Breakfast was a relatively leisurely affair in a separate, very large and nearly empty room/hall/lobby. (The hotel turned out to be a major wedding venue for the area, thus the multiple large dining rooms.) The buffet wasn't very large but it did include lots of tasty baked goods and -- hooray! -- nothing spicy enough to be dangerous. (I also appreciated the hotel's gentle reminder about not overdoing it with the buffet.) After a few fits and starts, AJ & I figured out a system that would let us all eat at the same time, and soon Miri was learning the joys of banana bread while Mommy reached over & around her for her own food. (Uncle Brian lent a hand by trying to keep any grabbable or flingable object out of the Pipsqueaks' amazingly long reach).
Another milestone came after breakfast, when we returned to our room and AJ put her daughter into her new stroller for the first time. The peaceful vignette lasted just long enough for the Pipsqueak to realize she wasn't being held, she wasn't on the bed, and she wasn't in motion... and how on earth can such a little person make such a big noise?!? We finally figured out that keeping the stroller in motion (even just rolling back & forth a few inches) would preserve the peace; stop the motion and everyone within at least a quarter mile radius would know Miri. Was. Not. Pleased.
The process of boarding the bus with strollers for the first time came with several valuable lessons: don't attach anything to the stroller that you'll need close at hand while on the bus; do attach something to your stroller that won't interfere with it folding and will make it easier to tell it apart from the others; don't let your kiddo get too comfortable if she'll only be in the stroller for a minute or two; and do be prepared to feel like a pack mule as you climb -- using all available handholds -- into the bus...!
Once everyone was aboard, Lisa introduced us to "Effie," the local guide who would be working with us for the rest of our time in Guangxi. Effie was an energetic young woman who managed to prevent anyone from dozing off. For the rest of her time with us, she would tell us things about the stories & culture of the area we were rolling through, along with an occasional pop quiz on the material. (If you've ever heard me muttering, "Osmanthus," it's Effie's fault.)[1]
First stop of the day was Seven Star Park, a combination botanical garden, zoo, and research center known locally for its scenery... and for its pandas! We had gotten caught up in the 1970s hoopla of Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing coming to the National Zoo (and had visited Mei Xiang and Tian Tian several times since), but there was a so cool! aspect of seeing these amazing creatures on their home soil (so to speak) that made it more special.
We made it through traffic to the park entrance without drama. Afer walking through the gatehouse with a couple of workmen on its roof manually replacing clay tiles, we waited while Lisa & Effie bought tickets for everyone and then came upon an interesting, large map of the park comprised of embossed concrete tiles in the middle of the walkway. A prettier map made of ceramic tiles was on a wall nearby, which showed us the route to the park's signature Camel Rock formation (squint just a bit and you'll see the camel).
As we made our way through the beautifully landscaped park, we fell into what became (with minor variations) our standard travel formation: alternating man with baby bag & camera / woman pushing baby in stroller, with the two older girls near the middle of the line where at least one each mama & papa could keep an eye on them. As usual, it was hot and humid so even with many portions of the otherwise very nice paths being shaded we were all soon damp with sweat. There was a momentary distraction when we came upon a bench with a live peacock perched on either end, and then several additional moments of distraction when it turned out there was an attendant nearby who was supposed to charge for photos on said bench (Lisa & Effie defused the situation).
As we prepared to get moving again, I noticed a pretty young woman in tribal costume posing for a photographer nearby. I took a couple of photos myself, enjoying the contrast of the lovely young woman in ancient costume surrounded by nature reviewing her photos on the screen of a digital SLR wielded by a young man wearing Adidas and basketball shorts. (Sort of China in a nutshell...)
We continued past a man doing his morning exercises by hanging from a tree, a few more locals who smiled & cooed over our little ones, and rested a bit in the shade by the monkey enclosures while oohing and aahing over several baby monkeys... while keeping an eye on the adult monkeys hanging partway out of the cage above our heads. (Dude, you pee on me and there will be an international incident...!) We then pressed on through the heat & humidity to the panda enclosure.
The panda enclosure was a lot less crowded than the one at the National Zoo back home, and seemed to be structured more toward displaying the pandas... but after taking a couple of dozen photos of the male I realized that every time he heard the beep/click of my camera taking an exposure, he turned his head away from me! Even the pandas seemed to be too hot and eventually just sprawled out in the shade so we began wandering again. We passed a patch of large Bird of Paradise flowers that were almost the same as the ones we had in our backyard in Chile, got some more smiles from passing locals, took a break in the shade near some other (larger) monkeys, then took another break at the kangaroo house (which was interesting, because I'd never seen a white kangaroo before).
The Pipsqueak just rolled along (or, amazingly, sat quietly) in her stroller, watching the passing scene and giving her uncle's camera an occasional "Again?!" glance. She also continued to demonstrate her ability to be comfortable in some of the strangest positions ("Gravity? We don' need no steenkin' gravity!") and continually slid down in the stroller so low that in the majority of my photos you see a green crossbar where her face is supposed to be. (I did manage to get a few good pictures, it just took some trying.)
