Guangzhou Touring

It's been a lot more relaxed day today.  We began with another great breakfast at the White Swan.  More American food here than the one in Shanghai.  Bacon.  Need I say more.  After breakfast we headed off to the Chen Family Temple for sightseeing.  Really interesting place.  It's now just a tourist atttraction, but was originally a school, then a shrine for "ancestor worship" for the Chen clan, now a cultural center.  Very colorful architecture.  It was really crowded, though, and a bit on the warm side.  Ginny had one little tantrum, but we've got to the point now that we are learning how those work for her, and can weather them a little better.  She continues to warm up to Nathan and me, and now has even allowed my mom and dad to watch her without Sharon around. 

After, we had a traditional Cantonese (Southern China) family style lunch.  Tried some interesting things, but since our guide ordered, everything was safe.  Sharon got to use a squatty potty at the restaurant for the first time on the trip.  We've seen them here and there,  but haven't had the need to take advantage of them to this point much.  For those who don't know what we're talking about, a squatty potty is a Turkish style toilet, basically a hole in the ground, where you have to well, squat, thus the nick-name. 

We were then taken to a shopping area that our guide said had more authenitc and higher quality clothes, souvenirs, etc.  We bought a finger painting, another traditional Chinese outfit for Ginny, a traditional outfit for Nathan, a silk pajama top for Sharon, and a few what-nots.  I'm still not used to the currency differences, so you freak out a little when they tell you a total in Chinese money that's 6x what the American $ would be.  For example, If you bought $100 worth of stuff, it is about 600 Chinese dollars. 

For those that needed it, we were then offered a trip to Carrefor's store, which is basically like a Wal-Mart.  This one was about four levels, all underground, with moving sidewalks connecting each level.  This may sound weird, but one of my favorite things about the whole trip is just going to regular stores like grocery and department stores and seeing the differences between how our stores work in the U.S.  It was very crowded, but fascinating. 

As I was typing this, Ginny created a new game where she walks by my chair and pokes my, uh, rear end, and runs off laughing.