids that were standing there. Liena, who is not afraid of anything was staring this big mama down and didn't flinch. Caleb on the other hand was heading for higher ground.
I'm thinking these last couple of tigers in isolation may have been recent mommas because they had a little building where there were some very recent, recent, and not so recent baby tigers. They were loud! At the end of the row were two small dogs... I looked for collars and didn't see any so I'm wondering if they may have been tiger food for later. You know, the thrill of the hunt type of thing?
Speaking of food, we stopped to get a bite to eat after the tigers. while we were eating, we heard big whoops of Chinese joy at the tiger pen I first spoke of. Upon closer inspection, there was a dude up on the roof of the exhibit holding a long pole with some type of dead critter on it. He would hold it down towards the tigers, yet above the water and the tigers would stand on their haunches (sp?? I've never tried to spell that before...) and then leap in the air, grabbing the dead critter in their mouth as they plunge into the water below. Very impressive show. There were several observations from viewing that, not the least of which is how much water tiger fur can hold! Again, I can't explain it to do it justice, but tigers have a LOT of fur!
Other animals we see, in no specific order, monkeys (many different species), deer, zebras, hippos, rhinos, bears (couple of species), lions, apes, rams, peacocks and other wild birds roaming around, and probably dozens more that I forget at this time.
Another thing worth mentioning was the bubble wall in the koala area. Robby discovered what I'm guessing 99% of the people walk by and never notice. There are bubbles the size of my head, maybe even bigger projected on the wall. He went up and blew at them like kids would blow at real bubbles. The odd thing is, they responded. They floated up the wall! Everybody else had moved on and here's my boy hunched over blowing at a wall. I figured after 6+ years with me, he had probably lost it so I went back to get him. He explained to me what was going on so I tried it. I just used my hand to slap at the bubbles. Sure enough, I had hit them from the side so they went over sideways to the area Rob was standing by. I hit them from below and they would go up. Crash into each other and they would squish a little bit before changing their trajectory in a convincing manner. I'm sure that to the video gaming crowd, this isn't all that amazing, but for us folks who still have land line phones and only trac phones, it was pretty mezmorizing stuff. Okay, I'm a simpleton...
Here's a photo to give you a better idea than my feable description.
We decided to take the train ride at the recommendation of Liena's family who adopted her two years ago and did this very thing then. It was worth it for a couple of reasons; 1. the animals and scenery were stunning and 2. I had made Caleb pause for a potty break prior to getting on the train and he was majorly honked off at me for it. Therefore he spent the next 1/2 hour or so being Mommas boy while he simmered in his juices. Momma liked the time with him.
The train ride takes you through various "countries". Africa, the U.S.A, and a few others. Some parts, like the bears, wolves, tigers, lions and other predators were pretty safely secured from the train, but other areas, like camels, giraffes and zebras, rams and so on were able to come right up to the train if they so chose. Thankfully, we survived the entire ride without incident.
Some of the highlights of the train ride were when more crazy Chinese dudes threw dead critters to the bears making them stand on their hind legs and caused the wolves to howl. Again, very active animals compared to what we're used to in the U.S.
The zoofari wrapped up with a heap of tired humans piling onto a bus yet again. Robby and Caleb made it about 3 miles on the highway before they conked out.
Our otherwise wonderful day was dimmed a bit on the ride home. It seems one of the families who left on the 2:30 bus, had to detour to the hospital on the way back to the hotel. The little girl they're adopting was running a fever and had some other issues that were going to delay that families return home trip. We found out this morning that it sounds as if all is well and they should be able to return to the U.S. this weekend as planned.
As great as the people are that we've met on this trip, and they've nearly all been great, I can't wait to get home to see you all and show off little Caleb.
2 days and counting!
