Immersed

Well we have been here in Guangzhou for ten days now. We are starting to get to know the place pretty well. We have been going on daily adventures off of the island. It is really interesting to be immersed in with the real people of Guangzhou. Very few of them speak English and very few of them understand why we have a Chinese baby with us. We try to explain as best we can. They are all very curious about us.

On Thursday S-lady and I left the boys to tend to Lucie and went to do some shopping out on the island. We found some really cute things. There are some shops that I prefer more than others. I have just been window shopping for the most part until now. But today we decided to actually purchase a few of the things we have been eying.

Matching traditional Chinese pajamas!

When we got back to the room, the boys were ready for an adventure. So we settled on trying to find the pearl market. The cab driver dropped us off at this HUGE outdoor mall. It was much more modern looking than those we have gone to so far. Lots of professional store fronts with modern clothes and shoes and anything else you might want to buy. It was packed with people and it was pouring rain. So, all of the people were seeking shelter as best they could.

LiWan Plaza

We walked up and down this long stretch of stores. I'm sure that there were great deals to be had, but I didn't recognize any of the store names and didn't really know what I wanted as far as clothes go. There was a central spot in this "mall" with a large screen TV (think New York City) and the streets extended from it like spokes on a wheel. We went back to the main area and tried a different street. This time we wandered into what must have been the jade market. We figured that the pearl market must be close by. We bought some jade bracelets and wandered around a little bit. I was looking for a specific pearl vendor that I had read about on-line. We never were able to find the little shop. We found a couple of other ones though and bought a few things.


By this time the kids were getting tired and hungry. We headed back to the main area where we had seen some restaurants. The kids voted for KFC. The chicken was very good. The side dishes were like nothing I had ever seen. There was some kind of weird salad--no idea what vegetables were in there. And then there was a strange kind of quiche looking thing that had beans in it. Well, we ate the chicken and Lucie had some of the bread. Then we headed for home.

Yesterday we met Lee at 9:00am for a tour of the zoo. We drove quite a ways out of town to find it. It was a lot of fun. The monkeys and the wild cats were some of the favorites. But by far, the highlight for us was the elephants! The giraffes were pretty cool too. It was so so HOT! Lucie likes to be in the baby carrier, so I get a double dose of heat and sweat--but it is worth it. The grounds were gorgeous with all of the trees and plants. It was a good morning.




After we got back from the zoo we crashed for a while in our room, had some lunch and went for a swim. We spend a lot of time at the pool.






It has been raining here everyday-- Giant gully-washers. The rain comes down so hard that you almost get a white-out. It is really something to see. The street vendors are very good at quickly getting their merchandise covered and inside. The storms come quickly--and usually leave quickly. We have been getting several a day. So we go to the pool until a storm comes in. Then we go back to the room and hang out for a while. Then we get bored and plan an adventure. Today's big excitement was the "Toy Market". The kids were very excited about this. Unfortunately, we got a late start. We left at around 4:45 and the stores close at 6:00pm. So, we had to hurry. We would have been OK, except that our cab driver took us a little farther than we wanted to go. I saw the toy stores as we drove by, but he dropped us at a little stone church.

The Stone Church

This was deep in the heart of Guangzhou. We had to walk down this back alleyway to get back to where we wanted to be. Oh my. This was the real deal. So interesting! Lots of stares and quizzical looks. I didn't feel threatened or in danger, just very immersed! We saw an even smaller alleyway that appeared to lead where we wanted to go. We took the "road less traveled" and popped out into the main stream again. We were able to go into a couple of toy stores before they closed.

The Lego Store (they call them cogos here)

I think the kids will want to go back again today. Very fun! We noticed however, that there seemed to be NO CABS in this part of town. We were starting to wonder how in the world we would get back home. S decided we should just keep walking down the main street. Eventually we found a familiar landmark and as luck would have it, we weren't that far from the hotel. So we walked and walked (probably about two miles). You should have seen some of the food vendors we passed. Dried prawns and dried squid. Dried mushrooms of every kind. Bman thought he was going to be sick. I thought it was very fascinating although I could have done without some of the smells. Before long we were back on the island and we noticed our travel mates heading for dinner, so we joined them at Lucy's for a delightful dinner. After dinner, it was bath and bedtime for Lucie and the older kids went back to the pool with Dad. All in all, a very good day!