Day 3

We got up probably around 6:00 am and went to breakfast. When we came back we were trying to make our plans for the day. We decided to go to the zoo. I wanted to see the panda.

Angela went down to the lobby and asked about a taxi and they told her that they would get one for us when we were ready. We called Martin to tell him where we would be and ask a few questions. He told us that 4 couples were coming in this afternoon at different times and he wanted to make sure that we told them at the desk to have the taxi driver take us to the south gate which was closer to the hotel.

When we went down and told them we were ready they sent the bell hop to get the taxi. We started to follow him but he motioned to us to wait. I don't know how far he had to walk to get the taxi but we waited for awhile. He finally returned riding in the taxi and then we got in and were on our way. The taxi driver took us to the north gate instead of the south gate. That was ok because both entrances are different the north gate had to different types of ticket booths. One was for the ocean exhibit and the other for the zoo only.

Once you are inside you walk up some steps and in front of you is a rock cliff or wall with a statue of a monkey. They had alot of monkeys. It is a big zoo and spread out. We saw alot of animals and some that we would not consider as wild like a pomerianian. They had several of those in cages. One of them had puppies. There were alot of baby animals within the zoo.
They had four different areas. The zoo zoo, an amusement park, the ocean exhibit, the goldfish park, and an area that they did all kinds of shows. In the goldfish park kids could catch a goldfish to take home with them.
As we were walking around people stared at us. We started to feel like we were apart of the zoo. We found some people to be nice and talk to us and others would look at us as if we didn't belong. They would talk and in the conversation they would say Americans. What they said about us I don't know but oh well. We were beginning to feel alittle funny so we decided that it was time to go. We did see all of the zoo execpt for the birds but I was not interested in that. So we made our way out to the South gate.

Angela waved down a taxi and we got in and gave him the little card that gave him directions to the hotel and address. He looked at it with a puzzeled look and went on. Angela asked me if we were going the wrong way and I told her that he probably will be turning around up here. I was right there was a break in the median and he turned around and started back towards the hotel. She kept asking me if we were going the right way and I kept telling her yes because I remembered that landmark. Well, he went down the street that was on the other side of the hotel where we had gone to the 7 eleven and Woo's resturant. This guy was lost but we were not. We ended up having to tell him where to go and turn. He thought that was funny and so did we. We told Martin about it and he had a good laugh about it. Once we got in we ordered Woo's for dinner. I finally got Angela to order something different from there other than the fried egg sandwich. She got the fried spaghetti noodles with beef. I got sweet and sour pork ribs with rice and she didn't know what wontons were so I suprised her with those. They had shrimp in them. She enjoyed the dinner. After that we both made our calls and when to bed early. Enjoy the pics.

Day 2 November 6

We got up and got ready for the day. We went down to the 4th floor for breakfast. It is done buffet style. We met one of the girls that work there her name was Lisa and she spoke English pretty well. She gave us the tour of the hotel and then we went back to our room to get our things.

Martin met us at the room and he took us for a drive around the town. He asked us what we wanted to do and we told him that we wanted to see things that is usually not on the tour. He took us to the old part of Guangzhou to a market called the free market.

This is where the locals come to do some of there shopping. This was quite different. They sold alot of animals (not for food) as pets only. They had all kinds of puppies, birds, fish turtles and many more. I wanted to just buy all the puppies and bring them home but that wasn't going to happen.

He took us further down the market and we stopped at this antique stand. Now, this is going to sound weird. They sold coffins. Now some of you may know what a chinese coffin is. This is not your traditional coffin as we know it. It is a box (different sizes) made out of some type of wood that has an inscription on it. It is for good luck. It means long life and something else at this time I don't remember. You can open it up and put something small in it.

Then after we went to the free market we took us to an area that had all kinds of shops. He also told us where the Liwan Plaza was and that was our last destination. Well, we got to see more of the city then we wanted. We had made it all the way down to what I would call there hardware district. I began to wonder if we made the right choice in staying there by ourselves. But we managed to get to where we were going.

McDonald's is a big thing around here. They are always crowded with people. Then we shopped for awhile and then stood in line for a taxi. We made it back to the hotel and then ordered Papa John's pizza. The pizza cost us 120 yuan.

The next set of pictures that you see are a picture of the coffin and areas around Liwan P laza.

