Planes, Trains and Rickshaws

Sunday, May 30, 2010

This is our last night in Hong Kong and we leave for the States tomorrow!  This has been a trip of a life time and we have been lucky enough to have done it twice.  Once again, we are coming home with the ultimate souvenir, Evan.  I can hardly wait to get this next leg of our adventure done and over with.  We miss our home, friends, family and animals.  I know that I will be doing laundry for a week and probably won't be completely unpacked for at least two.  It will be good to get home and get us on a schedule once again.  We are flying with United and will arrive around 10:40pm on Monday, May 31st from Denver, Colorado.  It will be a long day tomorrow as we will leave Hong Kong around 11:45am and arrive in San Francisco about 8:45am (same day).  We will have a 5 hour lay over in Colorado before flying to Oklahoma City.  I have lots of benadryl and am charging the DVD player and lap top.  Hopefully we will all make it with our sanity in tack.

Our last day in Hong Kong was interesting to say the least.  We took a 45 minute train ride and 15 minute bus ride to our destination, Ocean Park.  I was told that it was like Sea World and I could see that but, Sea World is much better.  This park is built on the side of a mountain and it took us about an hour just to get to the attractions once we got into the park.  We had to take 5 massive escalators up the side of the mountain.  I am certain that it was a beautiful site but was unable to enjoy it because I had to hold Daniel in his stroller.  Brian had Evan.  Once we made it to the top we saw some seal lions and then started heading down the mountain to get some lunch at the McDonald's.  It was a pretty steep walk and after we got the food we walked back up the mountain and found a bench to enjoy our meal (I know I said "enjoy").  It was a cool spot when a heavy rain started.  We gathered up everything and headed for a show.  We stood in
the arena for approximately 20 minutes before they announced the show was "suspended".  One woman yelled "what the hell" and I thought I was back in Oklahoma when I heard that.  The entire arena booed as everyone left.  We headed to the aquarium which turned out to be a bad idea because everyone else went there too.  Inside the exhibit was beautiful but people pushed and shoved us.  People were crammed in like sardines and everyone wanted to see everything at the same time.  Daniel and Evan loved all of the fish, turtles and sting rays.  Brian put Evan on a large ledge close to the aquarium so he could see and got scared when a big fish approached him.  He laughed and clapped when he was excited by what he saw.  When we arrived at the exit, it was pouring rain and people were rushing to put on rain coats and get out their umbrellas.  We didn't have any of these things so we tried to rush past people to find shelter but there were so many
people that it was difficult.  We found another building to explore with the most fascinating Jelly Fishes.  Again people pushed and shoved us.  People who were part of a tour group were the worst, I suppose they didn't want to get separated from the rest so they didn't mind pushing a mother and her child around.  Even at the most crowded of places in China we were never pushed or shoved.  The people in China are also more friendly than they are here. 

After the Jelly house we took a cable car to the other side of the park which is at the bottom of the mountain.  This ride was awesome and so relaxing since it was just the four of us in our own car.  We had fantastic views of the water and the mountain.  We arrived at the other side and found that less people were on this side which was a relief to us.  The rain had stopped so we were able to enjoy some shows and rides.  They had a lot of kid rides that were perfect for Daniel.  Evan rode his first ride with his Daddy on a little train.  This side of the park was flat and that made it easier for us too.  I had no idea how difficult it is to push a stroller up the hill. 

To come home we took a city bus and then the train system.  It is pretty easy but one of the stations requires you to go up 5 floors or down 5 floors to get to your next train.  It doesn't sound too bad but you have to do this one floor at a time.  You go down/up one floor, get out of the elevator (in our case) or escalator and then find the next elevator/escalator and continue this process 4 more times each way.  By our trip home tonight I was about to collapse from exhaustion.  I hope that I have developed some new muscles with this workout.

Evan and Daniel are still getting a long well.  They have little fights but for the most part, Daniel is doing a great job as Big Brother.  Evan was wearing one of Daniel's favorite shirts today and he didn't even say a word.  Daniel shares his snacks with Evan and Evan has even shared some of his with Daniel.  Today when we were stuck in the arena, Evan's was parked in his stroller next to another girl in her stroller.  When Brian handed him a cookie he gave it to the little girl.  She reciprocated with some crackers for Evan. 

