Day 12: Last Day in China

We woke up a lttle later today and had some breakfast.  Brian grabbed a couple pieces of bread fromt the breakfast buffet so we could feed the fish later that are in the pond outside our hotel.  The girls have been wanting to do this for days, but the last couple of days have been busy and by the time we remember it each day it is already dark out.

After breakfast, we came upstairs and started packing some because we need to see if we will have to buy an extra piece of luggage to take home wiht us.  Although we have slowly emptied out some of the items we brought with us like snacks, gifts for guides, etc we also have more we are taking home like souvenirs, birthday gifts and all the miscellaneous items we needed to buy here once we got Heidi.  

We went out to the waterfall and coy pond area late this morning to feed all the fish.  While Olivia was making sure every fish had a chance to eat some of her bread, Heidi was busy taking turns eating a piece of the bread and then sharing a piece with the fish.  

For lunch, we walked down to an Italian restaurant called Oggi.  We had heard great things about this place, but had not made it oveer to this restaurant yet.  We orederd a Riveria pizza--it had cheese, tomatoa suace, and basil.  We alos had milkshakes there for dessert!  They were thin and not ice cold, but Brian said they were "Guangzhou" cold because here they don't really esrve drinks with ice in them.  Even when you order a bottled water at a restaurant here they come out chilled but not cold--almost like they were in a refrigerator that is old or doesn't work well.  The pizza was really good though!  We should have found this place earlier in our trip because we would have definitely visitied it more than once.

On our walk back to the hotel we took a detour and walked down a few streets we had not ventured own yet.  We passed by several produce stands and meat markets where the meat was hanging out in the open air.  Just another reason not to eat the meat here at the local Chinese establishments. :)  

For dinner tonight, we went back to the Mexican restaurant but it wasn't as good as it was the first time we ate there.  Afterwards we walked over to Haagen Daz and everyone got an ice crea,.  Olivia and I had Belgium chocolate, Brian had milk tea and Heidi had strawberry.  Besides the milk tea , they also had green tea ice cream.  

On our walk back to the hotel I told Brian that Guangzhou reminds me of Vegas.  THere are a ton of lights everywhere--all the buildings light up and flash with different colors, they have the big screen digital advertisements, palm trees, the traffic is crazy and there are lots of tall buildings everywhere you look.  Imaine Vegas, but much more crowded and with horns honking 24/7!

It is now close to 9:30 PM here.  We meet our guide in the lobby of our hotel tomrrow morning at 7:15 to head back to the Guangzhou airport.  We will fly from Guangzhou to Beijing, Beijing to Dallas and Dallas to Birmingham.  We won't arrive back in Birmingham until almost midnight Friday evening.  Tomorrow is going to be a LONG day.  Although we have really enjoyed our time here in China, we are so ready to get home at the same time.  I am ready to be back on some kind of routine, to be around more English speaking people, not have to wonder everytime I walk into a public restroom if they will only have the squatty potty option, have more space than a hotel room, actually be able to dry our clothes instead of hanging them on a clothesline in the bathroom and to eat some real American/western style food!