Farewell Nanjing, hello Guangzhou!

Before leaving Nanjing, we visited the Confucius Temple on the banks of the Qinhuai River. The temple consists mainly of an archway and building--nothing in the building, we were told; However, I later learned there were things of interest.

Four gates lead up to the temple from various directions.











The area now sports blocks of tiny shops in all directions. Some people have felt that the offerings here were not the best. I found they were much better than what I saw in Guangzhou.  I wish we could have spent more time shopping in this area and exploring more.

The area in front of the temple draws people to enjoy the river and to cruise in small yellow-topped boats. I would like to have taken a river cruise in one of these.

Guangzhou

Guangzhou has a very different feel about it than Nanjing. While it is still pretty polluted here and forests of buildings stretch for as far as the eye can see, traffic doesn't seem so hurried and so bad. The streets appear to be set up differently and everything is green. Not only that, but there appear to be more park spaces and more trees. That may be an illusion, given the winter conditions further north. Many of the buildings have decorative lights on them and several have full-length television signs advertising this and that.

Our apartment here is in a luxury hotel--marble everywhere except in the brocade display running floor to ceiling in our two-floor unit. Satin-draped full-length windows over-look a bustling shopping area. Even at midnight it is busy! 

Today it was very crowded--Saturday plus lots of sales. I was able to purchase a couple short-sleeved shirts to wear. It was in the 70s so I really needed something lighter. Of course, the folks living here are all bundled up in winter jackets because they're cold. They have no idea :)

Tomorrow, we're being taken to the Chen Family Museum and I think Shamian Island which is supposed to be just lovely.

Chen Family Ancestral Hall

We did indeed go to the Chen Family Ancestral Hall/Museum. Such detailed carvings! You could spend days there and still not see every carving.

Beautiful grounds with bonsai trees and sculptures. The family rooms have been turned into exhibition halls. One featured silk weavings so intricate they looked like photos. Another had vases. Yet another had paintings.

Some had artists with their works for sale. One very intriguing artist painted with his hands. This would be finger-painting taken to its highest level. You'd never guess they were painted with anything other than a brush. Another artist exhibited a wind instrument made from a gourd. It made the most beautiful sounds. I was very tempted to buy one but felt that Y380 ($65) was a bit steep for something that might not get a lot of use.

Another art form I really appreciated was olive carving. What they call an olive is a very hard nut about 2-2 1/2" long. Such intricate and beautiful carving! I wish I could show you! We weren't allowed to take photos in that area but I do have photos of some on exhibit that to show you. The ones above and at right were for sale.

Citizenship!

Tuesday we go to the US Consulate where Mr. Sweetness and Light will become a US citizen--although he will still be traveling under his Chinese passport and have to get a visa to come home with us!






Vending machine downstairs from the doctor's office. All grown up and serving liquor to area business people who might need to give a last minute gift, get a pick-me-up, or have something for a late-breaking appointment!

















Here we are at the US Consulate. Mr. Sweetness and Light has just gotten his US citizenship!
Following the consular appointment, we traveled to Shamian Island for a break.

Shamian Island

A lot of people will refer to Shamian Island simply as "The Island." It once housed the US Consulate and adoptive families have been staying there for years. It is a peaceful oasis and a great place to bond with young children in safety. Car traffic is limited and the island is mostly park. Older children craving more activity and their parents might want a small dose of time there just to unwind. The firecracker hanging hung outside the restaurant where we ate lunch.

I absolutely adore dim sum. The little tomatoes on the outside plates had delicate little flowers tucked inside. The middle dish sports one of my favorites--I don't know the name but they are rice noodles stuffed with shrimp in a soy sauce base. They test your skill at using chopsticks because the noodles will break or just slip out from your grasp and you have to start all over again!

Locals engage in many activities. Some play a game with what looks like a shuttle cock for badmitton with a flat piece on the end. Play would remind folks in the US of hackey sack. The boys played with this for months after homecoming--until they left it on the ground and our dog chewed it up. It's going to be an expensive trip to get another one :)












Others practiced music and dance. Young couples have their wedding photos taken there--in fact, there was a couple having their pictures done during our visit. 

Shamian boasts many beautiful and whimsical bronze sculptures relating to the island's history.

Shopping and Street Scenes

Our hotel is 35 stories tall, seven of which belong to a mall.One floor had all restaurants. Another floor had banquet facilities.






There's also a shopping district that starts at the mall entrance. On Saturday and Sunday the streets are packed with people a la black Friday on steroids. Shop after shop sells clothing, purses, or jewelry. I took this photo about 11 p.m. The van parked below is a police vehicle...there wasn't any trouble, it is just stationed there.









I'm trying to remember the name of this restaurant. I think it was Uncle something or other. We really liked it and I remember that it was featured in one of the travel books I read prior to leaving.

This dish was so beautiful! And delicious! I have no idea what it was. Mr. Sweetness and Light ordered for me.















Some of the signs in China really amused me. The juxtaposition of the Pizza Hut logo with that of the Playboy store outside in the mall struck me as particularly odd.