Evan is starting to let me hold him a little more each day.  He cries a lot and throws big tantrums when he doesn't get his way but he is also a happy little boy.  He loves to play peek-a-boo and wakes up in a good mood.  I think he and I will bond more when Brian is at work.  Right now he is very dependent on Brian.  Brian is doing an awesome job of caring for Evan.  He has to carry him everywhere and never complains.  You can tell that he is really enjoying having a 'Daddy's Boy' again.

I need to get to bed so I can get up and finish packing in the morning.  I won't have time to blog again until after we get home.  Thank you for following our trip and I hope you have enjoyed reading my entries.  Please remember us in your prayers tonight as we will be traveling while you are sleeping.

God Bless,

Brian, Kirsten, Daniel & Evan

1st Day in Hong Kong Pictures

We ate lunch at McDonald's and sat next to a man and his 4-year-old son, Masaki (not sure of the spelling).  They are from Japan and are living in Hong Kong.  Daniel and Masaki became fast friends while they played with their happy meal toys.

Lovin' us some Hong Kong

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Hong Kong is beautiful!  We were here before at the beginning of our trip but  stayed exclusively at the Disneyland Resort.  Now we are on a different Island and have seen a lot more of  Hong Kong. 

We arrived on Friday evening by train.  Because Guangzhou is host the Asia Games in October there is a lot of construction and changes to their travel security.   One passenger told me that it is different everythime he travels which is regularly.  In the train station we had to put all of our bags through the x-ray machine.  No big deal, usually, but here there was no single file line where people take turns.  Everyone was pushing, shoving and skipping in line.  We had 5 carry-on bags, two strollers and a small suitcase.  Brian threw his on first and I panicked a little when it was my turn to throw my computer and purse onto the conveyor belt.  I remembered that my friend warned my about watching my belongings while in the train station.  I quickly formed a plan and let time come by between Brian and myself.  He went first and I waited to let him grab his items before I sent mine.  I had Daniel's little backpack in the bottom of his
stroller but was not able to get it out so I just rolled through the metal detector.  It beeped and I looked back at the attendant and he said nothing, so I kept rolling.  My plan worked as Brian  scooped up all of our belongings.  From then on the rest of the trip was pretty boring compared the the adrenaline rush of their security.

With all of our stuff in tow we only got two seats for the 4 of us.  We crammed our stuff in anywhere that we could and relaxed before the train pulled away from the station.  Our two seats faced two seats and a man sat across from us.  Daniel asked me "what is his name"?  The man replied "Raj, what is your name"?  From then on we had a great visit with him.  Raj was originally from India but lived in Hong Kong most of his adult life.  He told us about the history of Hong Kong and what it was like living on an Island that has over 7 million people.  He asked about where we were staying and said that he had never heard of it but would call for us when we got into Hong Kong.  When he got off of the phone he told us that our hotel was in a factory district and we would be far away from any of the attractions we wanted to see.  He offered to help us get into a new hotel but I declined his offer since I had already paid in advance.  At first I was
confused because the website said they were close to so many things and then I worried that I had made a big mistake.  Raj told us not to worry as we could take a train, bus or taxi anywhere we wanted to go.  When we got to Hong Kong he helped us find our luggage and a taxi to our hotel.  Brian said tht he was a good ambassador for Hong Kong.

Our hotel is amazing!  It is a sky scrapper and they upgraded us, for free, to a suite!  We have almost an 180 degree view of the city and mountains and the water with floor to ceiling windows!  I can even see the view while I am in the shower.  Our bed faces the view and it is breath taking at night.  We have a fridge and a kitchen table.  I wish we had had all of this space while in China.  We are on the 61st floor and have to take one elevator up to the 41st floor get off and walk down a hallway to take another elevator up to our floor.  Needless to say, you need to remember everything before you leave for the day!  There is a mall, two playgrounds and a ferry right outside of the hotel.  The train station is also close by so it is not too bad.

