- check into gorgeous Chimelong Hotel
- Bus tour: bee farm; Chen family temple; Safari Park; resort foot massages
- Sweet Dynasty restaurant (2 tables back in HK)
Highlights:
- Checked into the gorgeous Chimelong Hotel. Not what I was expecting to see of China. The ride over there showed us clean highways and streets void of any of the choreographed chaos we've seen thus far on streets.
- It was interesting and fun being part of an official tour group...until they started to hate us Americans who can't seem to keep track of time.
- Relaxing and awesome foot massages back at the resort. Even the kids had them. Just what we needed with all the walking (and running) around we were doing.
- The fantastic breakfast buffet at Chimelong before we headed off to the Xiangjiang Safari Park.
- Exciting opportunities to photograph animals outside of cages--except for the dangerous ones, of course.
- Delicious, well-deserved dinner at Sweet Dynasty after a long, exhausting, somewhat stressful end to the Safari Park excursion.
- Lots of walking again. Love my Skechers Shape-up. No back pains.
- The family. Despite the stressful moments, the family has been great. Troopers, all them. Can't imagine this trip without them. Awesome tour guides for our vacation (Art, Chris, Aunt Mary and Nicole--thanks!).
Bee farm
Chen family temple
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| Movie actors on set in this old fashion estate. |
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| Hot chestnut vendor outside the estate. |
Chimelong Hotel Resort
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| Ferry ride to China |
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| Bus ride to Chimelong Hotel |
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| Clean empty streets of Panyu |
Chimelong International Circus
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| Captive little audience |
Safari Park.
The gentler animals roam free. Of course tigers and lions and bears are contained at a distance. Thank goodness for my zoom lens.
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| We sit in a relaxing tram as we drive by the animals. I liked this ride. |
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| A tram ride and a show. Lovely. |
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| Middle lion looked ready to pounce. Does this tram go any faster? |
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| Giraffe bar |
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| Our happy group before the separation. |
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| White tiger show |
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| Josh was not impressed. |
Waay out of my box:
- In Maci's impatience to catch the White Tiger show, half of us (Jim, myself, Josh, and Maci) went ahead of the rest of our family with some vague call-out that we'd meet them somewhere up there. Oh bad idea. Bad idea. Meeting up there never happened. In a crowd of what seemed like millions of people, how was one to find one's group? In trying to identify familiar Asian faces in a see of Asian faces it was like trying to find 4 straws of hay in a haystack, "Oh I see them. Oh that's not them. Oh I see Art. Oh that's not Art. Oh I see her. Oh that's not her." Impossible situation. Blood pressure was rising again. The feeling of being lost is not a favorite of mine, especially in a foreign land where it seemed no one spoke English, unlike in Hong Kong. Luckily trying to keep up with my own family kept me from losing it altogether. That and once again mumbling, "Walk around the leaf....walk around it...".
At the end of the day, we eventually met up on the bus...the impatient bus with it's running engine, the fully packed bus filled with our impatient and doubtless angry tour group. Can't confirm they were fuming because it was best not to make direct eye contact.
Once we all finally got onto the bus, we sped to the ferry. The ferry we hoped, hoped, hoped was still there because it if was not, there was no telling how the tour group would turn on us. I imagined ugly things. Luckily it was still there...barely. I can't recall now--there were so many mad rushes to near-missed ferries, it's hard to keep track--but I think Aunt Mary mentioned that she never knew a ferry to wait for stragglers before. Lucky for us. As we were the last group--once again--to board the ferry and take our seats, we were careful not to make direct eye contact again. We knew the drill.
Fun, if a bit stressful, first trip to China. I was due for a drink soon. So far there has been little drinking on this trip. A lot of healthy walking and running and eating but little drinking. All things considered, I think I'm handling my fear of stepping out of my box quite well. Excellent practice in letting go of my tight grip on the need for planning and preparation. A losing battle that. Theme with this group: Go with the flow. Just roll with it. We'll get there when we get there. Did I mention there's not enough drinking yet on this trip?
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