I've heard that term for a few days now. After a little thinking about it, I was going with the idea that "safari" in China is much like zoo in the States. After seeing it, I'm not so sure. Perhaps if I write this well enough, you'll understand why I am still debating that and come up with your own conclusion. If I don't write it well enough, then you'll probably just end up thinking that I'm goofier than what you have already given me credit for. One thing is for sure, Safari in China ROCKS!! Yes, it deserves all caps and two exclamation points. So be it... on with the story.
The Holt families couldn't decide what time to return from safari, 2:30 or 4:30. Some peeps didn't want to stay as long because they figured the kids would need naps and that type of thing. Our Caleb is a little over 4.5 years old at this point and wails like a birthing sasquatch when you put him down for a nap, so for us, no biggie to keep him up throughout the day. We're on bus B, the 4:30 group. Plus, it's a zoo in China for Pete's sake! How many times are you going to have the opportunity to do this?
We arrive at the zoo around 10:30am or so and the first thing you notice is that there is a decent sized amusement park that you drive by on your way into the zoo parking lot. It seems to be closed except for one ride. It's a roller coaster that looked so nasty that I nearly soiled myself and puked just looking at it from the bus. Good Lord, this thing was tall, crazy turns, nearly straight down drops and on top of that, it looked pretty poorly constructed. Not the exact combo I'm looking for in thrill rides, although, I'm sure it delivers on the thrills. Even when I was younger, I would have had the good sense to, at the very least, pause and think about occupying this beast. Note: I had to throw in at least one "occupy" since that's all the rage now.
I'm drifting again... back to the story.
We finally get all of the people and their strollers n' such through the gates. The first thing that you encounter is a flamingo pond. I'm sure that anyone who might still be reading after my roller coaster paragraph is probably now groaning at the fact that I'm talking about a flamingo pond. It's no ordinary exhibit though, and it's not just because I'm seeing all of the local foilage that's different from our mid-western "normal". It's very much set up like what you see in the wild if you were to erase the gaudy wooden fence and the mostly white group of on-lookers from the scene. Very impressive start to things.
Caleb thought so too! His eyes were glued to these birds and when I turned to walk away from them to move on to the next animal exhibit, he tried his best to publicly flog me. It occurred to me that he has likely never seen anything like this in his 4.5 years and I should probably keep that in mind the rest of the day as he's trying to beat me silly.
I should also mention at this point, that I'm wearing one of those harness things that tie up over your shoulder and around the kiddo so they're in somewhat of a pouch. It's an effort to save the back some as he often wants me to carry him. I know the name of this thing but I don't know how to spell it because people always think I'm talking about the alcoholic drink of the same name, mai tai's. I'm guessing it's My Tie, but I really have no clue. Here's about the best photo we have of him in it. Looking at the photo now, he doesn't look all that comfy...
Again... I drift.Next we see some decent sized water tanks. There are a couple of Green Sea Turtles in there plus some type of sea lion or something swimming around the turtles. I didn't have time to look for a sign because of the 4.5 year old punches being landed at various spots on my face as I went from above the water level to below. Caleb was trying to keep track of the sea lion and whatever I did to assist was wrong and I paid. We're working on the hitting (and kicking, scratching, glasses grabbing and biting). Off we go.
Up next? Asian elephants. Probably 8 or so of them. There are some Chinese dudes out walking around with the them trying to stir them up for us pasty- faced on-lookers! Nice fellows! He is amazed at the elephants as well and I think he's starting to get the idea that if we leave one animals area, there's quite likely another animal coming up. No beatings as we left the elephants.
Pandas are next. NOW we're are getting somewhere. These things are amazing. Their fang teeth are about as big as my thumb and the lazy critters are just kicking back and eating full mature stalks of bamboo which sound a lot like what I would imagine human bones crunching... not that I was thinking about that with the panda 6 feet away.
I'm not really sure how many pandas they had, but I would guess maybe 10 or so? Pretty impressive. A couple inside, most of them outside in yet another impressive habitat.
