Once again, we began the day with breakfast. After breakfast, we walked around the gardens and waterfall. We even got to see some gentlemen cleaning the koi pond. I don't know if you can see him, but he is to the right of the photo below. Olivia has clearly never been around much water. She tried to jump right in the pond, so we had to keep quite a close eye on her.
We then met our group in the lobby for a little ride to a local park. At the park, our guide told us that a lot of retired folks go there in the morning for exercise. The retirement age in China for women is 50, and for men it is 55. At the park, they had all kinds of activities: hacky sack, dancing, Tai Chi, etc. We walked up 99 stairs (9 is a lucky number in China.) to see a statue of 5 goats. There is some significance, but honestly I can't remember right now. The landscaping was beautiful.
No ramp here, so Philip had to carry the stroller up all 99 stairs.
It was hot today; we saw lots of neck bibs again.
The hacky sacks are different than what we have at home. These are more like stacks of paper with a piece of leather at the bottom and a feather at the top. These people are amazing at this! They stand around in circles and hit the thing over their heads to someone else. I think the object is for it not to hit the ground.
Here is Ansley with her hacky sack.
Philip and Ansley giving it a try.
After the park, we went to a jewelry mart. It was basically a shopping mall full of floors and floors of different jewelry shops, but Simon, our guide, recommended a pearl shop and a jade shop if we wanted to buy anything. It was a very neat experience, but there was no air conditioning. Somehow, Ansley fell asleep in the stroller, and Olivia was a trooper. She never made a peep.
This is the inside of the mall.
We bought the girls pearls for the future….maybe for their wedding day(s). Here is a picture of the girls hand-stringing the pearls for us. It was really neat; we bought 3 strands of pearls, and right then and there, they made 2 necklaces, 2 bracelets, and 2 pairs of earrings. They were amazing and so fast.
Next, we headed up to the jade store. Simon helped us choose the best jade pieces. They then added a red string to make them necklaces. This is where we saw an example of negotiating with the Chinese for something. They would type in a price on a calculator, and then you would enter your price. Some of the families really negotiated and went back and forth.
After the pearl and jade market, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and naps. After naps, we met our friend's friends in the lobby. These two sweet ladies took a lot of time out of their day off to spend it taking us around. They spoke hardly any English, so we weren't really sure what to expect. As it turned out, it was really great! Thank goodness for Google Translate!! She had an iPhone, and we used Philip's iPhone to communicate. Technology is wonderful.
The first place that they took us was a very high-end mall. The malls here are a little different where there aren't any doors to the shops, and some of the stores are more like department stores to us than malls. They also have a central paying area, instead of each store taking its own money.
American sportswear is very popular here. We saw Columbia, North Face, Nike, New Balance, etc. The male & female styles are very Western as well, and even the ads in the stores feature Western models. There are hardly any Asian models in any of the ads.
After we left the upscale section, we headed to the Underground Mall. It was utter chaos down there, and our friends were getting nervous trying to maneuver us through that crowd. It was definitely the teenager hang out, and things are cheaper down there.
After we left the Underground Mall, we walked to another mall. At first, they asked us if we liked ice cream, and of course we said, "Yes!" They told us that Chinese mothers don't typically let their younger children have ice cream because they feel it is too cold on their throats. Interesting. Instead of ice cream, we ended up at the Fruity Mix. It was a smoothie/yogurt place. Philip got something with vanilla yogurt and chocolate cereal. Ansley and I got fruit smoothies. Yummy!
Let me say that because there are so many people, it takes forever to do anything or get anywhere around here. By now, it was getting later, and we needed to go to dinner. As we were walking to dinner, we saw some interesting sights.
This lady is carrying one type of fruit on one side, and another type of fruit on the other side. She has a bar on her shoulders to balance the baskets.
Something that always makes me feel better is when I see the big "M" for Marriott.
There was a little festival sponsored by the Netherlands. They had a clown making balloons, flower arrangements, etc. It was wonderful!
Nikes or New Balance, anyone? These were laid out on the hood of a car.
This guy was making fresh squeezed orange juice. No, we didn't get any.
These vendors lay stuff out on cloths on the sidewalk. There was everything from underwear, to pony tail holders, to cell phone covers. When the police walk by, they sometimes have to fold it up really quickly and go to another spot.
Flower cart
These children were roller blading. They did have on helmets which is a good thing.
This gentleman was selling balloons.
Getting ready to cross the street with this mass of humanity. We stayed extra close to our new friends!
We finally made it to dinner at the Guangzhou Restaurant. It was an interesting place as well. It appeared to be an office-tower type of building with a couple of different restaurants inside. You ate in a room with just your party….at a large table with a lazy Susan in the middle. It was a long meal time. There was a wedding reception going on at the same time, and they bring one dish out at a time. Those two things were the reasons it took so long to eat. The menu was enormous, and our new friends did a nice job choosing what we ate. As a course would come out, they would type in what it was. I ate almost everything they offered, and the girls did great as well. One other interesting thing. They don't really have napkins at these restaurants. They have a box of paper napkins on the lazy Susan for you to use. This one happened to be the #1 voted restaurant in Guangzhou, according to the napkin box. :)
Napkin box
Olivia feeding Ansley.
After we left dinner, they drove us to a newer area of Guangzhou. This area was built just a few years ago, in preparation for them to host the Asian Olympics in 2010. There are beautiful lights at night in the very tall buildings. I couldn't get a really good shot with my camera, but the area was lovely. There were many of these buildings lit up with gorgeous lights. This one is called the Television Tower.
By the time we got back to the hotel, both girls were asleep. What a fun day! Tomorrow, we have a free morning and then we head to Shamian Island for some more sightseeing/shopping. If it is pretty, we will take the girls swimming in the morning after breakfast. Tomorrow night's activity includes a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. We are looking forward to another fun day!
Until then,
Jill
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