Especially when one turned to look at the interior of the restaurant and saw this sign.

Beijing Road--Historical Road

The road also has historical significance as it has been part of a shopping district for thousands of years. Sorry the entire plaque isn't in the photo.






Parts of the old road have been excavated and encased in glass for preservation as well as viewing by the throngs of people. At left is one of the cases with the original road inside.










This is part of a miniature of what historians believe the area looked like. The little buildings have incredible details. Almost missed seeing this as I thought it was another piece of the roadway. Glad I looked inside!

There's another mall which we can see from our window: the Metro Mall. I went in there to explore the offerings for sale. I didn't find anything I wanted to buy.














What I did find was a very pleasant surprise! In the basement: the excavation of the old city Watergate and an exhibit about it. Free! It was so cool! My apologies to the powers that be--
you are not supposed to take pictures down there which I didn't see until after I had snapped about four frames and I did stop after reading the sign.

Some scenes from around Guangzhou

Tupperware store on 2nd floor of Louidon

After shopping, on the way back up to the room, what do you think I found? A Tupperware store! I exchanged business cards with the consultant on duty. They have a lot of products we've never had in the States and others in colors far different from those we carry. I picked up a brochure and took pictures too. I may buy some items before returning home. They had chopsticks, a meat cleaver, metal thermoses, small polycarbonate bowls in a rainbow of colors, large storage containers with attached handles, among others. Their midgets sell in a set of four for $2.00.

This Fererro and Almond Roca chocolate display in the grocery store downstairs from our apartment stretched floor to ceiling. I really had to manoeuver to get most of the tower in the frame. The chocolates will be Chinese New Year gifts. I am amazed at the size of it. Must have taken days to build.

Oh, another find: Amway is very very big here. Signs all over the airport!

Guangzhou Zoo 

The zoo has a lot of what would be 1950s or 1960s style exhibits if one were in the US. A few of the exhibits have undergone or were undergoing renovation. The animals generally appeared to be well-cared for and everything was neat and clean.





The panda you see here apparently was pregnant at the time we visited and had babies several months later. The kids were thrilled to see live pandas in China. This was one of the newer exhibits but the glass enclosing the living space made it hard to see the pandas while inside due to glare.

In the middle of the zoo was a really nice, large pond with lots of birds enjoying themselves. Black swans, ducks of different sorts...and pigeons.











The herd of red-flanked dikurs were so cute! This guy is full grown at maybe two feet tall. The really unique thing about these little guys is that they are the only carnivorous antelope species in the world.

This guy may have appeared a bit lonely but often bull elephants can be found solo in the wild. 

People were allowed to feed the giraffes--very popular!
















 Thursday, we travel to Hong Kong by train.

On to Shuyang!

The trip to Shuyang (not Suzhou) proved an awesome experience. We traveled from Nanjing to Mr. Sweetness and Light's home town in a van on the freeway.

. 

The freeway system has toll booths on each end. You get a ticket when you enter and pay when you get off.












We traversed both branches of the Yangtze River and another river whose name I don't recall. I have pictures of the Yangtze but you'd be hard put to pick out the river. Air quality had been pretty bad all week but took a nose-dive. Winter landscape plus polluted skies turned almost everything gray. I'm not sure whether all of the landscape would have been gray without the pollution or not, or whether it was the time of year.

Trees lined the freeway on both sides, with occasional clear areas. Past the trees,  fields and rice paddies (?) covered the landscape and connected with each other via narrow bike routes. 

Groups of houses clustered close by. Most of the houses were identical save for a different decoration on the roof top here and there--for three and a half hours worth of driving. Most rooftops had a double dragon design on the roof line--the variant being a pointy maybe lotus design. These houses were only two stories--in contrast to the forests of high rise buildings everywhere in the cities. There were a few sheep in one field. Other than that, there were no animals of any kind. Off ramps were only occasional and only two rest stops exist between the two cities.

Shuyang had been described as a small, country town. By Chinese standards, that is probably a good description. For an American city, it would be fairly large, I think. There were high rise buildings springing up all over. Some areas were new and affluent while others were clearly older. Dust from construction coated everything.







Our trip had to be carefully coordinated because of the stir it could cause and because inter-country adoption is something people there are unfamiliar with and wouldn't understand. We visited the small, cheery and brightly-colored orphanage first. We met the ladies who had cared for Mr. Sweetness and Light all his life and the driver who took him to school. They obviously all care for him very much!


We then were to go to lunch with the orphanage director and Mr. Sweetness and Light's teacher and principle--only it turned out that the officials from the local Civil Affairs Office also had been invited. Lunch was more than lunch--it was a very big affair with countless dishes ordered, toasts to and from all concerned. A special room had been reserved at an upscale restaurant perhaps as much for privacy as for the number of people invited. As we waited for the room to be ready, a crowd began to gather to check us out. They reconvened after we finished lunch and were waiting for the van to pick us up. We went briefly to Mr. Sweetness and Light's school so he could have a picture of it and then went to his finding place for pictures there.