The Chinese are a crafty bunch not only in manufacturing, but in marketing as well. You see, there is no way to get out of the large panda exhibit without exiting through the panda gift shop. Yep, a gift shop bigger than your local Subway sammy shop and it's nothing but panda crap. Suckers that we are, both boys are now the proud owners of some plush pandas.
I really have no idea what came next at this point. We saw so many animals and walked quite the impressive distance (made possible by my daily portions of bacon and sausage, no doubt!) so it's a bit of blur at this point. We were going through the zoofari with Liena's family so Robby and her are having a great time. Caleb is just simply amazed.
At the giraffes, they sell bunches of leafy twigs that you can feed to the beasts. Robby and Liena were happily feeding them but Caleb wasn't having any of that noise!
He was back in the hut where they sell them, barking out commands and directing traffic from a more than safe distance. He was out of his pouch thingymabob at this time so I tried to coax him closer a few times but to no avail. Again, this is all new to him so I don't blame or mock for that kind of fear. Heck, put a spider on me and I'll wet myself, so I won't be pressuring anybody into anything when it comes to critter fears.
The tigers were another thing that were so captivating. They had one good sized pen with a large glass wall that contained 6 tigers, if memory serves. There were white tigers mixed in with your more traditional orange variety. The thing about them was that they were playing (I HOPE!!!) with each other. Pouncing, sneaking up on one another, chasing, you name it. All of them were very active which makes me wonder what, if any, nasty things we do to the big cats in the States. Perhaps it's our climate that makes them lazy or if they just adapt to our American culture.There were some white tigers in another more natural habitat. It was built into the side of a large hill and probably used up 3 acres of the zoofari land. Too hard to explain correctly so I won't try.
There were more tigers that were isolated and in glass enclosures that you can walk right up too. One of them was up pacing the glass eye-balling all of the little kids that were standing there. Liena, who is not afraid of anything was staring this big mama down and didn't flinch. Caleb on the other hand was heading for higher ground.
I'm thinking these last couple of tigers in isolation may have been recent mommas because they had a little building where there were some very recent, recent, and not so recent baby tigers. They were loud! At the end of the row were two small dogs... I looked for collars and didn't see any so I'm wondering if they may have been tiger food for later. You know, the thrill of the hunt type of thing?
Speaking of food, we stopped to get a bite to eat after the tigers. while we were eating, we heard big whoops of Chinese joy at the tiger pen I first spoke of. Upon closer inspection, there was a dude up on the roof of the exhibit holding a long pole with some type of dead critter on it. He would hold it down towards the tigers, yet above the water and the tigers would stand on their haunches (sp?? I've never tried to spell that before...) and then leap in the air, grabbing the dead critter in their mouth as they plunge into the water below. Very impressive show. There were several observations from viewing that, not the least of which is how much water tiger fur can hold! Again, I can't explain it to do it justice, but tigers have a LOT of fur!
Other animals we see, in no specific order, monkeys (many different species), deer, zebras, hippos, rhinos, bears (couple of species), lions, apes, rams, peacocks and other wild birds roaming around, and probably dozens more that I forget at this time.
Another thing worth mentioning was the bubble wall in the koala area. Robby discovered what I'm guessing 99% of the people walk by and never notice. There are bubbles the size of my head, maybe even bigger projected on the wall. He went up and blew at them like kids would blow at real bubbles. The odd thing is, they responded. They floated up the wall! Everybody else had moved on and here's my boy hunched over blowing at a wall. I figured after 6+ years with me, he had probably lost it so I went back to get him. He explained to me what was going on so I tried it. I just used my hand to slap at the bubbles. Sure enough, I had hit them from the side so they went over sideways to the area Rob was standing by. I hit them from below and they would go up. Crash into each other and they would squish a little bit before changing their trajectory in a convincing manner. I'm sure that to the video gaming crowd, this isn't all that amazing, but for us folks who still have land line phones and only trac phones, it was pretty mezmorizing stuff. Okay, I'm a simpleton...
