Last DAY in Guangzhou

Today is our last day in Guangzhou. Tomorrow is going to be a very loooong day, so we took it easy today. We slept late and didn't go down for breakfast until 9 am. We came back to the room at napped until noon!

We put Katrina in a stroller and walked around the aprk. We were videotaping the area when we spied a tea house and decided to go there for lunch. They took us to our own private room. It was beautiful and there were water features throughout the teahouse. We had noodle soup (surprise!) and fried rice with lotus tea. Our server showed us the proper way to drink tea and we had fun following and imitating her moves. Katrina even drank some tea, but the server scolded me about not letting her drink too much. She thought Katrina was beautiful and picked her up to show her the koi in the pond. Katrina tried to touch the fish

I bought loose jamine tea to take home with me. Jasmine tea is my favorite tea in the world. It smelled fabulous and came in these wonderfully colored tins taht I know I will treasure for years to come.

We're Still Here

Many familes in our group have left for home today, but we are still here for another two days. The airfare was so much cheaper (Over $1500) if we stayed two more days, even after factoring in hotel & food. Our friends the Mowers, the Lyons, the Cristofolettis were still here too, so at least we had company.

We did much more shopping today. We bought souvenirs for everyone and more and more clothes for Katrina. I tried to buy silk dresses for her in different sizes so that we would have them for years to come. It was so much cheaper to buy in China than at home.

I bought my dad a chess set and some hand painted mini vases for my grandmother. I bought 10 lighters with Chairman Mao's face on them as great gag gifts. I bought a Chairman Mao t-shirt for my uncle Vinny.

We ate at Lucy's for lunch and I had a ham and cheese, no ham sandwich there with tomato soup. Katrina ate a whole bowl of mashed potatoes, plus cucumbers and french fries. Later I got sick from what I ate. It tasted good going down, but coming up was another issue. We had noodle soup for dinner again today and it was another early night for us.