The Insane Tourists

We always have to do everything the hard way. Since we missed the "city tour" with our group last week, due to our exhaustion, we decided to recreate that trip on our own but with a few added attractions. Some of the added attractions were not intentional, like the argument over the price of formula with the entire management team at Carrefour and the 45-minute battle for a taxi at rush hour. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning.

A few days ago the concierge at the White Swan gave Jeff a list of interesting things to see with his own personal spin added. He said, "you must see Er Sha Island, it has many interesting things to do." Well, I'm sure that depends on what a person finds interesting. We didn't find it at all interesting with the exception of a very dramatic and strangely dressed bunch of foreigners (middle eastern?) filming what looked like a commercial. Tom, you would have had more fun, there was an art museum there but we opted to not try that with a baby and a long list of other places to go.

Next stop: the Chen Clan Ancestral Temple, which isn't really a temple at all but really an "Academy" and the Provincial Folk Art Museum. It was a nice building with lots of cool frieze sculpture adorning the roof and some beautiful examples of Guangdong's specialties in the world of folk art. Of course, we were welcome to buy examples of each.

In search of the Six Banyan Temple, since we've never seen a Buddhist temple, we asked at the Visitor Information Center next to the Chen Clan Temple/Academy/Museum. They were very nice and wanted to help us despite their limited English. They gave us a map and pointed us in the right direction for the temple, telling us that we could walk there. Well, technically that is true and we proved it. You can walk to the temple from the Temple/Academy/Museum. But should we have walked there? Probably not. I don't know how far it was for sure but with a baby and a huge backpack on crowded Guangzhou streets it felt like six miles. But we made it and enjoyed seeing just what a Buddhist temple and grounds looks like. Wow, those Buddhas are BIG. We really enjoyed the break from the unpleasant smells on the streets thanks to the thousands of sticks of burning incense all over the grounds. We found that they had sold us not only entrance tickets to the temple but tickets to climb the 9-story Pagoda so, hey, why not. This was very interesting since the doorways and stair wells were obviously not built for Americans of Jeff's build, especially not with a baby strapped on. We made it to the 7th level before my fear of heights got the better of me and I made us all go back down, an event even more interesting for Jeff and Ailah.

So back outside the temple we discussed catching a cab there or walking back to the Carrefour we'd spotted on our way to pick up some baby formula for Ailah before catching a cab back to the hotel. We chose the latter--a huge mistake. It was a pretty good hike back to the Carrefour, almost as far as the trek to the temple. Once inside we quickly made our way to the baby formula aisle where we ran into some of our travel group members on the same mission. Bad news, no formula on the shelves. Loc and Kelly, having arrived before us and being unwilling to leave without formula located a box on a top shelf and pulled out several bags. So far so good, until they tried to check out. We're still only surmising what the exact problem was, but the best we could figure out was that this box of formula had been stockpiled up on the top because the bags were supposed to be a freebie with another purchase. Unfortunately, the item it was to go with remained a mystery. Even to the staff, apparently. This is where we came in. The bags had no barcode and so couldn't be rung up. How about just keying in the price? Apparently an impossibility. How about scanning in the same size bag of a different level of the same brand. Couldn't be done. How about we buy the original item and get the bag free? Nobody knows what the item is. So after arguing with the Le's for a good long while, they gave them a bag of the formula free and sent them on their way. Then we were in line right behind them. We hoped for the same result, but nope. Several members of management came to the register and a very heated debate ensued. I believe the cashier was on our side and was trying to get them to at least give us one bag like our predessesors. But apparenty the management wasn't going to budge. Didn't want to start a trend, I guess. You know, we might head back to the hotel and send every family in our travel group for a cab ride to the Carrefour just to get their free bag. Okay, so we agree to just buy the other very important items we'd picked up as we walked through the store, (baby wipes, Snickers bars, peanut M & M's and a few cans of Coke,) and move on our way. I don't know what the problem was here, but it took us a good round of charades to convince them we were still willing to buy our snacks and wipes even if they were willing to send us away with a hungry baby. Several minutes later we finally emerged from the store with our meager purchases wishing we'd just caught a cab from the temple.

But we're not done yet! We stopped in next door for dinner at KFC, since by this time we were all ravenous and tired. This part was great. The chicken tasted almost like home, Ailah enjoyed a bottle and a container of mashed potatoes and we looked forward to a quick ride "home." Yeah, right. At 6:15 p.m. in front of the Carrefour. In China. The few cabs we convinced to stop were quickly snatched right out from under us by rude locals who came out of the woodwork as the cab came to a stop and couldn't care less that we were standing in the cold and dark with a fussing baby. (Up until now Ailah had been a real trooper, but now she was cold and tired.) Finally, after changing sides of the street and getting pretty rude himself, Jeff managed to snag a cab for us. We arrived back at the hotel almost an hour after we left the KFC.

So what we could have done with our travel group in three hours, took us about seven and we arrived back at the White Swan exhausted, irritable and without formula. Definitely without formula. But we conquered and had a great adventure. Maybe next time we'll try doing things the easy way. Nah, what fun would that be?

The good news is, Ailah can keep up with us on our zany adventures, as if she was born to it. She was happy and friendly all day, catching a few naps in her carrier and eating whenever and wherever we happened to sit down for a meal. She is a great kid and keeps us laughing. She was ready to stretch her muscles when we got back to the room and spent about 45 minutes crawling or "walking" around the room holding onto beds, desks, drawer pulls, whatever came within hand's reach. She seems anxious to get going on this walking thing.

Lori, fortunately I don't think we have the same stroller though it certainly does look grubby enough to have been here since August of 2006! It does go its own direction but so far hasn't collapsed on us. You must have had a great time with that one!! Unlike Shan Shan, Ailah hates it. I think I can get the squeaky shoes. I have to make a trip back to Jennifer's for Ailah's quilt anyway.

Other than a quest for formula, I think we'll hang around the hotel tomorrow and avoid any more harrowing adventures. Unfortunately, just today the little grocery store here on Shamian closed its doors permanantly, so we will have to venture to the Guangzhou Department Store for more. We'll go early in the day and make no other stops!