Here's a photo to give you a better idea than my feable description.
We decided to take the train ride at the recommendation of Liena's family who adopted her two years ago and did this very thing then. It was worth it for a couple of reasons; 1. the animals and scenery were stunning and 2. I had made Caleb pause for a potty break prior to getting on the train and he was majorly honked off at me for it. Therefore he spent the next 1/2 hour or so being Mommas boy while he simmered in his juices. Momma liked the time with him.
The train ride takes you through various "countries". Africa, the U.S.A, and a few others. Some parts, like the bears, wolves, tigers, lions and other predators were pretty safely secured from the train, but other areas, like camels, giraffes and zebras, rams and so on were able to come right up to the train if they so chose. Thankfully, we survived the entire ride without incident.
Some of the highlights of the train ride were when more crazy Chinese dudes threw dead critters to the bears making them stand on their hind legs and caused the wolves to howl. Again, very active animals compared to what we're used to in the U.S.
The zoofari wrapped up with a heap of tired humans piling onto a bus yet again. Robby and Caleb made it about 3 miles on the highway before they conked out.
Our otherwise wonderful day was dimmed a bit on the ride home. It seems one of the families who left on the 2:30 bus, had to detour to the hospital on the way back to the hotel. The little girl they're adopting was running a fever and had some other issues that were going to delay that families return home trip. We found out this morning that it sounds as if all is well and they should be able to return to the U.S. this weekend as planned.
As great as the people are that we've met on this trip, and they've nearly all been great, I can't wait to get home to see you all and show off little Caleb.
2 days and counting!
Oh, and one last thing. The Chinese made great efforts to update their signage to include English before the Beijing olmpics. Most of the time they get it right, some times they don't:
I failed to take a photo of the food box on the last airplane ride that got us to Guangzhou, but the slogan on the front of the box read, "Welcome, have fun. Please take plane with you!".
Not sure what they were going for with it, but it does provide some much needed entertainment from time to time.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Safari Park
Today we went to the Chime Long Safari Park. The weather was awesome (about 72 degrees). It wasn't crowded at all because it was Tuesday and the people here think it is cold. You really couldn't ask for a nicer day. We kind of tagged along with Liena's family. They are awesome people and they had been to the park before. We headed to the Panda's first. They had 10 pandas and they were pretty active. A few were eating, some were climbing, and some were lounging.
There was also a 40 minute tram ride through the park. This was really cool. Caleb sat on my lap most of the trip.
The bears were really close and they had a "trainer" throwing food at them. They would stand up and catch it.
The giraffes were really cool simply because of how many they had. They had some in the walking part and then a bunch in the tram part. I bet they had at least 50. We all (except Caleb) fed the giraffes. Caleb wasn't too keen on the idea.
The weirdest part of the day was lunch. Ted was going to order and he pretty much freaked out. I ordered some hot dogs (on a stick) but the casing was plasticy so we peeled them. We also had some caramel corn which was really good. I can't figure out how to get more pictures in this post so I will continue this in a new post.
The bears were really close and they had a "trainer" throwing food at them. They would stand up and catch it.
The giraffes were really cool simply because of how many they had. They had some in the walking part and then a bunch in the tram part. I bet they had at least 50. We all (except Caleb) fed the giraffes. Caleb wasn't too keen on the idea.
The weirdest part of the day was lunch. Ted was going to order and he pretty much freaked out. I ordered some hot dogs (on a stick) but the casing was plasticy so we peeled them. We also had some caramel corn which was really good. I can't figure out how to get more pictures in this post so I will continue this in a new post.
Shamian Island and a River Cruise
So we had to go back to Shamian Island to get Caleb's TB test checked. He was fine but started crying as soon as we entered the clinic. Ted was carrying him so Robby and I waited outside. The clinic is so incredibly crowded I figured 2 less bodies would be a good thing. It only took a few minutes and then we were free to explore for a few hours before our bus took us back to the hotel.