Our first day here we took the train to another part of the island where we walked and walked.  They have many high end stores for shopping.  We rode a cable to car to the top of a mountain.  While up there we saw more stores and some beautiful views.  We came back down and headed towards the train station.  We stopped along the way to see an Anglican (Episcopal) church that was built in the 1800's.  Hong Kong had been leased to the British Government from the Chinese until a few years ago.  The Church too was beautiful and reminded me of a couple of my Grandfather's former Churches (he was an Episcopal priest).  It felt like home to me as I walked around looking at the ornate carvings and stained glass windows.  It is a Cathedral where they have services and is also open it to the public.

We had dinner and made it back to our hotel by 6:30pm with the intention to go to bed early.  I thought we could watch a movie and go to bed but that didn't exactly happen.  There was a problem with our TV and the hotel staff had to work on it for over an hour.  When they finished, the movie we wanted to watch wasn't available so we watched "The Incredibles" on our lap top.

Today we are heading to park that is similar to Sea World.  We are getting a later start than we had planned but we will get there, eventually.

Pictures from our final two days in China

Our last days in China

Friday, May 28, 2010

Thursday was much better than Wednesday as both boys were in a much better mood and consequently so was Mama and Dad.  We didn't have to be at the American Consulate until 3pm so we had plenty of time to eat breakfast and play.  We spent about an hour in the "Swan Room" which is Mattel/Fischer Price playroom at our hotel.  Daniel has not wanted to play in the room but Evan was happy to be there.  He ran around and tried out the different toys.  I finally convinced Daniel to come in when I saw some Lightning McQueen cars in a locked glass cabinet.  After that, he had a fantastic time.  Other families came in and we enjoyed visiting with them.  There are a lot of families that have adopted "waiting children" which are children with some form of a special need.  Most are mild to moderate and some are severe.  The other families that were here adopting children waited four years for their referrals.  I did not have the patience to wait and in fact
we would still be waiting for our first child if we had not decided to adopt our boys from the "waiting" list.

After a quick lunch in our room we got ready to meet our guide to go to the American Consulate for our Oath Taking Ceremony.  We rode on a big bus with other families and it was fun to finally be riding with other people besides ourselves.  Once we arrived we had to go up 5 floors and wait in a large room for them to call Evan's Chinese name, Pan Sheng.  It was hard to hear because all of the children were loud and the announcers had thick Chinese accents.  While we waited Daniel and Evan played with other kids in the back of the room where they had some toys.  They had a play house that all of the kids enjoyed including Daniel.  I watched him sit inside with some girls and I could see that he was telling them something.  He held up his left hand and he always does when he is trying to tell a story.  It was pretty cute until the girls decided that the house was for girls only.  That did not sit well with Daniel and he got into a physical and
verbal fight with girls that were at least 3 years his senior.  One little girl told me that I need to get my son away from her because she is tired.  I just walked away and kept Daniel away from them.  Evan tried to open the window of the little house and another girl about his age approached him and he hit her in the face.  She got in a couple of good hits on him before we could put a stop to it. 

The ceremony started (informal) and the woman gave us instructions and some statistics about adoption.  There were 37 families there to adopt 40 children.  3 families adopted 2 children all of which were older kids.  They also announced the May birthdays as we clapped for them.  They had everyone stand and hold up their right hand to repeat the oath.  When it was over we all boarded the bus to head back to our hotel.  We decided to go to dinner at Lucy's again for one last meal.  We sat outside so Daniel could use his bubble gun and play in the garden.  He saw a man playing hacky sack and wanted to join him.  The man didn't let him so he went and sat on a bench next to another man and watched him as he played on his phone.  Our new friends from Ohio came to eat as well so we stayed and visited with them before we left for another adventure on the streets of Guangzhou.

