Sunrise on the Pearl River

Last night was the first night that we have had with a baby. Prior to this we seemed to have adopted a young adult who willingly went to bed at 9:00 PM and slept until 7:00 AM. The streak is done. Molly has been fighting some congestion with a little cough and developed a slight rash on the side of her face where she leans against Cheryl while in the Hip Panda (we think it may be the detergent?) so we gave her a small dose of Benadryl last night. She fell asleep at 8:00 but woke up at 2:30 ready to start the day. A change of diaper did not help. Cheryl brought Molly into her bed where they both slept on and off until 6:00. At least the rash is looking a little better.





Despite being up at sunrise we were still a little late to breakfast. We are both still trying to figure out how long it takes to get ready for three (Cheryl describes it as getting lost in Baby Time). Today we took a tour to two very interesting locations. The first spot was the Yuntai Gardens and very large garden built onto a slope that included a meandering walking paths, fountains, a lake, a rock garden, and a large green house. It was a beautiful day and perfect for a walk with babies. At one point three old ladies stopped Cheryl to coo over Molly. They than chastised Cheryl for only having one layer of clothing on the baby.

The next place was the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum. The building was designed as the ancestral hall of the Chen families of the Guangdong Province. It was built in 1880's and features incredibly preserved wood, stone, ceramic, and brick carvings. In the 1950's it was turned into a Folk Arts Museum and have displays of all styles of fine arts and crafts. Our pictures do not do it justice.



Once back at the White Swan, the rest of the afternoon was free so Cheryl, Molly, and I took a stroll around the area stores engaged in some more shopping. While on our way to buy another large jug of water (we cannot drink the tap water and according to Nelson, because of the season, we cannot even boil the water like we could in Nanchang), we were engaged in a conversation by a very friendly woman who spoke excellent English. After a pleasant exchange she mentioned she has a store just down the street but wasn't getting a lot of customers because of construction on the building. We took the bait and ended up spending $15.00. We are such marks.

For dinner we went to J.M. Che, a restaurant next door to where we ate at last night. According to Nelson this was a real Cantonese restaurant. The entry way was a wall of tanks, tubs, and glass containers filled with exotic and not so exotic fish, crustaceans, and other creatures from the sea, rivers, and lakes. The only real unsettling sight was the tub of live water beetles, which fortunately was not seen until our way out. However, the congee at J.M. Che's was four and half stars on the Molly Scale (trademark pending).



Have we discussed Molly's appreciation for congee? To the uninitiated like Cheryl or I was, congee is congee is congee. To Molly, congee is an art. For instance, the Gloria Hotel morning breakfast congee was not bad, a solid three stars, but the Gloria Hotel Seafood restaurant on the second floor was one star. The congee at the Nanchang restaurant above the supermarket was three stars, but the restaurant across the street was four stars. In Guangzhou, the Cow and Bridge Thai restaurant where we ate the first night had the first and only five star congee so far. We will keep you updated.

After dinner, the three of us took a little family stroll on a extremely pleasant evening. We took in a bit of the riverwalk and than looped back into the main public area where there were still families with kids playing ball or hitting a birdie (badmitten) around. We found a little coffee place (not a Starbucks) and each had a latte on their porch (ok, Molly just had a couple of baby cookies). A very nice end to another good day in China. Now if Molly will just sleep through the night.