GUANGZHOU

We arrived in Guangzhou and have been sightseeing here. Guangzhou is on the Pearl River. We are staying at the White Swan hotel which is beautiful. The lobby has a waterfall in it. The weather here is tropical, very very hot and humid. Walking on the street involves dodging cars, people on bicycles, and street vendors. Selling is serious business. It is sometimes very hard to get away. Guangzhou is where all the families ultimately end up when they adopt. The final paperwork and the appointment with the U.S. Consulate occurs here. Babies and adoptive families are everywhere here. The adoption guide here in Guangzhou is Lee. She took Tea and I on a short tour today of a museum, The Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King, and the Guangzhou Park of the Five Rams. The museum is the tomb of the Nanyue King which was discovered purely by chance in 1988. We saw the actual tomb, the remains, eek, and many relics found in the tomb. Very interesting. The Park of the Five Rams was beautiful. Guangzhou is known as the City of the Five Rams. The Five Rams is a folk tale wherein five rams basically saved the people of Guangzhou from famine after a great flood. In the afternoon Tea decided she wanted a massage for some pain she was having in her back. She had some kind of freaky massage involving heated cups. The cups were place on her back and twisted. The pain is gone, but now her back is covered in these big purple circles. She looks like she was abducted by aliens or given hickeys by and octopus. Very strange. No more massages in China for Tea. When Tea was being assaulted by heated cups I just walked around and took pictures. I passed a couple who were getting their wedding photos taken. I was able to snap their picture just before they walked away.