We decided to leave the island and went to the Qing Ping market as the guidebooks say it is a must see. Ted took a few pictures (that I can't seem to find right now) but pictures couldn't do this justice. There were buckets of dried starfish, seahorses, and other marine life. Huge Buckets. There were also people who were sorting worms of some sort. The whole experience was very interesting. We also determined that Caleb is afraid of cats. There were cats running around the market and he wanted me to hold him.
We went back to the island and did some souvenir shopping. I spent some money but am comfortable being done now. Caleb is far more exploratory than Robby so you really have to watch him in stores. He is also more daring and will launch himself off the bed. I hope he doesn't jump off the loft! We were thinking of putting up the baby gate but he is crafty enough to escape so we don't know if it is worth the effort.
That evening we went on a 70 minute riverboat cruise on the Pearl River. Our group had Papa Johns pizza delivered so we ate some pizza then enjoyed the scenery. Robby had fun running around with the other kids.
They had lots of lights lighting up bridges, buildings, and towers. They had some lighting project before Guangzhou hosted the 2010 Asian games.
Below is the tallest building in all of China. It is a television tower with a rotating restuarant on the top. It has only been completed for about a year. The lights kept changing colors and it was really fascinating to watch. After the cruise it was back to the hotel and to bed. Everyone has been sleeping pretty well but the hotel walls are beginning to close in on us. We are really ready to come home.
We decided to leave the island and went to the Qing Ping market as the guidebooks say it is a must see. Ted took a few pictures (that I can't seem to find right now) but pictures couldn't do this justice. There were buckets of dried starfish, seahorses, and other marine life. Huge Buckets. There were also people who were sorting worms of some sort. The whole experience was very interesting. We also determined that Caleb is afraid of cats. There were cats running around the market and he wanted me to hold him.
We went back to the island and did some souvenir shopping. I spent some money but am comfortable being done now. Caleb is far more exploratory than Robby so you really have to watch him in stores. He is also more daring and will launch himself off the bed. I hope he doesn't jump off the loft! We were thinking of putting up the baby gate but he is crafty enough to escape so we don't know if it is worth the effort.
That evening we went on a 70 minute riverboat cruise on the Pearl River. Our group had Papa Johns pizza delivered so we ate some pizza then enjoyed the scenery. Robby had fun running around with the other kids.
They had lots of lights lighting up bridges, buildings, and towers. They had some lighting project before Guangzhou hosted the 2010 Asian games.
Below is the tallest building in all of China. It is a television tower with a rotating restuarant on the top. It has only been completed for about a year. The lights kept changing colors and it was really fascinating to watch. After the cruise it was back to the hotel and to bed. Everyone has been sleeping pretty well but the hotel walls are beginning to close in on us. We are really ready to come home.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Yuexiu Park
Our hotel is right across the street (ok so about 8 lanes of busy traffic) from Yuexiu Park. Last night about 5pm we decide to venture out there with the hopes of being able to find an area to toss the ole' football around. We had to go down into the subway system to go under the road but that wasn't too difficult. When we got into the park it was really pretty with lots of different paths. Robby wanted to go up the steps so that is what we did. At the top was a nice resting spot and we had a man take a family picture. The park is really beautiful.
We decided to take a different route down (possibly a mistake) but we were enjoying the park. It reminds me of walking through an outside botanical gardens. We did walk by a cat and Caleb was scared. I guess he doesn't like cats.
We were trying to find a way out of the park. I don't normally pay attention to landmarks when I am with Ted because he has such a good sense of direction. Finally we found a park exit and decided to leave but neither of us had a clue which way the hotel was. Through the trees I could see a symbol on a building and told Ted that was our hotel. He sounded skeptical but I showed him a picture of the hotel I had taken earlier and the symbol was in the picture. Somehow we had made it to the opposite side of the park. We walked toward the hotel and made it "home" safely.
