April 7, 2008 Yon Tai Botanical Garden & Chen Academy of Arts
It was a beautiful spring day to visit the Yon Tai Botanical Gardens, absolutely breathtaking! As we strolled around the park many elderly people came up and started talking to Angelina. She had no idea what they were saying because the only language Angelina is familiar with is Cantonese not Mandarin. At one point, Greg had to use the washroom and before he made it back there were at least ten people around us!
The next place we visited was the Chen Academy of Arts. I am happy to say that we finally found the perfect piece of artwork to display in our family room! A famous Chinese artist painted the four seasons on four separate scrolls. Since they were “one of a kind,” the price was a bit much for us to pay. Anyone who knows Greg knows that he’s always looking for a “deal.” Well, you can guess what happened he came up with a price that he was willing to pay and started working on them. Finally, Greg got the exact amount that he considered a great deal and off we went! He justified it too by saying this covers our 20th year anniversary gift! It’s a tradition that we started and now every year we buy a piece of artwork! Except this year’s artwork piece is the most special of all!
Little Missy is down for a nap and then she goes to the doctor for a physical examination. This is required paperwork for the Chinese Consulate.
I really like writing in the afternoon because everything is so fresh in my mind. Usually we write every night around 10 pm and by then we’re tired and ready for bed.
Angelina’s medical exam went great! She weighs 18 lbs. and 31 inches long. Out of all of the babies, she has the healthiest appetite. (she takes after her Grandpa Lloyd!) Up until the point that we got her the only things that she had were formula and rice cereal. She has eaten everything that we have offered her and so far that has been: steamed eggs, congee, wheat flakes with milk and vegetable baby food.
Tonight’s dinner experience tops them all. Guangzhou (the city of where we are staying)
people are considered the most daring foodies in the country if not the world! The Chinese outside of Guangdong have a saying about the people here, “If it has four legs but isn’t a table, if it has wings but isn’t a plane, if it moves but isn’t a car or a bicycle, Guangzhou people will eat it!” Yes, dogs, baby rats, monkey brains, civet cats, snakes, snake blood, snake bile, chicken feet, duck feet, fetal chickens still in the egg and the list goes on and on. Well tonight we were all set on ordering snake until we found out the price was $70.00 (USD) per plate. I ordered deep fried pigeon and Greg had the eel. I’ve had eel before but seriously this looked just like worms! We posted some pictures below of what I thought would be the most challenging and that would have to be the sandworms. I just loved the description on the menu of the dishes like “delicious water beetles” or “pig intestines with pickle”. OK, I’ve talked enough about this subject but just to let you know that when you enter the restaurant most of the menu items are alive and you can pick out what you want to order!!!
This evening we had two hours of paperwork for the US Consulate appointment on Wednesday. We’re only 4 days away from coming home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