With all of us melting as we reached a small swan pond (apparently the best way to make up for white kangaroos is to use black swans...?) and the heat continuing to increase, Effie & Lisa pointed out a giant half-built geodesic ladybug nearby that housed a small snack bar selling cold drinks and ice cream. I'm not sure those drinks didn't make the difference between a hot day and multiple cases of heatstroke, and the ice cream was pretty good, too! We rested in the shade for a while, listening to a live variety show going on at a nearby amphiteather (we could hear it but not see it), just cooling down while the little ones all got their 2nd bottle of the day before setting out on the path again.
Moments later, AJ excitedly asked, "Look over there -- are they real?" and pointed through the trees at a group of giraffes and elephants. The thrill lasted for a few seconds as we watched them intently... and didn't see so much as a single twitch. As we got closer we saw they were all made of cloth stretched over wire frames and we both felt kind of dumb for the mistake. I also decided that this was the most unique zoo I'd ever seen... monkeys threatening to pee on my head, pandas, albino kangaroos, black swans, fake elephants & giraffes... oh, and dinosaurs, too! (A fuschia Stegosaurus, neon yellow T-Rex, and kelly green Apatosaurus, all life size cloth-on-wire statues, were just a few feet down the path.)[2]
Just past the dinosaurs was sign with the full name of the facility, and after reading the full GSEBOCCARCFTGP I understood why it was called Seven Star Park. (It was about this time that the Pipsqueak said "the heck with it" and took a nap). Just before reaching the exit we found a small glass & wood building nestled into some extra-fancy landscaping. There were two signs; the English sign said this was the "tea pavilion" where President Clinton met with members of the Chinese government in 1998, while the Chinese sign seemed to cover several books' worth of descriptive text. We finally re-entered the air conditioned refuge of our bus and as we pulled out of the parking lot I noticed that there was still one workman carefully placing clay roof tiles just so by hand in the baking sun... an interesting low-tech counterpoint to the large research facility we'd just left.
Our next stop was a silk factory, and along the way Effie told us about the area. One of the main features is the Osmanthus tree, and the name of the city (originally Ghizhou but changed in 1940) means "Forest of Sweet Osmanthus." Just about every part of the tree is used in some way, and it became a group joke for someone to call out, "Osmanthus!" in response to Effie's pop quizzes.
We rolled over the same bridge we had repeatedly crossed while looking for the hotel and were surprised to find the place in plain sight on the east bank of the river -- we had just needed to know what it looked like. The scenery was interesting, and because Guilin wasn't as densely populated as Nanning or Beijing the traffic was merey crazy instead of absolutely insane so I was able to snap some photos of the passing scene. When we reached the downtown core of the city, it looked like every available surface held a brightly-colored commercial sign... even the buses were rolling billboards! (Look closely enough at the photo and you'll see some American icons in the mix.)
We soon pulled up in front of the Guilin Xinfu Silk Products Company, where our lack of practice at unloading, unfolding, and loading the strollers made for a bit of chaos before we could actually enter the building. Our guide, a nice young woman dressed in very pretty silks, proceeded to tell us more about the production & properties of silk than I had imagined possible. There was a sample workstation in the lobby where we watched a working in a white lab coat complete the first few steps of the processing that turns a dirty cocoon with a worm inside into some of the finest cloth in the world. We watched the early stages of the stretching process, got to test the strength of raw silk, and learned about the different grades of the final product -- the highest quality being "crystal silk" with such a strong, fine fiber that one cocoon can yield a single continuous thread up to five kilometers long!
We then learned how to negotiate a large flight of stairs with loaded strollers before entering a room where a group of women (all in white lab coats) were stretching sheets of cleaned silk by hand. It looked easy -- everyone just grabs hold and pulls to separate the fibers -- but when several of us gave it a try we basically destroyed the silk sheet we were holding. As the women continued their work, our guide used a cigarette lighter to demonstrate the flame-retardant properties of silk... and we quickly learned that you can't easily make cleaned & stretched worm spit burn but that it certainly lets off a stink when you try. Several more mini-lessons about silk concluded, to no one's surprise, with our group being turned loose in the company store's showroom.
We were there for quite a while and there were quite a lot of choices of color, pattern, weight, and so on. AJ and I eventually made choices for ourselves and got a nice bedroom set as a gift for our folks and while Lisa & Effie oversaw the purchase process, I just wandered around a bit. The far end of the showroom featured what looked like paintings that turned out to be extremely detailed silk embroidery. I particularly admired a large room divider with a carved wooden frame that depicted a stylized scene of courtesans in a garden... but when I noticed a price tag of 380,000 Yuan (roughly $61,000 USD) I decided to settle on just taking a photo of it home. Then, as we picked up our little "suitcases" of vacuum-packed comforters and such wrapped with plastic strapping, I realized there were little "No Photography" signs scattered between the samples hanging on the wall... and I'd been shooting photos all over the room, complete with flash. I sheepishly apologized to the head saleswoman but my offer to delete the pictures was met with a big smile and a heavily accented, "Not to worry, thank you, it okay!"