We headed in the same direction as before but took some different streets to see other stores.  I am amazed at how late all of the shops stay open and how many people are still on the streets at 8pm each night.  Because Guangzhou is getting ready to host the 2010 Asia games in October, there is a lot of construction and that has closed down some shops.  We ended up heading towards the mall area we visited a couple nights ago to find dental floss.  We purchased a few items along the way before making it to the Mall square.  We are running out of baby wipes so we were looking for drug store and while we were looking for one we stopped to look around at our surroundings.  About 5 women stopped to look at the boys and ask us questions.  Unfortunately we couldn't understand them but we held up fingers and pointed at the boys to show them their age.  They kept talking to us as we smiled and shook our heads "yes".  As they were looking at the boys we
started to get a crowd.  More and more people came over to see us which confirmed for me that people will look at anything when there is a crowd!  I would estimate about 100 people formed a ring around us to see.  One man who spoke English asked to take our picture.  I took all of their pictures too because I didn't have video camera. Eventually our latest fan base thinned out and we continued with the rest of our shopping.  We walked back to the hotel and made it there about 9pm. 

The Chinese children that are in high school go to school about 8am and finish around 8-9pm at night.  They have classes 6 days a week and still have homework to do when they get home.  Our guide in Hohhot said that it is the same for students attending the Universities.  He said it is hard on the kids because they don't get much free time.  I think the same is for a lot of the workers in China, especially the shop owners.  They seem to always be in their shops.

Today we are leaving China and heading for Hong Kong to spend the weekend before we fly home on Monday.  We really wish that we were flying home today but I am sure we will have a good time in Hong Kong.  We are taking the train and it will be about 2 hour ride to HK.  Daniel is looking forward to the train.

Adventures with the Cranky Brothers

Thursday, May 27, 2010
Yesterday the boys were cranky and threw many tantrums.  Evan is very good at this as he flings his head around like it's a weapon.  He kicks, stomps his feet and screams.  I try to console him and he wiggles out of my arm like a worm or a snake.  Daniel was not much better as he continuously disobeyed any instructions that we gave him.  It was exhausting and we are all ready to come home.  Today they are both much better and so is Mama.  I felt like "psycho mom" was going to make an appearance but fortunately the crisis was averted.
I rode to the American Consulate on the hotel shuttle bus.  My guide had given me a piece of paper with "American Consulate" written in Chinese on it to show the driver.  When I approached my bus, I saw two men standing by it that looked like they were dressed as pilots.  I approached them with my paper and they said "yes" so I got onto the bus.  About 5 minutes later the driver got in the bus and we were on our way.  15 minutes into the drive I realized that our driver was not either of the men that I spoke to prior to our departure.  My inward panic began to overtake me.  The traffic was tough so I didn't want to distract the driver while he was driving.  I was hoping we would stop at a light or stop due to a traffic jam but nothing.  More time went by and I had to tell myself that it would be alright.  Finally we came to a stop so I was able to approach the driver.  He read my letter and said "yes, yes" so I relaxed again. 
When we pulled up to the Consulate, I wasn't sure that was it because there were no flags or signs.  Another passenger heard where I was going and told me I should get off the bus and gave me directions into the building.  Once inside I had to go through security to get a form notarized.  While waiting for my guide I saw a man that looked like he was from Oklahoma or some other "cowboy" state.  He had a black cowboy hat, tank top, red converse shoes and a scruffy beard.  He had a country accent and looked very much out of place in China.  I couldn't take my eyes off of him as he used not one but two fingers to pick his nose and rub it onto his pants.  I thought to myself "I hope he is not an American that is so embarrassing".  Then I remembered that I was at the US consulate so of course he is American.
I took a taxi back to our hotel and was so happy to see my boys until I heard crying coming from our room as I walked down the hallway.  Evan was extremely unhappy about something and Daniel was whining about something else.  We had to wait in our room until our guide finished with our documents at the Consulate.  Evan finally fell asleep so that left the three of us to watch an old movie on HBO.  Daniel had one problem after another and wouldn't take a nap, wouldn't watch one of his movies or be quiet.  It was pretty frustrating because it could have been a relaxing time for all but it wasn't.
We got the call we were waiting for and we left our hotel room to eat lunch.  Our hotel is great but the rooms are small.  It is even smaller with all of our stuff cluttering up the place.  I am trying to keep it contained but it takes on a life of its own.  We ate lunch at a Subway, did some shopping and then went back to the swimming pool.  There were a few other families there and it was a lot of fun for all of us.  Daniel had two swimming mishaps that were pretty scary.  He was using an inner tube and it turned him over, forcing him under water.  I caught him but he was scared from the incident.  A while later he wanted to go to the big pool.  The pool has a ledge to sit on and I told Daniel to stay there while I got myself wet.  I moved about 5 feet from him and he jumped off of the ledge.   The water was deep so I had a hard time reaching him quickly and he went under water.  He tried to move his head upward, but it didn't work.  I
was able to reach him and we got out of the pool.  He cried and said "I love you, you saved me".  I told him that he should have stayed on the ledge and that is why he needs to follow our directions.  All that day it had been a struggle to get him to listen and do what we asked him to do.  He sat on my lap for a long time before trying the kiddy pool again.
We took a taxi to a restaurant that had been recommended to us by a friend and our guide for dinner.  It was a huge restaurant and they guided us to go to the second level.  Once we got there we were seated and presented with another beautiful picture menu.  Unfortunately, this time I could not find one thing that looked good to us.  The items were expensive as well as exotic.  I notice a card written in Chinese and realized that it was another menu.  Only one person could understand a little bit of English and she was not able to help us with translating the menu.  I started looking around the restaurant and saw some dishes on other customer's tables that looked good.  I had the waitress follow me around as I pointed to what I wanted to order.  We did receive one dish that we did not order, at least we didn't intend to order, and it was pretty good.   Daniel played with the Chopsticks by hitting the plates and cups as if they were
drums.  Evan cried and threw a tantrum every five minutes.  I took the chopsticks away from Daniel many times and even put him into time out.  It was so frustrating and I wanted to scream.  We got our bill and paid as quickly as possible to leave as fast as we could.  We decided that we really need a guide to help us when we attend different restaurants and maybe a babysitter too. 
After dinner we walked home and stopped in shops along the way.  One woman asked us "why are you so far away"?  I guess she knew where the adoptive families hang out.  Walking the streets was exhilarating.  We don't live in a big city not have we ever lived in a big city and we both enjoyed meeting all of the people and seeing how they live.  The Chinese people are friendly and I will miss them when we leave tomorrow.

