Sunday in Guangzhou

Today we had sightseeing on our agenda, I had no idea what this entailed, walking? Tour bus?

Turns out a bit of both!

Our tourguide Raymond explained a lot about the history of the people of Guangzhou and Cantonese culture and food...about the gods that sent the 5 goats to teach the people of Guangzhou how to grow rice as prior to that they ate mostly fish. He did go on later to say that some of the northerners also moved to Guanzhou and played a part in that as well. In regards to Cantonese cooking, it is said to be much lighter and healther...I have noticed this, even in Nanning the food was very, very greasy.  He said since it is the south they can eat the food much fresher. He claims he can tell by taste whether the chicken is fresh or has been in a refrigerator.  He also talked about the benefits of tea...lots of cleansing properities if you know what I mean. I did take a few notes on the bus there since Noah was occupied looking out the window and eating cheerios. Everything else I tell you about Guangzhou is coming from the brochures...I didnt hear anything the guide said after the trip there...

First we went to a park, as you can tell from the photo it was not stroller friendly..

I really owe it to Bill, he was my surrogate husband for the am since his wife and son werent feeling well, he helped me lug the stroller up/down the stairs both with Noah in it and without him in it.

The park was lovely and we got to see the Statue of the 5 Goats and the origonal city wall. 

After the park we went on to  The Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum  The tomb is so far the largest color-painting stone tomb of Southern China. The Tomb was buried 20 meters below the Xianggang Hill and there are seven chambers. It was discovered in June 1983 and has been considered as one of the five top archaeological discoveries of China during these years. 

This too had lots of stairs. By the time we got to the museum it was around 11am...this is the witching hour for Noah...he went from being very, very fussy to very  loud and happy with no apparant reason for either...though the happy noise happens when he wants attention  from others I've noticed.

I had bought some "teddy grahams" or so I thought at the store before going..what I didnt know is that each little teddy bear was filled with yummy...chocolate! Noah was not at all keen on sharing these with me and ate enough of them (the whole box) that he didnt want lunch later. By the time I got back to the hotel he was crying and fell right asleep.

He woke up a very happy and content toddler and we did some shopping at "sherry's place" for some squeeky shoes. Frances is going to have some of the cutest feet ever! I bought a few pairs for Noah too and after a few hours I figured out how to remove the squeaker. They were handy though when he wandered away. I tried to get some for Ephram but he is too big, I'm still looking for some shoes for him as most of them are really cheap and really nice quality, the ones I saw this day though looked like old man leisure shoes.

For dinner we went to a very nice Chinese restaurant with the other WACAP families. The food was tasty though I didnt get to eat much of it. The second my food touches my plate someone else grabs it away and eats it, or grabs handfuls of it and puts it in the person next to us' tea, or if it dosent look good to him he throws it on the floor, At restaurants there are so many things in front of you, the tea cup and saucer, small bowl and spoon...chopsticks as with any other two year old there is a mad rush to move everything out of arms reach, only this  night we were all packed in pretty good together so not alot of room to put things.  After whipping the chopsticks across the table 3x mommy made sure to hang on to them!When noah is done eating, noah is done eating.  At one point I had to tell him...no noah, mommy IS going to eat this piece of chicken...

Needless to say I had some ramon noodles when we got back to the hotel!

 As soon as we left the restaurant and started home the crying stopped and he's fine.

Noah has learned a word.."uh oh" it's mainly the intonation you hear but it is consistent. He also is understanding a few more words...shoe, more, go.

He continues to sleep great though the time of naps is a little early..hopefully when he gets home we can at least get him until lunchtime and then put him down right after vs right before, makes for a very tired guy around 4pm!

I'm including a few photos too...the one is of our new room- we moved d/t dina coming and we needed 2 beds- funny thing Noah was sleeping in his crib and they told me we had to move before 2, I ended up rolling the crib containing Noah to the elevator, on the elevator and down the hall to the new room...not only did he not wake up, he slept another 2 hours!

hopefully Dina will be here by noon tomorrow!