Yangxi Girls on the Red Couch

Today we had a mostly free day. One parent is asked to be back at the hotel by 2:30 to fill out paperwork for the consulate appointment on Monday. SJ has agreed to do all the in-China paperwork so I can focus on the baby. This is a long one though, 90 minutes of filling out forms. OUCH.


All our CCAI friends who were with us in Hong Kong have returned from Nanchang and Changsha. We waited in the lobby for them after dinner last night and were able to greet the CCAI bus. That was lots of fun. I think arriving at the China Hotel in GZ after a week in another Province can be a relief to some. I met one guy who hated the city he had been in for his provincial work and while lounging in the pool here at the CH, said he felt like he was in Hawaii! The Nanchang people had travel delays due to thunder storms so I am sure they were thrilled to get to the hotel and climb into the comfy CH beds.

This morning we woke up before my mom and the big kids so we quietly slide out of the room to go up to the executive lounge for breakfast. They have a high chair up there and since Cici hates high chairs we figured it is better to try her out in them in the lounge where we have a relatively private back room to sit in versus having her scream downstairs at the big buffet and upset all the other babies. So today we ran up for breakfast very early -essentially in our PJs- so we could see if having the first bottle in the high chair was more acceptable to her. And it was. Well, it was the bottle and being put firmly in front of a TV with CNN International on. She quietly sipped her breakfast, did not fuss, and got up-to-speed on the situation in Libya. We were thrilled!

After breakfast we came back to the room and got ready for the day. The Nanchang and Changsha groups had their medical appointment today. Our Yangxi group decided to head over to Shamian Island for red couch photos which I keep inadvertantly calling red carpet photos. Either way I think is appropriate. We intended to meet up with the other two travel groups for a photo but it seems that their medical took a little longer than ours and they were not at the hotel by the time the Yangxi girls had had enough. Our photo shoot ended with lots of tears, dirty diapers, babies needing their 11:00 am bottle and many of them fast asleep.

So we left and walked shopped around Shamian Island until about 1:45 and then we grabbed a cab back from the White Swan to the China Hotel. It is really easy to go from hotel to hotel by cab. It takes about 10 minutes and costs about 18 RMB.

I have another post not yet ready to go about yesterday... we did the Guangzhou Safari Park which I have to say, rocked! We all loved it. It is a mostly open - free range- zoo which you can walk around from exhibit to exhibit but there is also a safari ride you can do which is loads of fun as well. I would highly recommend this to families traveling with older kids. Our guide arranged a van for us, there were 11 people (not including the babies) and it cost 900 RMB including tip for the ride. The entrance fees were 150 RMB for adults and 120 RMB for each of my kids ages 8 and 9. I have lots of photos but haven't sorted through them.

We have started calling Cici the Tigress. She is year of the Tiger and has a fantastic personality. I swear she is so full of charisma and character. She doesn't warm to people immediately but once she does she is ready to party. She studies things with her enormous eyes and is constantly looking around taking absolutely everything in. She is a lot more comfortable in her stroller now and she was totally fine in the cab both ways to Shamian Island. So that is a very nice improvement. She hasn't loved the carrier but I think that has more to do with the friggin heat than anything else. It is a sauna here.