More cute outfits from my sweet friend, Fannie. :)
We were supposed to meet our guide in the lobby at 10 a.m. to head to the Safari Park, but we got a call saying she was still at the consulate and it would be 10:15. Then another call that it would be 10:30 a.m. and then finally a call that said she'd call when she was in the lobby. We found out that one of the two families who had their consulate appointment today had their fingerprints locked up in the system and had to stay many hours extra, waiting for it to get resolved. They ended up not being able to go to the Safari Park with us. Sending some prayers for them- they've had a hard trip with illness and random things like this that are out of their control. Also praying we have no issues with our consulate appointment in the morning.
We picked up the two families at the China Hotel and then headed to the Safari Park while our guide stayed with the family at the consulate.
The weather was pretty perfect and the park was not very crowded at all- it was awesome!
One of the first things we did was take the Safari train ride. One side of the road is reserved for the train we were one and the other side for cars driving through. Most of the cars have their van doors and sunroofs open, with people hanging out.
We saw a lot of animals from the train, including kangaroos and beautiful birds.
Camels
Elephants
Rhinos
Giraffes, wildebeests, gazelle, and so many more. Sometimes the animals cross the road you are on right in front of or next to you and all of them are fairly close.
After we got off the Safari train, we went through the dinosaur area. All of these were electronic, yet looked so real. They did a great job!
This area is quite loud and scary- two dinosaurs about to attack each other. I remember Reid being very scared when we went through this area.
But not these two girls...
They just watched, laughed, and roared back!
Lemurs- we were reminded of the Madagascar movies.
Beautiful birds!
Silly faces!
I think Maeleigh taught Macie how to make this one! They are going to fit right in at our house.
Ice cream...YUM!
Orangutans- my favorite and so close too!
Watching the monkeys.
They had these neat screens that did all sorts of cool things- they were a bit like gigantic Ipads.
The snake area. We saw a lot of different kinds of snakes and some HUGE ones too.
Evan has made a new friend here in Guangzhou- Baron, my friend Heidi's son, from Virginia. We have very much enjoyed spending time with and getting to know their family!
We saw a lot of white tigers and some Bengal tigers too. The first group of white tigers we saw were being fed- meat was dangled to them and they'd jump off rocks to get it and land in water. It was pretty entertaining.
Evan got to throw meat to the white tigers.
Baby cubs...too cute!
Feeding the giraffes- one of our favorite things!
I love this picture- they had so much fun!
Time for the girls to try!
We then moved on to the kangaroo and koala area.
We saw some albino kangaroos.
This area made me wish I could go back to Australia!
Too cute!
Time for the pandas!
This one was hanging out on some ice and was looking very comfortable there.
There were signs everywhere about the 3 baby pandas that were born here in July.
Here's one of them sleeping. They were already pretty big for just under 4 months old.
Four of of sweet children!
Last stop- elephants. Loved this baby elephant!
Views of Guangzhou on the van ride back to the hotel.
The famous Canton tower.
Christmas lights are up in some places!
We went to Cow and Bridge Thai restaurant for dinner since we had skipped lunch. It wasn't the same one we remember going to when here adopting Lena. We were not impressed with our food and would not recommend this place unfortunately.
We had a very fun day today!
Tomorrow is our consulate appointment. We are waking up at 6 to head to breakfast. We have to be in the hotel lobby by 7:40 a.m. for our 8:30 a.m. consulate appointment. We are the only Madison family with a CA tomorrow. After our consulate appointment, we are going to pick up one family and head to a place I went to when I was here with Reid. After we get back to the hotel, we plan to get some lunch and take a cab back to Shamian Island to pick up some things we ordered for the girls and then possibly to One Link Plaza to spend a little more time there. Wednesday will be our last day here in Guanghzhou. We'll get our visas that afternoon and then head to Hong Kong that evening. We spend Wednesday night in Hong Kong at the hotel connected to the airport and then fly home on Thursday morning, arriving Thursday afternoon due to the time change. Soon we will be home and together with the rest of our family, a family of twelve!
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