1 Bicycle wreck, 2 white tigers, 3 hours of meltdown...

Picture 1 - The Bug...with our guide Connie...she loves to hang with her wherever we go... it really helps that Connie remembered her from last year and always comments on how well behaved she is!

Picture 2: Is of Daddy, er, I mean...a Giant Panda chillin' for my camera


Picture 3: This little guy was just peeking out at me as I walked by...it's a Red Panda...cute!




Picture 4: Daddy, Magpie and Busy Bee

Picture 5: Is Daddy, er...no, just an effigy of him at the park today (this guy is a trash can)...many comments were made by our traveling party about him and of course his likeness to Daddy... :)




Picture 6: The little man, honkin' on a bean Popsicle...not a mung bean, for those of you who know of our appreciation for them...just a plain old...very YUMMY bean Popsicle (I've forgotten to tell you that at Mc Donalds instead of Cherry and Apple pies...they have "Green Pea" Pies...YUM!


Picture 7: Potato...and ice cream

Picture 8: Busy Bee...and ice cream (Daddy said they looked like the "Dutch Masters" today when he saw them at the park)






Picture 9: This guy just stared and stared at me...

Picture 10: We fed this dude by hand...the kids went wild!
Picture 11: Busy Bee on the train ride through the safari park

Picture 12: Magpie and Isaiah...he was squealing and talking very quickly in Chinese at every animal we saw!



Picture 13: These two rhinos were having a dispute...but they of course made us think about our own Rhino...back in "fish-ville"


Picture 14: Sadly, though we saw several White Tigers...not a single spotting of Seigfried and Roy :(

Picture 15: The man team...just hanging out on the bench...thinkin' man-type thoughts...













Today we hit the wall...really. It's been a fantastic trip...but we just had a meltdown today. This morning we woke up and everyone was off..grumpy...easily disturbed...


We spilled orange juice all over the bed...we lost and subsequently found my purse...we wept at the breakfast table (others among us gnashed their teeth)...and while walking home from our meal...The Bug fell off a planter she was walking along and was run over by a bike in front of a crowd of 45 or so gasping, horrified, Spanish tourists!

Needless to say...it was a day that needed prayer...(The Bug by the way, sustained no lasting injury...only her pride remains bruised)...so we stopped and prayed as a family asking God to help us and redeem the day...and immediately, things began to improve!


At one pm we left for the Chime-Long Safari Park...THIS was a tour event WELL WORTH it...by far the coolest open zoo I've ever been to...excellent! The pictures well tell the story of the day so I'm going to devote most of the space to them...


On the way home in the bus, we nearly laughed ourselves silly as the children (keep in mind that there are 13 of them in our local group of 4 families)....got a hold of the microphone that our guide Connie uses on the bus and it was Karaoke time! Each of the kids sang a few tunes...it was a great day...

The weather is absolutely sauna-like! We were wringing wet most of the day but the outing to the safari park was well worth it. Our guide explained that the park is owned by one VERY wealthy man who is in his 50's...he was first a butcher, then owned a small restaurant, then a big restaurant, then a 4 star hotel...making more and more money...then he opened the safari park, a circus, water park and an amusement park...but the only part of this guys story that everyone talked about all day was that this guy has 8 wives! More specifically, 1 wife and 7 concubines! Even the kids were trying to figure out how that worked! Lots of jokes were made between our traveling companions about such a lifestyle...but Connie, our guide said that this was why she makes certain that her husband does not get too wealthy...with money comes concubines! IN THE YEAR 2007!


Tonight we had a pizza picnic in the hallway of our hotel...then a swim before bed...everyone ended the day on a very "up" note.


Tomorrow we hope to have our Visa approval in place for Isaiah to come home, then a huge shopping afternoon at a major street market that we've heard rumor of...we plan to take it by storm!

More from Guangzhou tomorrow....we'll be home soon now!