Well our trip has come to an end. Almost. We are finishing up packing and getting ready for the super long day. Bus trip to the airport, flight to Hong Kong, navigate that airport and get the flight back to JFK. Going to be a busy day, but most of us are on the same flight home so the adventure has one last chapter to go.
Although the weather was different than expected, it was still a good trip. We went back to Shamian Island yesterday and the pearl shops again. It was nice to get out one last time and try to spend the rest of our yuan on some more souvenirs. Megan is hyper and smiling right now, so hopefully it will continue for a while.
There is one last album of pictures here. Although the trip was long, there is a smiling little girl getting ready to meet the rest of her family very soon who is so lovable and happy, everyone is going to just eat her up.Its just too bad she doesn't stay smiling when the flash goes off on the camera! We have some proof though! See you all soon!!
Showing posts with label Shamian Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shamian Island. Show all posts
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Whatever happened to the sun and warm weather?
So the entire time we have been in Guangzhou, it has been much cooler than it was supposed to be, while Chongqing was much warmer than usual. I guess they flip-flopped the weather forecasts. Yesterday began the really hazy days and it was kinda misting out so they changed our dinner to last night and our Pearl River cruise to tonight. At like 11am today, it was so black outside it looked like it was 3am. Then the sky opened up and let us have it. Yesterday we were inside all day and pretty much were beginning to lose it, so no amount of rain was keeping us inside....but we almost wished it had.
We decided to go across the street to the mall. In the process, we got soaked. To the point where we were walking around we were looking at clothes for me. Of course it was a ritzy mall and even in yuan I would not buy a thing because the prices were insane. So I stayed in my soaking wet clothes. By the way, Megan is currently screaming her little lungs out right now because she is in what she views as her jail cell aka her crib. She screamed last night and its becoming a normal occurrence, but I'm sure at some point she will get it. Shes stuck there for the night. Regardless of the screaming. I personally can tune it out somehow, but I know its getting to Teresa. I feel bad but she needs to learn. She is truly not afraid of anything so she might try to climb out one of these nights. Thankfully only tonight and then Friday night area left in this crib.
The dinner last night was on the 4th floor of our hotel caled Hong Main, which was a Cantonese restaurant. The food is supposed to be more like what we have an Chinese food in the states, but they love spicy. It was pretty good, but the cakes were the best. Cheesecake and chocolate mousse. One cake was for Jillian and Megan's birthdays and the other was for Greta and Billy's anniversary. It seems we have eaten in almost every restaurant this hotel has. We hit up the 40th floor for Prego, the Italian place a few nights ago and the 2nd floor is a daily routine for breakfast at a place called Taste. We also tried their dinner one night. I'm not sure if there are any eateries left in here but the tea room downstairs. Something I might have to look into.
We finally got to go on the Pearl River cruise tonight. The official oath was taken today at the US Consulate just a 5 min walk from our hotel this afternoon and as we were leaving we pretty much begged them to say the cruise was still on since it had been raining on and off all night. Thankfully they said yes. The cruise was on the Pearl River for about an hour and half and they served a very spicy dinner. I think I ate the noodles and fried rice only in the end. They took pasta and seemed to dump a bucket of pepper on it and probably something else too. The fried rice had ham pieces in it. New one for me. The noodles were once again AMAZING. I think if I were to live here, I'd probably become a noodle because it's what I've liked best. Opps. The view from the boat was so pretty, but my camera really does suck. I was kinda beginning to realize it the other day, but the pictures are night just came out ehh. It actually stopped in the middle of one picture and I almost cried because the screen went black and all I could think of was the windows blue screen of death. Black on a camera is like it's equal I assume. All the pictures are posted anyways though. It gives a good idea of what it was like. The moment the boat took off it began to pour again and when we docked it had stopped. And I never did mention the squatty potties, but they are common in China. On this cruise this was like the 3rd I have used. It is truly an art form to use I must say.
Tomorrow is our last full day in China. We are going back to Shamian Island and to the pearl and jade place one last time. Then is lots and lots of packing. Saturday we leave for the first flight to Hong Kong which leaves at 2:35pm, then our flight to JFK leaves at 5:30om or so. But we arrive in NY at 8:30pm local time. Quite the time makeup there. More pictures are posted so go and check them out!! Some are new ones from the past week and some area totally new. Trying to catch up before we head home. There are none from the oath taking because it is not allowed. Oh and we hit up yet another American eatery today for breadsticks...Papa Johns.
