Wednesday,
November 3, 2010
Day thirteen. April gets a new hairdo. Gemma and Faith have been
styling April and Leda's hair pretty much nonstop. This
morning's hairdo would have certainly won April the tiara in a
beauty contest judged by giggly 9 year olds. It was a cross
between the Swiss girl coiffure that Leda had the other day and
a hippie chick. Somehow the combination translated into Princess
Leia, or at least that's what our boys told us on our morning
Skype. April sucked it up and went to breakfast, where she was
all the rage. There are now packs of young girls running around
China with Swiss girl/hippie chick/Princess Leia hairdos. Okay,
not really.
We were excited to be heading to the Xiangjiang Safari Park
today. We'd heard good things about it and Lotus arranged a tour
for anybody that wanted to go. The route to get there takes you
through the southeast part of Guangzhou. This is the area we had
gone through last trip to get to Lotus Hill (a must see, but you
have to do it on your own). Also on the last trip, there were an
extraordinary amount of motorcycles all over the city streets of
Guangzhou. We didn't see any this time. Apparently they pulled
them off the roads for the Asian Games. Out in this neck of the
woods however, they're everywhere. Some of them provide great
entertainment. We call them "Chinese Minivans" because it will
be a single motorcycle with up to 5 family members on it. Like
the elevators, there's always room for one more in China.
Arriving at the safari the parking lot was empty. Todd Perry
mentioned something about punching a moose which is a great pop
culture reference that I got instantly but might have been lost
on a few others. Still, we were a little concerned that maybe
something went awry. Joyce got us set up with the tickets though
and everything was okay. In fact, once inside we saw quite a few
school kids.
It had a distinct Disney Animal Kingdom feel to it. There was an
immense amount of natural foliage and the safari ride itself was
somewhat similar. The good part about this safari park/zoo is
that you can get extremely close to the animals - literally
within feet of most of them, including the predators. I suppose
the bad part is one in the same - the animals have no place to
retreat to. It was awesome nevertheless.
Joyce asked Gemma and Faith if they had been here before and it
turns out they had. The tram operator gave them little zoo hats
and they actually wore them with pride. Our boys would not do
that in a million years.
On the safari tram, we saw whole prides of lions, several tigers
that were both Bengal and white, white rhinos, hippos, and of
course every beast from the African and Asian plains. The girls
couldn't stay in their seats, just as excited as could be at the
sight of all these animals. They were jabbering rapidly in
Cantonese.
We'd exited the tram for the walking part of the zoo and got to
see quite a few more types of animals. The kids even got to feed
the giraffes whole branches instead of crackers like we do back
home. We'd wanted to hold the baby tigers but apparently they
just stopped doing that a week or so ago. Someone's arm probably
got eaten - either that or they died of cuteness because those
things were adorable. The best part was that we got to see live
pandas - twelve of them. For the Asian games, they've actually
flown in six additional pandas from Chengdu, just to attract
more visitors. Half the pandas were actually awake. It was
AWESOME!
Poor Gavin was mortified as schoolgirl after schoolgirl kept
checking him out. Finally, it hit a crescendo when a bunch of
squealing girls asking to get a picture with him. Joyce said
they were saying he looks like Harry Potter. Naturally we
obliged and Gavin patiently sat for not just one, but multiple
pictures.
We took a break for lunch after seeing the pandas and had the
opportunity to take an elephant ride for 50 Yuan per person.
Gemma rode with Faith and Gavin rode with Brennan. It was a big
bull Indian elephant that looked like it had a Thai driver and
we were in a Chinese zoo. A multinational ride, if you will.
They had a wonderful time even if it wasn't a trek through the
jungle. I don't know if you can even do such a thing in the
States.
Following the ride we picked up a little lunch and some ice
cream. The safari hasn't yet figured out the American standard
of overcharging their guests because all the food items were
very reasonably priced, and very good. A short stop by the pink
flamingos and it was time to head back to the White Swan.
Upon return, the island was closed off to outside citizens as
security forces practiced their patrols for the Asian Games
tonight. Apparently there are a number of dignitaries and
officials staying at the White Swan, including the committee
chairman for the games. They patrolled all parts of the island
and were particularly thick at the entrances and in the
greenway. There were even patrol boats lining the seawalls on
both sides of the river.
Lazily, we ended up in Lucy's and watched the police do some
drills in the now closed Shamian Park. It was a little eerie to
have nobody but police and hotel guests on the island. At night
it is usually a bustling place with cars, bikes, wedding
parties, and city folk all over.
Back at the room, Gavin and I played a little badminton at the
end of the hall outside our door. At either end of a floor in
the White Swan, it opens up a little before the fire escape
balcony. We've picked that area at the Perry's suggestion to
play our badminton games which keeps us out of the wind. After
we played, Gemma and Gavin played for an hour or so and she was
laughing so hard we thought she'd wet her pants. Such a great
sight to see…two new siblings getting along so well. In fact,
we've been getting a lot of "I love yous" from Gemma now. She's
getting comfortable enough to say it and the piggy-back rides
happen whenever we go out. Careful what you wish for….
There were the sounds of festivities coming from the direction
of the river and we went out on the fire escape balcony to check
it out. For the Asian Games, there is a colorfully-lit boat
representing every country. We've seen them practice quite a
bit, heading up the river at different times during the day.
Tonight they were all lined up and there was music playing as
they drove between the police patrol boats on either side. The
usual searchlights and lasers were on either side of the water
and it was quite the spectacle. This city will be unbelievable
in a few days when the games start - and it will be unbelievably
priced! |
April's first "Princess Leia" hairdo of the day
Second hairdo of the day
Waiting in line for the safari tram
Mere feet from the animals
Feeding the giraffe, great fun!
Gavin and his fans. He's big in China.
Hanging out with the pandas
Pretty cool that we could get this close.
Even caught one with
his eyes open.
If she likes this, she's going to LOVE Disneyland in a few days.
Shhhh, she doesn't know yet!
Gemma and Faith on the elephant |