Safari Park Pictures

Safari Park

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

This was our last official tourist trip before we leave for Hong Kong on Friday evening.  We saved the best for last as we went to the most amazing animal park I have ever visited.  The Safari Park gave us upclose interaction with all kinds of animals including the Giant Panda, Koalas and Tigers.  My favorite animal since I was eight-years-old has been the Koala.  This park had 16 Koalas and several of them were awake.  They even have the only set of Koala twins in the world!  For about $5.00 Daniel and I had our picture taken with a baby Bengal Tiger and I fed a giraffe!  We could have had our picture taken with a Python but we decided to pass on that one.

The first part of the tour of this park was on a tram.  We rode through the park getting very close to all kinds of animals including Zebras, Giraffes, Deer and Camels to name a few.  The rest of the day we were on foot.  We walked through the "Secret Garden" where we were greeted by two small monkeys that were being fed by some other visitors.  They got very close to Daniel and he loved it.  I was a little nervous about Daniel being so close but it was fine.  We also visited the nursery where they had baby tigers, lions, a bear, deer and monkeys.  All were so cute and little.  I have never seen a zoological park with so many of the same kind of animals.  They also had a lot of babies.  We visited the Giant Pandas and were able to see them enjoy a meal of vegetables and bamboo.  They were so cute and Evan absolutely loved them.  He was holding his snack cup filled with Cheerios and tried to throw them to the Pandas.  He was laughing and
jumping up and down in his stroller.  When we left, he threw a huge tantrum (something he is very good at doing).  Now we know that Pandas are his favorite animal.

Daniel loved the park too.  Towards the end of our visit he asked to go home to Oklahoma.  He wanted to know where our cars where and wanted to ride in Mama's car.  Last night he told me that he missed his cats, dogs and friends.  He said he missed his best friend, Nathan, school Max, China Max, Kason and Abberly.  He has even been praying for all of his friends too.  His sadness didn't last long when he became distracted by some more animals.  The park was beautiful and a wonderful experience. 