We reloaded the bus and headed out for our lunch reservations at the Tasty Castle Restaurant, which despite its name consisted of a central court with waterfall & koi pond surrounded by large glassed-in kiosks (mercifully air-conditioned) with diaphanous floor-length curtains for some privacy. Lisa & Effie ate in the regular dining room -- we could see them through the windows -- but our group had its own private dining "room" with a nice view of the waterfall. Every time we thought the meal was coming to an end another set of dishes would inevitably be delivered, but no one was complaining.
(Dude, don't forget to mention about how y'all were visited by a spider the size of Rhode Island halfway through lunch...)
Our meal finally complete, we watched the koi in the restaurant's pond. They were all large and beautifully colored, with some monsters approaching three feet in length. Even more impressive was that several of them were congregating at the base of the artificial waterfall and were actually climbing up the rock face to nibble on the moss & bugs there -- sometimes coming completely clear of the water before falling back. Their feeding method left me wondering if the nearby safety sign was to prevent people from falling into the pond... or being eaten...
We all decided to take a short walk in the park by the lake across the street to settle our very full bellies, only to discover that crossing the large avenue on foot was very similar to playing a live-action version of "Frogger" (but we all made it okay, if perhaps a bit winded). We pushed & pulled the strollers along the uneven steps & walkways winding through the trees until, once again hot and sweaty, we reached a scenic overlook on the lakeshore. Never mind the obviously well-lubricated workmen eating lunch nearby (who actually just looked at us curiously but never seemed at all annoyed or threatening); the small platform we were standing on provided an excellent view of the lake with the Pagoda of the Moon and the Pagoda of the Sun (supposedly the world's tallest copper-clad structure) on the opposite shore.[3]
We had another brief "welcome to China" moment when we realized that while we were enjoying the view of the lake and taking photos, a slowly-growing group of locals was taking in the view of the odd-looking foreign tourists. We shrugged it off and enjoyed the irony (and the lake view) for a few minutes longer before deciding we really needed to get back into some air conditioning. After another round of live-action "Frogger" ("Did you see that guy? He wasn't going to stop!") we re-entered the happy coolness of the bus -- but not before AJ noticed what might be the best-ever example of accuracy in advertising on a nearby building and asked me to take a photo for her.
On the way back to the hotel, Effie & Lisa suggested that instead of another day trip, we might be interested in a "longevity nap" -- something that sounded real good to the tired, overheated, sweaty group. In a pattern that would repeat for most of our trip, the Pipsqueak was fine throughout the ride and then fell asleep literally as we pulled up to the front door. Mommy was happy to carry her in, leaving Uncle Brian to carry the folded stroller, a full day pack, the Big Red Bag (full of formula & diapers), and three large suitcase-shaped packages of silk goods. (AJ had warned me years earlier that I'd have only three jobs: photography, luggage, and peeling her off the ceiling as needed. The latter was rarely needed, the former was ongoing... and I rapidly became very well acquainted with the second.)
Taking advantage of the Pipsqueak's bonus quiet time, we took turns washing laundry in the sink, hanging damp clothing any-and-everywhere, and checking email while Miri snored a little bit (she still had that cold!), until the room looked like a small-scale refugee camp. In addition to the bathroom, literally every surface that didn't look water-soluble became a drying rack -- even the TV! We also took the opportunity for a better look at the scene outside our window. We never figured out if the opposite rooftop was a construction site or a destruction site, but the pile of bricks in the nearby courtyard seemed to magically shrink a bit each day. (At least we could see the karst hills in the distance if we peeked over the buildings...)
This may not sound like an exciting way to spend an afternoon in a foreign land, but we were exhausted from walking around in the heat and it was good to be able to just plotz for a while and take care of the small details. It all paid off at dinnertime -- everyone had more energy and all the young 'uns were in fine form. Miri seemed to have turned a corner; instead of just grabbing at plates & napkins, she was directing how we fed her and was really verbal. If we didn't get the next spoonful of egg drop soup to her mouth fast enough, she'd grab whichever arm held the spoon and pull it toward her. After swallowing, she'd use both hands to smear any leftovers evenly over her face and then clap her hands over her head in appreciation of her own performance. At one point she actually stood up in the high chair and babbled a happy little soliloquy at us before reaching for more food...! (We absolutely loved it but had to keep scrambling to keep her from falling out of the high chair.)
With an early wakeup call looming, we all just hung out together in the lobby for a few minutes and then headed up to our rooms. AJ & I had a nice, long Skype voice session with our folks while puttering around the room, then gave Miri her last bottle of the day & got her ready to bed down for the evening. The Pipsqueak kinda beat us to it; in a typical gravity-defying
pose, she positioned herself halfway upside-down across Mommy's lap and quickly fell asleep, leaving my sister pinned to the bed & wondering how the heck she'd get the little one into the crib without waking her. I don't remember exactly how we did it, but eventually we were each in our bed with my niece in the crib between us, turning off the lights while looking forward to the next day's adventures.
Next post: A wonderful but so-hot-you-WILL-melt day of adventures.
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