Guangzhou Day 1 & 2

We made it to Guangzhou yesterday afternoon and wow, it is hot and humid! After that string of rainy and cold days in Zhengzhou it was a welcome change to see the sunshine but they were not kidding when they said Guangzhou is the Florida of China. 

Our flight here was delayed a bit due to fog and smog. Visibility was pretty low so we sat in the airport for a bit waiting for that to clear. Once it did we said goodbye to our Henan reps, Yisha and Viviene. 

Matthew really liked the flight. 

He was so relaxed he had a blowout diaper just as we took off :/ of course once he pooped he was down for a nap! 

Joseph was awesome again on this flight. He asked Ronnie to show him how to order his drink on "this menu"...the emergency procedures card!

When we landed we recognized the airport from our trip to Beijing. It is a newer airport and is really pretty. 

Matthew's stomach is still not ok so he was a bit fussy by the time we got to the bus to head to the hotel. 

He pretty much cuddled my leg the entire way there.

Guangzhou is the 3rd largest city in China with 17 million people. Do you see how busy the streets are? All the time with that many people.

It is a really beautiful city with tons of flowers. Ronnie noticed on the plane how large it was. It reminded us of NYC where the high rise buildings are endless. It also seems more "western" than any of the other places we have been...but still really China. 

When we made it to the hotel it was dinner time. We were really tired (hence why I did not blog yesterday) and decided to just stay in and order pizza. This cute kid's tummy was still not ok and he had another major blowout just before the pizza arrived. 

The hotel here is really nice, but there is no line to hang clothes on. The bathroom is almost too modern for my taste and is not conducive to bathing babies in the tub safely or hand washing laundry. There are however a lot of nice conveniences like a 7-eleven right outside the door, a McDonald's right across the street. There is a kid's playroom and outside playground too. And the pool area is gorgeous!

This morning we were up early and grabbed breakfast. We decided to go on the city tour to a Buddhist temple, the Banyan Temple (we think?), the Chen Clan Academy and a jade shop. The temple was beautiful. 

People were throwing coins in this. You can see some of the incense in the air. It was burning everywhere.

Twice a month they have prayer services over fish and turtles. After the blessing the fish and turtles are driven out to the river and released back. Doing this provides a long life and guarantee there will be no hunger. Simple, right?

Can you tell he was a bit bored?

See the huge handful of incense. Everyone who was there praying held these. The smell was intense. 

The banyan trees.

Next, we went to the Chen Clan Academy. This was a house built over 5 years for the Chen Clan. Chen is the most popular last name in Guangdong province. During the cultural revolution most of these clan specific houses were destroyed. This one was saved and it is gorgeous. The intricate detail is insane. 

The front doors

And this just made me laugh. He was climbing the tree (he wasn't supposed to) so as I'm pulling my camera out to take a picture I am telling him to get down at the same time. Well he does, then realizes he can't touch the ground, and totally freaks! He was maybe 4 inches from the ground. And of course this is the only picture I managed to capture! 

Two things to note during this part of the tour. It was the first time I was treated as a celebrity. I was asked by 3 teenage girls to pose with them. There must be a people of Walmart website I am on now called white people in China. I am sure of it. See her, over there....she's not Chinese!!! 

I also wanted to share a picture of the cleanest/nicest squatty potty I have come across in all of China! Go Chen clan! It was so nice I almost forgive you for not providing toilet paper or soap ;)

We ended up stoping early on in our visit to the shop to buy a scroll for the boy's room. On it they would write Matthew's Chinese name, the date and place and a blessing. 

The details in this place were downright amazing. There was carving in everything! 

Matthew was not 100% again today. But he did get down and walk around for a few minutes. 

Back on the bus this kid gave us some funny faces. He has been having so much fun. He continues to impress us with how flexible he is! 

The last stop on our tour was to a shop where we could get good quality jade. Ronnie bought me a mother/son jade pendant. We picked up some fun little trinkets for the girls there too. And we bought Matthew his "chop". It is a stamp with his English name on top and his Chinese name (characters) below. Since he was born in the year of the dragon his chop has a dragon on top. 

When we got back to the room after the tour Matthew was so chill. He just laid on his belly on the bed. Almost falling asleep but not quite. Ronnie thought he smelled something so he asked Joseph to check Matthew's diaper. Nope, nothing according to Joseph. So we went on with getting ready for the next event of the day. Well, Joseph was partially correct. There was in fact no poop in the back of his diaper where he looked. Instead it went straight out the front up his belly and down to his toes. He had been chilling in a puddle of poo. When we realized we went into panic mode because it literally covered the bedspread. As I am trying to undress Matthew and get him to the shower Ronnie is grabbing wipes and diapers and Joseph is running around the room screaming, "Emergency! Emergency!". It was too funny! Thankfully we got Matthew to the bath, housekeeping came to switch the sheets, I managed to wash all of the clothes/blanket/toys it touched and we all lived to tell the tale. And see this happy face that came after that...

He finally gave Ronnie some smiles today and played with him! It was so good to see him make such progress. After lunch we went to the outside playground with the kids. Matthew loves the slide! 

Joseph and his friend, Andrew. 

The swing Matthew was not so sure about at first.

Thankfully Baba made it alright! 

Tomorrow is Matthew's medical exam. Hopefully it goes fairly smooth. His diarrhea is definitely getting more frequent but we have him on medicine that will hopefully kick in soon. He and I are running out of pants that are poo free so it kinda has to ;) He made so much progress with Ronnie today though. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!