November 3rd

My mom and dad came over around 2:30 to take us to the airport. We got there early and were able to check our luggage and do the e-tickets. While we were checking our luggage there was a man that walked up in front of the line and he began to arrgue with the gentlemen that had been waiting his turn. He kept telling him that he was next. This man had taken his shoes off and became angry with the other gentlemen and security. I don't know what happened to him all I know is that he quickly disappeared. We went through security and then got something for breakfast. I thought that the airport would be busy but it was like a ghost town. When we were able to finally board the plane our seats were in the back. The girl told us that they upgraded our tickets to the middle of the plane. That was nice. Once we were boarded we were on our way to L.A. It took us 4 hrs and 30 minutes. It was hard to get used to the time difference between Florida and California. We left Florida and 7:00am and arrived in L.A. at 9:50am. They are 3 hours behind us. Once we got there we had all day to go around and do things but we were so tired that we decided to stay at the airport at the Crown Room. That was nice we were able to rest alittle and take showers before we boarded the plane to China. We left the main terminal and walked down to the Tom Bradley terminal (which is the international flight terminal). Once we found our way there we felt as if we were lost. We asked the people who work there and know one new were the China Southern counter was. Come to find out all of the airlines within this terminal share ticket counters. Once we found them we went through the line and then we had 2 hours to kill. We went and got something to eat and by that time we needed to get in line for security check. The line was very long. Once we got through there we made our way to the area were the shuttle buses were to take you to the plane. This was different once you got on the shuttle they took you to the boarding dock and once we got there and we re boarding they had police there and they had some people pulled to the side and going through baggage. Then further down the ramp to the plane they had a dog that was sniffing for illegal stuff. That was different. The dog did catch an old woman and they pulled here to the side. I never saw her again. Once we boarded we found our seats and the aisles and seats were meant for very small people. Once we were in the air they served a dinner but we were not hungry. Along the way we slept alot. We meet a couple of people on the plane which made the time pass by alittle faster. We got up and walked around the plane several times. It took us 15 hours to get there. They flew over Alaska, Russia and China before we landed. Once we got off the plane we were kind of nervous about what to do when we got to customs. One of the people that we had met told us that all they do is check your passports and then we were done. Marting met us at the airport and asked us if they checked out temperature. Angela told him no but there was an over head sign that said they were checking our temperature. It was probably a heat sensitive sign. We then headed toward our apartment/hotel (Ascott Guangzhou). It is beautiful. We have a one bedroom one bath apartment, a full kitchen, living room and dining area, desk area and washer and dryer. The bathroom is big and the bedroom is a good size also with a king size bedroom and a nice sized closet. The floors throughout the apartment except at the front door and kitchen are wood. The front door and kitchen are marble floors. There are two flat screen tv's and one of the has a Bose stereo system. The lobby is marble and has a big fountain in it. There is a pool here, with excerise rooms, sauna's (his and hers), a playground and a resturant. Everywhere you look there is building going on. Once we settled in and Martin showed me what was around the area that we could walk to. He then left and told us that he would be back tomorrow. We took showers and rested for alittle while and then Martin called and told us to get out and walk around. Reason is not to sleep to much due to the jet lag. We needed to wait until after 9:00pm to sleep. So we went to lunch at Woo's which was around the corner. That was an experience. We were trying to communicate with them but not doing a good job of it. But we were finally able to order what we wanted. Angela had a fried egg sandwich and I had soup macaroni with spiced pork cubes. Oh, for to drink Angela had Coke Light and I had Coca Cola. They don't say diet coke or coke. Then after we ate we went for a walk. I compared it to downtown Orlando because of all of the construction going on. In Orlando you can always find construction. We decided that we would go and exchange money. That was interesting. When we went in they guard had no clue to what we wanted and then he decided to take us to a teller that could speak some english. So we were able to exchange. I did $300.00 dollars and that came out to $2,027.00. Angela did $100.00 came out to $675.94. Then we did alittle shopping we started back to the apartment and before we got there we went to the 7 eleven to get a few things. Then we made it back to the apartment.
Driving here is dangerous. People cross in front of vehciles and vehciles squeeze through. What I mean by squeeze they don't care if there is a bus car or what kind of vehicle it is next to them. People drive very fast here. There are some people on bicycles but not alot. Martin said that to ride a bike means you are poor. But he said that it is good excerise. They do have some traffic lights. They also have traffic cops directing in certain areas. There highway bridges are decorated with flowers. We had Woo's for dinner. If anyone comes to china that is a good place to eat. We went to bed after 9:00 pm and we slept very good. The bed was comfortable it was not hard at all.
The pictures that you will see are of our apartment. More to come pics of building to come.

We are on our way

Well, it took a long time to get to this point. But, we are so happy to be bringing Shelby home soon.
On November 2 my Aunt arrived. We went through everything to make sure that we had everything that we needed. Then I had some errands to run. Sofia was so excited to see her Aunt Gigi. She wanted her to read stories to her and play with her. Forget mom and dad. Then we kissed and hugged her goodbye. We were leaving very early in the morning so she wouldn't be up at that time.