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!