First Day in Guangzhou

We made it to Guangzhou! 

Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province and is in southern China. It's a port city and is very different than the city/province we just left. Henan is a very industrial province, and Guangzhou has some laws in place to prevent some of the industrial pollution like you'd see in Henan province. Like no scooters. That's nice!

We got in late last night and Ella had had it! Luckily she slept well. She has been eating/drinking a little better today than she has the last couple of days so I'm glad for that! This morning we had to be downstairs for a group outing at 9:20. It was optional, but when in China...

Our first stop was the Six Banyan Temple (a Buddhist Temple).

It was a beautiful place but felt very sad to me. It was rather poignant to be at a Buddhist place of worship on a Sunday morning. I was definitely missing 9th & O! (Even though I know it was Saturday late when we were there, I kept picturing church happening at the same time.) 

This was how Ella felt about it. 

OVER it. She wasn't thrilled there but she was hungry. Anyway. Aside from the faith part of it, it's a beautiful building filled with impressive sculptures. And it's just right in the middle of a city street. It always impresses me that everything just builds up around these old, old places. 

The three big Buddhas:

After we left here we went to the Guangdong Folk Art Museum. It has several different names so hopefully I'm remembering this one correctly. :) It was beautiful. The building itself is incredibly impressive and it houses some amazing art. 

These are all carved in.

A beautiful embroidery. 

Here I got for Ella a scroll with a picture of a lotus, her Chinese name, and her new name written on it by "Mr. Chen." The Chen family owned the building and the grounds and sold it to the government for the museum at some point. 

The last stop was shopping! I got myself a jade pendant, a silk outfit for Ella for Chinese New Year, a little doll wearing red silks, and a magnet. It was a cool place. 

We have a paperwork meeting at 4 and then the big debate is what's for dinner. We have options here so it's either Mexican or American. :) We are all excited for variety. Tomorrow morning is the medical appointment for all the kids, and then Wednesday we have our Consulate appointment. Super exciting! We are ready to be done but not ready to fly 15 hours to be done. :)