After that we decided room service was in order. We ordered supper and Ted got the Marriott burger. It was a delightful taste of home. If we do room service again I know what I am getting!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Church in China
I hate this blog service... really really hate it. You get something all typed up, go to publish and it all just goes away. And if you're thinking to yourself, "well Ted, you idiot, just go to the auto saved version and recover it". Nope, it seems that when it goes away, it also autosaves over the top of anything you may have saved just to save your self the headache of re-typing.
I had this post all typed up just now and it just went away again. I can't cuss for three good reasons 1.) I've got one little guy who will call me out on it, rightfully so.
2.) I have another little guy who is imitating everything I do and say
3.) this post was about our experience going to church this morning, so it just wouldn't be right on any level.
So, back to the post (I'm now typing it in notepad and copying it over...). We went down to the breakfast buffet and were not very impressed again. Sadly, it's "part of the price for your room", so as I've said easier, I'm eating the heck out this thing. It seems that after the coffee incident yesterday morning that they may have somebody manning the coffee machine now, and not very well either. They want you to take a new cup every time you go up there but then they run out of cups. If you bring a dirty cup up, they rattle something off at you that you can't understand. I didn't care though. You don't have cups, I'm using the one I got regardless of what you call me or have to say. Who knows what new regulations will be in place for tomorrow morning!
We've also noticed something strange when you compare all three of the buffets that we've laid waste to. In Changchun and even in Beijing, the fruit was just outstanding. It was COLD up in Changchun, bitterly cold. Beijing was too cold to grow anything this time of the year as well, but
now that we're down here in a much more tropical region, the fruit is not so good. It's still okay, but after experiencing fruit like we have, we don't want to go back!
I'm drifting... back to the point of the post, church. After breakfast we went back up to our room to clean up and get ready to go. We head back to the lobby and pay a visit to the "travel desk" to see if he can help. He wrote us out the Shamien Island in Chinese so we can show it to a cabby. It was written on a piece of hotel stationary so we can show that to another cabby when we want to get back to the hotel.
18 yuan (about $3) later, we were on Shamien Island but the cabby had no idea where the church was. He asked a local who obviously didn't know either so he just dropped us in the middle. That was fine since the meter was still running. We had a half hour to walk around and find the joint. We found a Catholic church but it only had 7am and 8:30am services. No 11am service in English so we're not in the right place. Lesley has an idea. She met Judy, the owner of Judy laundry, yesterday while we were out shopping after Caleb's polite violations at the local clinic.
Judy is 26 years old if I understood her correctly. She has been a Christian for about 6 years now after Steve, a fella from America who with Campus Crusade, asked her if she knew Jesus and gave her a Bible. She became a Christian that day and now witnesses to people who come into her
little shop.
Judy was indeed there. She gave Robby and Caleb some homemade hackey sacks which are not at all like the American versions of that same toy. These are little plastic washers with brightly dyed feathers sticking out of them. She even demonstrated to the boys how to use them, all while
wearing high heeled boots.
Judy didn't just tell us where the church was, she went with us after her husband went and retrieved the Bible that Steve gave her 6 years ago. We talked about various things on the walk to church. I asked her if she had to hide her Bible in China and she said, "No, not so much".
When we got to church, we met two other couples from America that we knew were going there too, but had to take seperate cabs. We introduced them to Judy and had a brief but good talk.
Service was interesting. The music is pretty much universal as long as you can halfway carry a tune. The sermon and readings were done in Chinese, not sure which dialect, and then repeated in English. Sad to say, but I had sort of forgotten how close we are to Christmas. The sermon and the readings were about the birth of Jesus. The breeze blowing in through the open stained glass window told me that it was Easter. It was a powerful dichotomy.
When we were leaving church, Judy made it out before us but waited to say goodbye. She had to get back to her store. I asked her if she will be there tomorrow so that we might get our families picture taken with her. She replied, "Yes, all 7 day", meaning that she works 7 days a week.
