China Day 7 – Free Day

Today was scheduled as Orphanage visit day but since Primrose’s orphanage is so far away it was not an option for us.  So yesterday evening Phoebe, one of our Holt guides, called and asked if we would like to go to Baiyun Mountain and we said, “Yes.”  So this morning our favorite guide Raymond picked us and one other family up to go to the mountain.  Even though it is by definition a mountain, Baiyun is only about 1,500 ft in elevation.  Raymond called it, “A really big hill.”  There are many attractions on the mountain, but we only got to experience 3 of them.  We rode the cable car to the top and visited the bird sanctuary.  It was really neat with many species of birds to look at.  After visiting the bird sanctuary we attended the bird show.  If you have ever seen a bird show at a local zoo or theme park, it was kinda like that.  Usually the view from Baiyun Mountain of Guangzhou is very good, but today industrialism was making itself known.  We had a bad/dangerous breathing alert for today in the city, and looking at the pictures below you can see what I am talking about.  Somewhere behind that haze/smog is the gorgeous city of Guangzhou.

After the Baiyun Mountain experience, we had to take a cab back to Shamian Island to pick-up our laundry.  Our intent was to take our laundry to a place that delivers back to the hotel however we were met on the street by a lady saying, “We do your laundry for good price.” She literally grabbed the laundry from me and took it in her shop.  Even when April went back to her and said we wanted it back so we could take it to the other shop, she refused and said they had already started on it.  She was a sweet lady and had great prices on Chinese dresses so we didn’t really mind.  It was an inconvenience to go back to pick up the laundry, but we ended up getting Belle a Chinese blanket like the one we got Primrose yesterday, but only in pink.

Today has been another great day for MaMa and Primrose.  There are still some comfort issues there, but she lets April give her food and get her dressed.  Her little personality is really shining through as she gets more comfortable with us.  Today as I was getting dressed I put on one of my shoes and I looked up and Prim had picked up my other shoe to hand it to me, and she had a big smile on her face.  And then tonight she did the same for April.  She is also a big helper when getting her dressed, which was a little surprising to me.

Tonight we ventured out of our hotel to eat at a “Western style” restaurant.  Granted, there were some items on the menu that could be considered western food, it was still distinctly Asian in its delivery.  I tried the pan-fried pork chops with black pepper gravy and it was wonderful.  I have become a little obsessed with black pepper gravy; I will have to learn to make it.  April had a beef macaroni dish that was also delicious.  Needless to say, we will be back before time to go.

 
Again I want thank those of you who are praying for us and ask that you keep praying.  My desire is that Primrose will allow April to pick her up and hold her real soon.  I will post more videos soon.  Stay Tuned!