Jan 21st

Have you ever seen the movie, "Lost in Translation"?  

Well, we haven't either, but I don't think we need to... we have lived it!  

I had done some research before we came to China, and the #1 attraction in Guangzhou on trip advisor (by a huge margin) was the Changlong International Circus.  It is the kind of Circus that PETA probably doesn't endorse, with animals doing all manner of tricks and stunts, basically the kind of circus you can't see back home!  Our freind who lives here, Peter, was going to spend the day with us, so I asked him to come, and to help us get there.  He being his usual helpful self, offered to buy the tickets for us on the internet at a discount - of course I said yes!

So last night he called and said I got the tickets, good price!  I said great, what time is the show, he said, "how long do you want to stay?"  ...Um, well, what time is the show and how long does it last?  "I think shows all day, how long you want to go for?"  i am on the internet as we are speaking, and there is only one show per day, at 7:30pm...  Uh, Peter, is this the circus with the animals?  "Yes, it has many animals, we can go all day, is that what you want?"  ...Um, Is this the Safari park? (this was the #2 rated attraction, so if that is what they had tickets for, then OK, we could roll with it and just go see a bunch of cool safari animals, I think the girls would like it, and we could use the exercise.  So we agreed that he and his friend would meet us in the lobby of the hotel at 9:30 and we would ride the subway to the Safari Park.  Stacey and I agreed that Circus, and Safari park, ok that isn't too far off to mis translate what we wanted...  And we both agreed to just be like the Chinese, and roll with it!

So in the morning, we get the girls up, fed and ready to roll.  And had our first adventure in the subway in China, it was very modern, very clean, and everything was also in english, and only $2 to get all 4 of us to the Safari Park (about 15 exits away).  Pretty cool!

Ready to roll

Chloe, giving the finger on the subway!

We arrive at our destination, and all 7 of us get off the subway, Peter's friends wife had the day off, so decided to join.  None of them had ever been to the Safari park before, so I thought, this is cool!  We walk to the entrance, go in...  this isn't an animal safari park...  it looks like an amusement park, I see a roller coaster...  Stacey leans in, "I don't think this is the Safari park", I ask, where are the animals?  "Oh, no animals here"  oh... So this is what they mean by lost in translation!  Well, we had agreed just to roll with it, so we set off to have a great day.

Tiger?  Ok, I think we are headed to the Safari Park

Hmm, Paradise?...

Those don't look like giraffes in the distance...

Oh, well...

Merry-Go-Round

Chinese version of "Waterworld"  with a BIG twist
Seriously dangerous stunts, hardly any protection,
Guys on fire, explosions, motorcycles jumping,
cars drifting...  Pretty much the coolest stuff!
To bad we have so many lawyers in the US!!

Amazingly, Chloe wasn't scared at all, she even clapped 
when they were shooting the really loud big guns!

We took in the Ice Age 4D show
as it began, Estee leaned over and glared at me,
"Its in Chinese!!!"
Well, Estee, where do you think we are?

Now its time for some kiddie rides

Entrance to "Kid's Land"

Bumper boats - in typical chinese fashion, you drive the boat
till your time is up, then the boat shuts off, and the worker
tows you back to the dock!

Elephants are fun... and why is my shirt so wet?

Look's like some Chloe sized rides in here

Uh, Dad, whats with the big spoon, and where is the pudding?

My supermodel smile

Lunch time is a little different in China, no hamburgers and fries, they had hot-dogs... (I wouldn't try that!)  So we ate steamed meat buns, and sticky rice with chicken (bones included), and used chop sticks!   Stacey pretended to be handicapped the whole day, since the handicap bathrooms are the only ones with western style toilets in them...  and she had a bad experience with a "squatty potty" last time...

A coke and a smile

that mouth really does open wide!

Chloe is still in her Dad mode...  So today, when Chloe fussed, I got the "look" from Stacey, as she said, "Um, your the baby daddy, so you have to!"  So I was pretty much chained to her the whole day...  Not too bad, I must admit.

I did manage to sneak away for some "Real" Roller Coaster riding!
The Chinese are no slouches when it comes to fast curvy roller
coasters, though it is a little different, when you get off the ride
and they have the "vomit can" for those that shouldn't have...

This was the look, right before the tears!
A little too fast for her

Now this is something the Chinese have on us!
Benches in all the lines!  Disneyland, uh,
could you get on this?

The crew (minus 1) at the end of the day

She napped in the stroller, so she was still going at the end

She loves to run, and loves when her sister runs around with her!  See the video below:

We were accosted by the "Mickey Mouse" of the amusement
park on our way out, but Chloe just went right along with it.

What a great day we had, rather unexpected, but China is full of surprises, and some of them are even good ones!  We got back to the Hotel at 5:30, a long day, so we decided, to eat dinner on-site, and get to bed early.  It was clear that Chloe was beginning to loose it.  on the subway ride home, I ran out of Cheerios from the emergency supply (in her hoodie).

At dinner, Chloe was a crack up, she was SUPER HUNGRY, and I, being her designated parent for the time being, was barely able to gobble a few bites while feeding her!  (and I was SUPER HUNGRY too).  We had some great food, even ordered the "Steamed Fish Head with Chile Sauce", it was SOOOO Good, but I learned that fish eyeballs, are not squishy as one would suppose, they are quite hard and inedible...  At least I tried! 

This girl is a bottomless pit, help, I need to eat too!

Stacey tried to spell me feeding Chloe, to give me a chance to eat, but the Chloe just started winding up, so Stacey handed me back the spoon, and said with a very satisfied smirk, "now you know how it feels to be Mom".  At the end of dinner, Chloe was being hilarious, obviously over-tired, and about to blast off, we got some good video...  I think she will fit right in at home!





And what a great day we had!  Lost in translation!

Jan 20th

Today started out with Chloe waking up on her own, and playing quietly in her crib till she was ready to get out, NO TEARS!

Why do you keep pointing that thing at me?

...and you thought Daddy was writing all this stuff!

Then we got ready for a trip to the wholesale shopping district.  A huge place that had thousands of little shops selling just about everything, pearls, jade, embroidery, and everything in-between.

Holding down the fort while Stacey shopped

6 levels of whatever you want

Back at the hotel we had some playtime and smiles.

Hey,the fun doesn't start till my shoes are on!!

This is a good book, well written prose!

The Duck says quack-quack?  It sounds different in Chinese

Then Peter Yu, a friend I made while in China with Zach on his school trip, came to our hotel for a visit.  We chatted in the hotel, then went out to eat at a traditional Cantonese restaurant.  It was the white tablecloth variety (we didn't know before we sat down), but here the 8 course meal, plus rice for 3 adults and 2 kids was 701 yuan ($114)!!  This is the most we have paid for a meal our whole trip!!

 Then back to our room for bath and more bonding.

Daddy's little girl

Goodnight bottle

Lest those of you reading think that Dad is a baby hog, the little one, for reasons beyond our understanding, still prefers me, but Stacey was able to get some good holding time today, and even a few smiles.  She also let Stacey wash her hair in the bathtub!  Things will change quickly when I have to go to work each day, I'm sure!  But for now it is fun having a kid that prefers me over Stacey...  hasn't really happened before!!