We decided to go across the street to the mall. In the process, we got soaked. To the point where we were walking around we were looking at clothes for me. Of course it was a ritzy mall and even in yuan I would not buy a thing because the prices were insane. So I stayed in my soaking wet clothes. By the way, Megan is currently screaming her little lungs out right now because she is in what she views as her jail cell aka her crib. She screamed last night and its becoming a normal occurrence, but I'm sure at some point she will get it. Shes stuck there for the night. Regardless of the screaming. I personally can tune it out somehow, but I know its getting to Teresa. I feel bad but she needs to learn. She is truly not afraid of anything so she might try to climb out one of these nights. Thankfully only tonight and then Friday night area left in this crib.
The dinner last night was on the 4th floor of our hotel caled Hong Main, which was a Cantonese restaurant. The food is supposed to be more like what we have an Chinese food in the states, but they love spicy. It was pretty good, but the cakes were the best. Cheesecake and chocolate mousse. One cake was for Jillian and Megan's birthdays and the other was for Greta and Billy's anniversary. It seems we have eaten in almost every restaurant this hotel has. We hit up the 40th floor for Prego, the Italian place a few nights ago and the 2nd floor is a daily routine for breakfast at a place called Taste. We also tried their dinner one night. I'm not sure if there are any eateries left in here but the tea room downstairs. Something I might have to look into.
We finally got to go on the Pearl River cruise tonight. The official oath was taken today at the US Consulate just a 5 min walk from our hotel this afternoon and as we were leaving we pretty much begged them to say the cruise was still on since it had been raining on and off all night. Thankfully they said yes. The cruise was on the Pearl River for about an hour and half and they served a very spicy dinner. I think I ate the noodles and fried rice only in the end. They took pasta and seemed to dump a bucket of pepper on it and probably something else too. The fried rice had ham pieces in it. New one for me. The noodles were once again AMAZING. I think if I were to live here, I'd probably become a noodle because it's what I've liked best. Opps. The view from the boat was so pretty, but my camera really does suck. I was kinda beginning to realize it the other day, but the pictures are night just came out ehh. It actually stopped in the middle of one picture and I almost cried because the screen went black and all I could think of was the windows blue screen of death. Black on a camera is like it's equal I assume. All the pictures are posted anyways though. It gives a good idea of what it was like. The moment the boat took off it began to pour again and when we docked it had stopped. And I never did mention the squatty potties, but they are common in China. On this cruise this was like the 3rd I have used. It is truly an art form to use I must say.
Tomorrow is our last full day in China. We are going back to Shamian Island and to the pearl and jade place one last time. Then is lots and lots of packing. Saturday we leave for the first flight to Hong Kong which leaves at 2:35pm, then our flight to JFK leaves at 5:30om or so. But we arrive in NY at 8:30pm local time. Quite the time makeup there. More pictures are posted so go and check them out!! Some are new ones from the past week and some area totally new. Trying to catch up before we head home. There are none from the oath taking because it is not allowed. Oh and we hit up yet another American eatery today for breadsticks...Papa Johns.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The purple moon shines at night...
...yet another line from that fantastic eeyore in the play room. The daisies line is still my favorite though and probably never will change (I wonder if we can find one in the US...my bday is coming up...). The play room is so awesome. Megan and I spent some time playing with the little kitchen set and of course eeyore and the gang tihs morning, till she walked me to the door to leave. She was getting tired and needed a nap. The one nap a day she actually will bother to take.
So today we went to a Buddhist temple and to be honest I pretty much forgot everything that David (our tour guide) said about the place. It was very pretty and had a relaxing feel to it, like a park does at home. Many people go and visit it, regardless of their religion and I do recall him saying that one the first day of their new year, everyone visits.
Megan for the past for nights has been her usual wiggle worm self and last night I think she thought bed was optional as she refused to lay still and silent till 11pm. Oh boy. She definitely has like a permanent caffeine fix going on as she never ever stops going. She is getting very brave with the standing and will pull herself up on anything and everything. Legs, blankets, doors, walls, whatever is nearby seems to work well for her.
Yesterday we went to Shamian Island for their medical exams and visa pictures. They attempted to translate their measurements into inches and pounds but it didn't go so well, as they tried to say 3 of the girls where the same weight and height (and just by looking you can see they are not), but she weighed in at 20.2lbs and 71cm (about 28 inches). After the exam, we got the chance to take a little walk around to our meeting spot, then were given time to go shopping. Megan of course decided this would be a better time to eat, so we were feeding her nuggets as we are making a pile of things to buy. It was entertaining to say the least. We only made it to 2 places and then Teresa hit up another place and got the cutest red shoes for Megan that squeak as she walks (when her heel hits the ground) so now we semi know when shes on the move again. I hear we are going back one more time so maybe we can make it to another block this time.
