China/Hong Kong: Guangzhou, China
An immediate change for breakfast in Foshan: a real breakfast, not buffet crap! Cheung-fun, mmmmm. The dumplings were eh, but the rest was pretty good.
Off to the Ancestral Temple nearby, while cousin Kristen/my Dad/our tour guide, Tina went off to the Public Safety Bureau to start Kristen's application for an emergency passport. A martial arts demonstration, lion dance, and a great deal of massive carvings highlighted the Ancestral Temple, along with tall trees and a few benches.
Lunch was another typical "OMG FAMOUS RESTAURANT!!!" that evidently is out in the middle of nowhere and caters exclusively to tourists. At least that's where 80% or more of their business comes from, judging from the fact that if you show up to these places a little early, they're deserted with a bunch of cars, then 20 minutes later a half-dozen or dozen buses pull up, disgorge their loads, and the restaurant goes from looking like an empty shell to a packed house. :-p
It was hard to complain too much at this one, though: they had roast piglet for RMB48-- US $7 or so. Who can refuse? My dad certainly couldn't. =D
Next was into a shopping area in Guangzhou, one of the only shopping stops on this tour. Did more running off to the US consulate to start my cousin's emergency passport application, while I wandered around with Mom/Gina/Grandma/Aunt Pattey. The crowds and throngs of people got overwhelming pretty quickly for Grandma, so we eventually sought refuge inside a Holiday Inn, where someone else made a food mistake-- iced coffee. Iced coffee. Oops. Evidently a US-based baby adoption was going on from the signs they had outside, but we must have missed the main festivities because aside from a few caucasian couples in the casual dining restaurant of the Holiday Inn, all with Chinese babies, we didn't see much activity. Nui-nui did a bit more shopping which was kind of interesting-- the packed shops are even crazier than in Kuala Lumpur, although the vendors didn't seem quite as aggressive. It could be that language barrier thing again, tho. *grins*
The late afternoon stop was the Guangzhou Museum, a five story building on the history of Guangzhou and the surrounding area. Stone tablets and cannons outside marked Western and internal invasions, with some of the stone tablets going back several hundred years, faded to the point where they are almost unreadable. The goats that watch over Guangzhou were also in evidence nearby, both in small murals and stonework inside the museum, as well as the actual statue itself a short walk away.