Travel Part 3 - Guangzhou & the White Swan

On Saturday, we boarded another plane (oh goody!) and took a short flight to Guangzhou. Girly Girl did great on the plane. The ride didn't seem to bother her. She was still showing a preference for Daddy holding her at this point, and poor daddy's back was feeling the pain. We were met at the airport by lovely Grace. She was really nice and helpful from the get-go. Driving to the hotel, we marveled at how huge the city was. Just mile after mile after mile of high-rise apartments and shops. Urban sprawl in the U.S. has nothing on these cities. We got to the White Swan, checked in and Grace was able to produce a couple of phone cards for us with a "pay me later, pay me later" wave. I was immensely grateful as I was dying to call my family.

As daddy's back was killing him, we decided to borrow a stroller from one of the local shops. Girly girl loves the stroller. She's sitting in style and loving every minute of it. We only had 4 days in Guangzhou which is a day or two less than normal, but I think they were trying to get us in/out before the National holiday started. At this point, I think everyone in our travel group was ready to go home. So every day we had some official paperwork or tour to complete.

The White Swan is very nice. The beds are hard, just as in Nanning, but no mold in the shower! They provided all the usual toiletries, including a nicer razor that DH much appreciated. We even got ice in our ice bucket! The best thing about Shamian island is that there are many stores within easy walking distance, and they have things like diapers, cold drinks and snacks. Many stores sell knick-knacks and baby items. We bought some chops for us and family (for Christmas). I bought 2 peasant paintings for $32 yuan each - about $8 U.S.! Here they go for around $60 each. I did buy some silk dresses and outfits for Girly girl in the future & one for the red couch photo. I didn't buy too much more since I was concerned about the amount of space in our luggage and mindful of having to lug it around. I'm guessing most of it can be found in the states or on-line if you really want it. Some of the stores don't bargain much. I shopped mainly at Michael's Place and got a 20% discount off everything. The dresses ranged in price from 32 - 60 yuan. We bought girly girl a toy cel phone, and she loved it. Sounds like the Chipmunks on steroids, but we forgave that!
We had many eating opportunities on Shamian island. Lucy's(the American restaurant) wasn't great, but it worked when we craved a burger or cheese sammie. DH took a chance on some sort of chicken burrito and said it was actually good. The boy was happy to get his peanut butter and jelly again.
A few other standouts were "Cow and Bridge" a Thai place. Very very good food,and inexpensive for what you get. The Deli Shop is great great great. Right next to the White Swan. It has many pastries, and quick sandwiches and ice cream. The cheese rolls are fantastic. Has a more European flare and good for a quick meal or snack. There is also a new Italian restaurant. Further to walk, but worth it. Food was delicious. I had a fetticini with gorgonzola sauce and home-made sausages. Yum. I believe it was only about 38 yuan.
The breakfast buffet at the White Swan was fabulous. We were happy to see everything from traditional Asian dishes as well as bacon (!), french toast, oatmeal, pastries, rolls, yogurt, fresh fruit. Yum. One lunch time, we were in a hurry and thinking their lunch buffet would be quick, we took that without checking the price or menu. I'm not terribly fussy, but most of the buffet was exotic seafood. I'm not crazy about either exotic or seafood. DH feasted on something yucky like mussels, or oysters. Said they were very good. So I had the most expensive 2 chicken wings and some other random side dish. Later I found out the lunch was around 1000 yuan (about $150 US!!!) Yikes!
We saw a live seafood market. They had the usual types of fish, shellfish for sale, but also had water bugs to eat, snakes, and all sorts of little nasties. I didn't even go in the store, but others did.
We got all our consulate paperwork in order, the babies medicals done, and then waited to take the oath. One day we toured the Pearl Market. The cab ride there was crazy. There are store after store after store of pearls and other gems and jewelry. Our guide told us how to look for quality and steered us in the direction of reputable stores. We didn't buy pearls, but bought the girl a silver bracelet for when she gets older. Not fancy, but cute. I'm not a big fan of pearls. My wonderful DH kept encouraging me to get something for myself - jade or pearls. Not crazy about either, so I decided the money would be better spent somewhere else. Walked around and giggled about the English names of some of the stores. I'll post a few here so you can see. The "Mei Dick" store really cracked up DH! Once we had our fill of shopping, our guide Grace, nicely waited for us and was shared a cab ride back to the hotel. Except that the traffic was brutal. It was Friday, and everyone was getting off work and starting their long National holiday week. Our cabbie gave up trying to get us back, so he dropped us off about 5 short blocks from the hotel. We still had to pay the full 10 yuan fare (just over $1). It was nice having Grace to ourselves. We got to ask each other questions about China. Grace asked me if I thought China was dirty. I said, no. In fact, most areas I've seen are very clean. The parks are immaculate. Maybe it was just the 3 cities I was in, but I never saw trash in the streets. People do spit occasionally, but no trash. The restaurants that we went into were clean. I would venture a guess that your average street restaurant wouldn't be as nice as the ones we went into, but we didn't see a lot of dirt.

DH asked Grace about the cars and traffic jams. She said gas is so expensive there (about $9? equavilent) that most people rely on public transit during the week, especially. There still are many many cars on the roads. As in other cities, people here just move and go and others yield. You would expect for the cars to have a lot of dents and dings, but they don't. For some reason their crazy system of moving works for them. Grace said it's now illegal to honk your horn in Guangzhou. Big fine if you get caught. Our drivers occasionally honked but it was more to alert the other driver, not out of anger.

By this time, girly girl was still preferring daddy to hold her, but she tolerated me feeding her, and she would act playful with me. She's getting used to us slowly, and no longer cries when she wakes up and sees us. This has to be hard on her, poor kid.

One day towards the end of the trip, we toured a Buddist temple, the temple of the six banyan trees. Very very old. It was nice. The priests did a blessing for us and the babies. Grace said they appreciate what we are doing for the kids. The temple was saved during the cultural revolution by the monks placing pictures of Mao in front so they wouldn't destroy the buildings.

DS also got to be a star for a day. A couple of high-school age girls were smiling and giggling at him, and they braved coming up and talking to us. They asked to take pictures with DS and were very curious about us and our life in America. Their English was fairly good. One of our guides said English is being taught in schools more as the years go on.

China is a wonderful, interesting place. Great wealth and poverty seem to collide in a big way there. The people are friendly and we did not feel threatened or unsafe. Hopefully we can go back someday. I would like to explore the Guangxi autonomous region more, and learn more Chinese so it's not too hard to communicate.

Overall, our trip went really well. DS did exceptionally well, and I think it really helped for him to have a playmate. One of the other families brought their 4 year old and he and DS really hit it off.
The familes in our travel group were wonderful and everyone had their act together as far as completing paperwork and being on time for all our events.