Sometimes it's not the message of the church service itself that reminds you of the abundance of blessings in your life, but rather the people you meet going to and fro. God bless you all. We'll be home for Christmas soon enough!
I had this post all typed up just now and it just went away again. I can't cuss for three good reasons 1.) I've got one little guy who will call me out on it, rightfully so.
2.) I have another little guy who is imitating everything I do and say
3.) this post was about our experience going to church this morning, so it just wouldn't be right on any level.
So, back to the post (I'm now typing it in notepad and copying it over...). We went down to the breakfast buffet and were not very impressed again. Sadly, it's "part of the price for your room", so as I've said easier, I'm eating the heck out this thing. It seems that after the coffee incident yesterday morning that they may have somebody manning the coffee machine now, and not very well either. They want you to take a new cup every time you go up there but then they run out of cups. If you bring a dirty cup up, they rattle something off at you that you can't understand. I didn't care though. You don't have cups, I'm using the one I got regardless of what you call me or have to say. Who knows what new regulations will be in place for tomorrow morning!
We've also noticed something strange when you compare all three of the buffets that we've laid waste to. In Changchun and even in Beijing, the fruit was just outstanding. It was COLD up in Changchun, bitterly cold. Beijing was too cold to grow anything this time of the year as well, but
now that we're down here in a much more tropical region, the fruit is not so good. It's still okay, but after experiencing fruit like we have, we don't want to go back!
I'm drifting... back to the point of the post, church. After breakfast we went back up to our room to clean up and get ready to go. We head back to the lobby and pay a visit to the "travel desk" to see if he can help. He wrote us out the Shamien Island in Chinese so we can show it to a cabby. It was written on a piece of hotel stationary so we can show that to another cabby when we want to get back to the hotel.
18 yuan (about $3) later, we were on Shamien Island but the cabby had no idea where the church was. He asked a local who obviously didn't know either so he just dropped us in the middle. That was fine since the meter was still running. We had a half hour to walk around and find the joint. We found a Catholic church but it only had 7am and 8:30am services. No 11am service in English so we're not in the right place. Lesley has an idea. She met Judy, the owner of Judy laundry, yesterday while we were out shopping after Caleb's polite violations at the local clinic.
Judy is 26 years old if I understood her correctly. She has been a Christian for about 6 years now after Steve, a fella from America who with Campus Crusade, asked her if she knew Jesus and gave her a Bible. She became a Christian that day and now witnesses to people who come into her
little shop.
Judy was indeed there. She gave Robby and Caleb some homemade hackey sacks which are not at all like the American versions of that same toy. These are little plastic washers with brightly dyed feathers sticking out of them. She even demonstrated to the boys how to use them, all while
wearing high heeled boots.
Judy didn't just tell us where the church was, she went with us after her husband went and retrieved the Bible that Steve gave her 6 years ago. We talked about various things on the walk to church. I asked her if she had to hide her Bible in China and she said, "No, not so much".
When we got to church, we met two other couples from America that we knew were going there too, but had to take seperate cabs. We introduced them to Judy and had a brief but good talk.
Service was interesting. The music is pretty much universal as long as you can halfway carry a tune. The sermon and readings were done in Chinese, not sure which dialect, and then repeated in English. Sad to say, but I had sort of forgotten how close we are to Christmas. The sermon and the readings were about the birth of Jesus. The breeze blowing in through the open stained glass window told me that it was Easter. It was a powerful dichotomy.
When we were leaving church, Judy made it out before us but waited to say goodbye. She had to get back to her store. I asked her if she will be there tomorrow so that we might get our families picture taken with her. She replied, "Yes, all 7 day", meaning that she works 7 days a week.
Sometimes it's not the message of the church service itself that reminds you of the abundance of blessings in your life, but rather the people you meet going to and fro. God bless you all. We'll be home for Christmas soon enough!
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