 After the park we headed to a local restaurant where our guide ordered us a "Dim Sum" lunch.  Most of the Chinese restaurants open at 11am and stop serving lunch at 2pm.  After two you can order only Dim Sum.  It was delicious and a lot of  fun trying some new dishes.  They served tea but no cold water or other drinks.  We were dying for something cold to drink.  While in Inner Mongolia we discovered that many Chinese people do not drink cold water but hot water.  Our guide told us that many people think drinking cold water will hurt their body so they drink it warm.  I don't know if that is just an Inner Mongolia thing or all over China.  On the way back to the hotel, Daniel complained that his mouth was hot and he needed cold water.  We assured him that we needed it too and as soon as we arrived at the hotel we rushed to our room to get our one cold bottle of water out of the fridge.

We went swimming tonight in one of the two pools that our hotel has for it's guests.  I knew about the first pool but we were never able to swim before because it was too cold the last time we were here.  We were told by the hotel employee that there was another pool behind a tree.  It was like a secret pool because we couldn't see it and had to walk a good distance down a flower lined path to find the pool.  As we rounded the corner we saw a beautiful waterfall and crystal clear pool with a children's pool.  Daniel was thrilled as he entered the pool.  It was the perfect size for him to play and practice his swimming skills.  Evan took his time to enter the pool and once he did he enjoyed splashing his brother.  We went swimming once in Hohhut and it was an indoor pool with a kiddie pool too.  Evan and Daniel had a great time playing with Dad while I hopped into the grown up pool.  I swam a couple of laps before I rejoined them.  While I was
swimming I kept hearing hacking sounds.  At first I didn't pay much attention to it and then the noises got louder and louder.  I finally looked over an realized that every guest in the pool was spitting and hacking into the pool.  One man even blew his nose into the pool while another gargled with water and spit back into the pool.  I honestly almost gaged myself and had to concentrate so I wouldn't vomit beside the pool.  Needless to say, we never went back.  This time we were the only ones in the pool and it was peaceful and relaxing.

Brian was working on the computer this morning so I got myself and the boys ready to go on our day trip.  I also took both of them to the restaurant for breakfast by myself.  At first I thought, I can't take both of them and then I remembered that this is my new reality and I better get it into gear.  So, I took both boys to breakfast and navigated the buffet line pretty good.  For some reason I thought it was a good idea to let Daniel hold his own plate.  A couple of minutes later it shattered onto the marble floor.  Oops!  Brian went to play basketball tonight with our driver.  Once again I took care of both of the boys.  I bathed, dressed, fed, read bedtime story and got both to sleep.  It was awesome!  Evan sleeps in a crib and putting him to sleep was so easy.  Daniel has never been easy to put to bed, it has always been a major struggle with him.  Even tonight I had to lay down the law with him to get him to be quiet and go to sleep. 
I am feeling a little more confident that I could actually raise two little boys successfully!

Tomorrow I have to head to the American Consolute by myself.  I failed to get a document notarized before we left the US and the only one who can officially notarize this particular document is at the consulate.  I am meeting our guide there tomorrow and I have to be on the shuttle bus by 8:10am.  I have a post it note with "American Consulate" written in Chinese to give to my driver.  Wish me luck.

One last thing...actually two last things....I found my missing dental floss.  The other is tonight Daniel spoke some Chinese to two women at a local restaurant.  They both laughed and we had no idea what it was that he said.  As we walked back to our hotel I stopped to ask a shop girl, who speaks good English, what the phrase meant and she said "hello everybody".  I swear I never heard that phrase before and I don't know who taught it to him.  He claims that he learned it at school but I doubt that Waterloo Road Mother's Day Out teaches Mandarin.  He is so smart!

The Great Dental Floss Adventure

Monday, May 24, 2010

Today Evan turned 20 months old.  He was feeling much better and in a good mood most of the day.  He is really good a throwing a tantrum when he doesn't get his way and we are still learning about his likes and dislikes.  Daniel and Evan are still getting along pretty good.  Every now and then we have to referee a pushing match between them.  I have to say that Evan can defend himself very well, I think he learned some good skills in the orphanage.  While we were having another foot massage today, they were sitting in the same chair together watching a Chinese cartoon.  Both boys were laughing, it was adorable.

