Friends and Family Day - 1: Moring Din Sum

So this morning we awoke early and headed in to the city - a gorgeous older portion with these incredible red lanterns hanging all around the place.  After being lead around a maze of streets and coordors, we opened a door and I heard a loud but unintelligable exclaimation.  I then had a chance to process a room filled with 30 people or so (mostly aunts, uncles and cousins) all excitedly greeting Vicky, the boys and me.  It was a wonderful event... we got a demonstration of Tai Chi from her aunt, I loaded a memory stick with our best photos so far onto a monitor so we all could view the trip, and we met up with Ruby & Xiao Liu (Vicky's assistant when she owned her company & her husband).  It was complete bedlam - multiple conversations in Chinese going on all around me and Ruby's quiet voice trying to give Vicky a break from her translation duties.

First Class!

For the final trip back to Guangzhou, Vicky traded in some miles so we could fly first class.  The boys had a great time playing cards on the arm rest, and we all had more to eat than possible.  We'r now safely back at home (being Vicky's apt in Guangzhou).

Last Day at West Lake

Yesterday we had a lazy morning, then after check-out spent the day walking around West Lake.  We hiked halfway around the lake to a Haagen Das location that specialized in creative Ice Cream presentations and celebrated our last meal "on the road".

Some Quick Night Photos

Everyone seems to be winding down.  We had a last dinner on the road before heading back to Vicky's apt tomorrow night, then we spend a few days there recouperating before heading back to the good ol'e USA - well, except for Tiger.  I noticed that even the Chinese food lovers among us aren't eating as much as they used to, and Brandon finally tired of duck tonight.  Fatigue is starting to set in as well as the boys slept until Noon today and Vicky crashed both nights as soon as we got in from dinner. 

 

Since I had a good night's sleep (and finally scored some Haggen Das), I decided to try and quickly grab some night shots.  Fighting humidity in all forms (dew & haze) and not wanting to disturb Vicky by getting out the big lens & tripod, I opted for some quick night shots hand held at high ISO.  They're not my best work but give you folks an idea of the beauty of the West Lake resort area.

Transportation, Children and Traffic

         

  

I've had this photo in my head since my first day on the streets in Guangzhou.  On that day I saw a father taking his son for a ride on an electrified Razr Scooter sort of contraption (Small skateboard with a single handle).  It was odd because the child could barely stand – maybe 2 years old it seemed and the child was squatting at the front holding on to the handle bar post with both hands and looking around as though he did this every day (he probably did).  The terrifying part of this was that about 18 inches to the left of them was a huge truck tire (passenger side on the truck) which was turning towards them and there was no way the truck driver could possibly see the father and son.  Traffic was moving maybe 20mph, and the father/child on scooter were calmly zigzagging through the traffic.  Of course, the only personal protective equipment seemed to be the father's sandals.

Now if you're reading this from outside the USA and wondering what the issue is, it might help to know that stateside, young parents aren't ALLOWED to take their own child home from the hospital without producing an incredibly engineered car seat… and that in my helmet state of NJ, I don't ride my scooter without a helmet and riding jacket.  I'm not preaching – just noting the differences.

Of course each time I've come across such an "I can't believe this" sort of moment, my camera wasn't ready, but today I caught this father daughter combo on a scooter.  There have been many moments like this.  Kids on scooters, 2 or 3 kids on a motorcycle (older kid behind the driver, younger in front), kids hanging out of car doors while the car is in motion, a 4 year old girl sitting on a small bench in the back of a pick-up truck addition to a motorcycle (and sliding around a bit as the vehicle turned).  I'm sure each of these have been born out of necessity as even here it's not the norm.  I'm just puzzled as to why it happens as nobody else seems to notice – are we being too careful with our children or are they being too careless?

Boat Ride on West Lake

After lunch we boarded one of the boats in the southwestern portion of West Lake.  These are all piloted by Chuan Fu, or fisherman and are propelled by a single oar in the back of the ship.  This got us low to the water and close to several of the other boats.  We first rowed out to some sort of concrete pylon which if I understand correctly projects 10 light circles into the water... there are threee of them in the same vicinity and the area is called "3 pools mirroring the moon".  After that he took us under the causeway and was very skilled at finding great places to photograph.  Vicky and the kids played cards during the hour-long ride and afterwards the boys posed with him before he headed into the dock - there was a storm brewing and we got back to the hotel just before it broke.