Also last night we went out for our first real Chinese food. I know this sounds like it's taken forever, but Chongqing is a spicy place and neither of us really like spicy food. Thankfully, Nicola and Scott had eaten at this place the night before so they knew which dishes to order (based on pictures). Everything they ordered was really good, but I loved this one noodle dish. Halfway through, Effie and Jamie joined us and that was very helpful. Jamie learned Chinese in college and married someone who is from China so they speak and read fluently, and were able to get us a good dessert and communicate with the waitress as opposed to us using our own way of attempting to communicate. Unfortunately they came after we ordered sodas, so we did have a bit of a comedy routine going on. Scott said they have sodas like 7up (which is HUGELY popular over here...do they even sell it in the US anymore? I never see it) and pepsi, so we all said 7up. First the guy came out with beer after about a 5 minute absence. Then after another 2min routine at the table trying to explain not that, he said coffee. Not that either. He eventually returns with 4 cans of pepsi after digging them up from a nearby country since he was gone forever. Scott and I took the pepsi ( I personally did not like the tea they served and was dying for something to drink), but Teresa and Nicola wanted the 7up. After another few minutes we came up with a can similar but green. He returned successfully with 2 more cans. God only knows what it was Teresa asked for, but we joked he would return with a chair (I think it was a knife to cut up stuff for Megan) and sure enough he returned a few minutes later with a wicker high chair. Thanksfully Jamie and Effie arrived just a few minutes later to save us from possibly buying the place or something insane. It was interesting, but a fun evening out of the hotel.
There are bunch more pictures here and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!! I have no clue what day it truly is with the time difference and sometimes its just not worth figuring it out. I know I just experienced my March 3 so it's good enough for me :)
So today we went to a Buddhist temple and to be honest I pretty much forgot everything that David (our tour guide) said about the place. It was very pretty and had a relaxing feel to it, like a park does at home. Many people go and visit it, regardless of their religion and I do recall him saying that one the first day of their new year, everyone visits.
Megan for the past for nights has been her usual wiggle worm self and last night I think she thought bed was optional as she refused to lay still and silent till 11pm. Oh boy. She definitely has like a permanent caffeine fix going on as she never ever stops going. She is getting very brave with the standing and will pull herself up on anything and everything. Legs, blankets, doors, walls, whatever is nearby seems to work well for her.
Yesterday we went to Shamian Island for their medical exams and visa pictures. They attempted to translate their measurements into inches and pounds but it didn't go so well, as they tried to say 3 of the girls where the same weight and height (and just by looking you can see they are not), but she weighed in at 20.2lbs and 71cm (about 28 inches). After the exam, we got the chance to take a little walk around to our meeting spot, then were given time to go shopping. Megan of course decided this would be a better time to eat, so we were feeding her nuggets as we are making a pile of things to buy. It was entertaining to say the least. We only made it to 2 places and then Teresa hit up another place and got the cutest red shoes for Megan that squeak as she walks (when her heel hits the ground) so now we semi know when shes on the move again. I hear we are going back one more time so maybe we can make it to another block this time.
Also last night we went out for our first real Chinese food. I know this sounds like it's taken forever, but Chongqing is a spicy place and neither of us really like spicy food. Thankfully, Nicola and Scott had eaten at this place the night before so they knew which dishes to order (based on pictures). Everything they ordered was really good, but I loved this one noodle dish. Halfway through, Effie and Jamie joined us and that was very helpful. Jamie learned Chinese in college and married someone who is from China so they speak and read fluently, and were able to get us a good dessert and communicate with the waitress as opposed to us using our own way of attempting to communicate. Unfortunately they came after we ordered sodas, so we did have a bit of a comedy routine going on. Scott said they have sodas like 7up (which is HUGELY popular over here...do they even sell it in the US anymore? I never see it) and pepsi, so we all said 7up. First the guy came out with beer after about a 5 minute absence. Then after another 2min routine at the table trying to explain not that, he said coffee. Not that either. He eventually returns with 4 cans of pepsi after digging them up from a nearby country since he was gone forever. Scott and I took the pepsi ( I personally did not like the tea they served and was dying for something to drink), but Teresa and Nicola wanted the 7up. After another few minutes we came up with a can similar but green. He returned successfully with 2 more cans. God only knows what it was Teresa asked for, but we joked he would return with a chair (I think it was a knife to cut up stuff for Megan) and sure enough he returned a few minutes later with a wicker high chair. Thanksfully Jamie and Effie arrived just a few minutes later to save us from possibly buying the place or something insane. It was interesting, but a fun evening out of the hotel.
There are bunch more pictures here and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!! I have no clue what day it truly is with the time difference and sometimes its just not worth figuring it out. I know I just experienced my March 3 so it's good enough for me :)
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