The People’s Park

Today we took a trip to the People’s Park. It is similar to a Central Park in that many people go here to hang out. It was very interesting to see so many people congregate in a single place. Some were doing traditional Chinese dance and some were doing dance similar to ballroom dancing. Others were doing their Tai Chi. There were ponds were kids where feeding the fish. An amusement area towards the back had rides similar to carnival rides. Some elderly folk were playing instruments and having a good time. Children were running around with their parents and grand-parents. Family fun was had by all.

The amazing thing was how friendly the people were. Being Americans with Chinese children we drew the looks of many. Some of them even practiced their English on us. The talk of the granny patrol was known long before our trip and you wouldn’t believe it until you were in the middle of it. We never did get reprimanded for “not covering” our child, but we did get the “beautiful” and “very pretty” from them. As our Linda is large for her age, we got the “very healthy” comments from a few. The best one I thought of the day was from an elderly lady who told us how smart Chinese girls are. It was pretty funny. Even our guide got a chuckle out of that one.

The other highlight of the morning occurred while we were resting on a wall before leaving. Linda has the drive and wants to walk. With support she makes the motions for walking. Today she actually was doing quite well. It won’t be too much time before we have a little motor baby running around. One family still can’t believe that Linda is only 9 months old!

Back at the room we played with Linda and she took a good healthy nap. This time when she awoke, she did a little yelp, but no crying. She did want to be held right away and would not let us put her down for awhile. Not bad, I’d say. We took a walk down the street and checked out the shops along a “walking” street. This is a street blocked to all vehicular traffic lined with shops. Today people were out in force. As with the park, people would turn and look at us as we strolled by. It is weird being the center of attention and in some cases Linda soaked up the extra attention.

For dinner the staff arranged a group dinner at the same place we had lunch yesterday! Woohoo! On the bus back from the park, they asked if we would like to have a group dinner, and everyone was all into it. Then they mentioned a family that had eaten there already and asked if it was all right. We responded with two thumbs up and the others in the group were surprised we had wandered to a place on our own. Of course we confessed that we had assistance from one of our guides yesterday. After dinner one family agreed this was some of the best food we’ve had on this trip.

Well, Linda is asleep now and Mel is watching the tube. We are getting ready for our trip to Guangzhou tomorrow. Actually tomorrow we pick up Linda’s passport in the morning and we travel in the afternoon. We arrive in Guangzhou in the early evening. This starts the last leg of our trip which will consist of more paperwork! It also will be interesting to see how Linda responds to yet another new environment and her first plane flight. We’ll let you know how it goes!

Goodnight!