China Day Eight - Guangzhou

We had a wonderful time in Guangzhou.  The day started with a tiny little two hour bus ride from Shenzhen that seemed like nothing after some of the travel days we'd had.  I took a couple of shots from the bus on the way into the city.  I took the presence of this adorable gnome statue as a sign that we were about to have a really fun day.

Guangzhou is another big city down around the same area as Hong Kong.  Unfortunately there was not time to visit Hong Kong, but we had plenty of fun in Guangzhou and the weather was equally nice.  These tall buildings, which were shot from the window of the bus look kind of wild, don't they?

Here is our beautiful room at the Jovenstars Hotel:

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant.  This was the first place that presented us with a plate of chopped up chicken which also included the head and the feet.  None of us were curious enough to give those items a try. 

After lunch we decided to go check out the park across the street.  It was large, beautiful, and peaceful.  I took many pictures.

Many of our fellow musicians had exactly the same idea.  It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon in such lovely weather.

There were lots of people practicing their native Chinese instruments in the park.  I guess you could call it Chinese chamber music.

Here's a pair of lovely gazebos:

I loved all of the statues we saw.  I think these are dogs, but they might be lions.

After the park we visited a fruit stand.  I'm sure Doug would have bought himself some Mandarin oranges if he didn't have a huge stash already.

Mystery fruit - or is that a vegetable?  Whatever it is, it's kind of pretty.

Doug is a kitty magnet.

This is the view from a bridge we crossed on the way back:

The HuaShan Leisure Club was just two doors down from our hotel.  We both got an invigorating yet refreshing hour-long massage for about 10 dollars each.

We decided to pass on the fire therapy and the scrape therapy and go for something slightly more relaxing.  We felt great afterwards!

The Xinghai Concert Hall was lovely inside and interesting outside.  We had to wait a bit for the buses but it was such a pleasant temperature outside that it didn't matter at all, and it gave me a chance to take a quick photo of the outside of the hall.

There was a tower with fabulous lighting off in the distance.  The color changed constantly.