We went to Yuntai Park today and it is a place that we had visited on Daniel's trip however, it was decorated differently this time.  The last time it was decorated for Chinese New Year and had characters that represented the animals of the Zodiac.  Since it was the year of the mouse they had lots of characters that looked like Mickey Mouse knock offs.  This year it was a farming theme.  They also had a lot of cartoon characters set up around the park.  Daniel was especially excited to see Spider Man and Buzz Light Year.  He says that Buzz Light Year is his favorite super hero (at least that is what he said today).  In another part of the park they had a photo booth set up where you could dress up in Traditional Chinese clothing.  A family that traveled with us on our last trip did this and they had a lot of fun so we thought we would try it this time.  Unfortunately, Daniel would not join us and we didn't even try to get Evan dressed up so, it
was just Brian and  I.  They put me in a beautiful red gown with a lovely hat.  Brian wore a golden yellow outfit with a red hat.  As we were getting ready, I noticed that many people had stopped to watch.  We were starting to get a crowd of about 20 people and it even included a police officer.  In the Chinese culture it is not rude to stare and stare they did.  Our fans had big smiles on their faces and some were giggling as the photographer fussed with our hats.  We were guided over to an area with good lighting and a beautiful backdrop.  As the photographer took our picture, so did our crowd.  One woman even went as far as telling the photographer to move so she could take our picture.  A couple of ladies took their picture with me in my Chinese dress.  It was pretty fun although I do wonder where those pictures are going to end up.  Hopefully it won't be some website for dorky foreign travelers:).  As we took off our costumes
our personal paparazzi disbanded and we were back to just being us again.  The pictures turned out great and the entire transaction was less than $13.00!  We will show you our pictures when we get home.

After the park we headed back to the hotel.  We spent the afternoon eating lunch and lounging in our room.  Guangzhou is like Miami; it is hot and humid.  The first day here was horrible and then a storm came through and it is not quite as humid now. Around 3pm we headed for the Chinese Medical clinic for our foot massage.  Ah...so good.  Then we headed out for a little adventure as we left the comfortable surroundings of our hotel.  We walked across the river and over the highway (had to carry two strollers and one child up and down a couple flight of stairs) in search of dental floss and a restaurant.  We walked through neighborhoods and markets in search of some dental floss because I had lost ours somewhere along the way.  We passed people selling all kinds of things including dried sea horses, grains, mushrooms and things I have no clue what they were.  We walked by men playing cards on make shift tables in the streets and a
little kid selling some kind of dried food product on a corner.  Some people had stores and some just threw a blanket down on a corner and laid their items out to sell.  We talked to a couple of people but most ignored us.  Our guide wrote down the places we wanted to visit and we stopped people along the way and ask for directions.  Some people couldn't read what was written on our note and some were able to help.  Most just pointed their fingers in a direction.  We finally made it to a mall that we recognized from our previous trip and we tried to enter it but ended up in a Jade market instead.  They were closing so we had to leave and got some new directions from a woman who new a little bit of English.  We located an entrance to some underground stores and walked the two strollers down the stairs.  Neither Evan nor Daniel wanted to get out so we carried them in the strollers down two flights of stairs.  It was exhausting and it
was at that point I told Brian "all this for dental floss"?  He said that we had made it this far so keep going.   We located the store with the dental floss and bought that plus some other impulse items and left.  On the way out we spotted an escalator and eureka, we found the Mall!  We never found the Chinese restaurant we were looking for so we ate at a Pizza Hut.  We took a taxi back to the hotel and plan on taking a taxi to the restaurant tomorrow night.  

We got back to the hotel and I gave Evan a bath.  He cried and threw a big fit, eventually he calmed down and enjoyed himself.  He splashed in the water and even let me wash his hair.  He laughed and when Daniel joined him they both had fun getting me wet.  He is still daddy's boy and screams when Brian leaves him for even a minute.  It is getting better though, he is making eye contact with me and is more receptive to me holding him.  He gets very jealous if Brian is holding Daniel or even giving Daniel any attention.  It doesn't seem to bother Daniel unless I am giving Evan some attention and that is not OK with him. 

Tomorrow we are heading to the famous Safari Park.  We have never been and they have Pandas, Koalas and lots of other animals, we can hardly wait!