Hi blog peeps! We've arrived in Guangzhou, China! Woohoo!
First, thanks to all of you who wished us bon voyage. We all survived the 15+ hour trans-Pacific flight, save for a few hairy moments- leaking milk bottle, exploding banana in the bottom of hubby's backpack, carry-on that's about 40 lbs overweight.
Yup, that's right, we're one of those idiots who assumed no one will weigh our carry-on bags. Our airline has a 15 lb (7 kg)/bag limit which is strictly enforced. The luggage itself weighs about 10 lb. You do the math. We weighed every piece of checked-in luggage with military precision, coz I swear we wouldn't be one of "those people", squatting at the check-in area, frantically repacking their luggages while trying desperately to conceal (unsuccessfully) all those embarrassing stuff you wish people wouldn't notice... But yeah, that was us. And add a toddler who's still up at 12 a.m. running on chocolate-milk-power trying to tip over everyone's luggage. Fun times.
With all that now safely tugged in my repressed memory compartment, I can move on and tell you that we made it here safely and have begun to settle in our apartment, in the heart of the new business district of Tianhe.
Our first 48 hours here in Guangzhou mostly consists of trying to figure out what time it is (here and back home), nodding off at 4 p.m. and tossing and turning at 4 a.m., learning how to use the phone, our credit cards, internet, water heater (which I accidentally turned off then harassed the front desk endlessly to get fixed, oops...).
We haven't really ventured out much yet, other than to the grocery store, which in itself was an adventure (more on that later, it deserves a separate post). My parents have come up from Hong Kong to help us get acclimated, and has helped drag the jet-lagged trio out to find food and basic essentials. Here are a few photos of our adventure on the first day:
The view from our unit, busy streets, digital signs, smog... all the wonders of modern city life. And the building site right next to us is absolutely enormous. More on what it's about below.
Eva enjoys all the toddler hazards amenities of our unit- sheer curtain to play hide and seek in, sharp corners of opulent marble table top to bang her head against, huge, fluffy beds to fall off of...
The street in front of our place. And yes, it's been raining off and on since we got here. Which is actually not bad since it's cooled things off quite a bit.
Discovering chopsticks- as drum sticks.
So this (and many similar stores) is what's being built in the complex next to us. This sign (and I assume the store being built behind it) is absolutely gynormous, but I'm sure it's nothing compared to the appetite people have for the name brand goods offered behind its walls. It's mind-boggling how many Louis Vuitton bags (and matching belts, shoes, other miscellaneous paraphernalia) I've spotted these past couple of days. How much of them are the real deal I don't know, but the obsession is evident.
I hope that we'll have more time to do some real sight-seeing before we head off to Shanghai for our orientation next week. In the mean time, gotta head off to my first business meeting here. Wish me luck!
