My First Trip

[Paul Todd]

Great stories Dave,thanks!

[Rhonald]

Your Spelling,  Bee, is creating words that make the story Hum along. Also thanks for the enjoyable pictures that you have pollinated your postings with.

[Martin]

Maybe the guy fishing was trying to pick up women by advertising.

[Arnold]

Hahahahahaha..spell backwards..funny anyway !

[shaun]

Great story.  I enjoyed every bit of it.  Hey if you see that guy again he stole my customized back pack. 

[Bee964]

Thanks for the comments guys. I am glad you all like the posts.

Arnold,

I have found a couple places that offer a large variety of honey. I see what you mean by your comment that I did not know that there were so many varieties available.

Rhonald,

You, my kind patient sir, are truely the King of the pun! I tip my hat to you sir. You always put a smile on my face with your posts, except for the ones saying how you are still waiting patiently.

Martin and Shaun,

I will be on the lookout for that guy to find out where he got the backpack. I was wondering what the reaction would be from people back home if I were to get one of those? Picture walking down the isle of the crowded supermarket.... walking down the isle you would hear the giggles from the girls... or standing at the checkout with the pretty girl at the cash... you put the pack, with the name facing up, on the counter... the reactions would pe priceless! And all you have to do is smile at them.

Here are some more pictures from my trip here for you to enjoy. The picture of the red lantern is because of the fact that it is electronic. These lanterns are everywhere here and this is the first set I saw that were like this.

Dave C

[Bee964]

I did read the other day that the reason Chinese drivers do what they do is because they are use to the days when every one had a bike. In that they all traveled as a pack at roughly the same speed and were used to changing lane and the like. The more I think about it the more it make sense, to me it does anyway

Paul,

I meant to say this earlier to you that this is exactly what I imagined. I remember the photos that my parents took of Beijing back in the mid 1980's. In one there was a huge pack of bicycles waiting at a corner to go as there was a huge pack crossing the intersection jostling for the best position... starting to sound like a Tour De France commentary.

Dave C

[chen yan]

Dave C,

Your story of "hairy chest" make me laugh. hehe, That' remind me my English teach encourage me to talk to him, So my first talk to the foreighner is "you have hariy hands". That makes everybody laugh.

And is the trip before Chinese New Year or you spent Chinese New Year in Guangzhou ? I live close to Guangzhou,But I didn't visit there ,Now it looks you know more place to see in GZ.
Where is the place with lots of lanterns in the reiverside?

[Bee964]

Chen Yan,

It is called Li Wai Hu park. It had some very romanic settings. I wish I would have taken more pictures too.

Dave C

[Bee964]

I am going to try to get caught up with the posts again.

Tuesday we decided to go to the (I think it is called) Chimelong Safari park zoo. When we were with Sunny and Irishman they suggested going there to see it. As we arrived at the gate Ling Ling was told that we could go through in the car and there was a special discount for this and the Chimelong International Circus if we wanted to go there too. I was a little worried at first when Ling Ling said that it was ok to take the car through. We have a similar park near where I live, the park is in Cambridge Ontario, and the primates are famous for their abilities to quickly strip down the exterior of your car. This had me wondering what this park had in store and what the condition of the car would be like when we exited the park. These fears were put to rest very soon as I saw that it was a little different from the park at home. The animals were not completely free to roam wherever they wanted. There were moats and electric fences to keep the animals at bay. We had a good trip through the park and saw all the animals up close.

After the driving tour through the park there is a foot tour through to see more primates and the Panda bears. There are shows put on by the park of the trained elephants and primates as well as other animals. We only had time to see the trained primates and elephants. Ling Ling really enjoyed the show. She said that she had never been to the park before.

After the safari park we headed to the circus. We got seating fairly early and we had no trouble seeing the whole show. It was a very good show. The acrobats and their performance was very good. They put on several performances throughout the show. I was surprised to see that the majority of their stunts were performed without safety nets and/or safety harnesses. There were also the usual lion tamers and elephant tamers that put on a good show too. There was a show of acrobats that were dressed in penguin outfits and they put on a good diving show. There was a small pool at the front centre of the stage. They even took an audience member and had him join in the act. They did have him remove his valuables but not his clothing. I do not know how willing he was about getting wet but he had no choice as one member took him down with him. It was all in good fun though.

After the circus we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. I was tired and Ling Ling felt very tired too. We had done a lot of walking the past couple days here. She had shown me several parks in this city and we walked the streets a couple times in those days too, so we were tired.

The next day we pretty much just spent it doing some errands here she needed to do and spent a little time shopping. We made arrangements to meet her cousin and her husband for dinner and see if they wanted to go to Lotus Hill park with us the next day. They agreed to go with us and made plans for meeting the next day at 10:30 am. I was a little worried about this because my Ling Ling can sleep! She usually sleeps very late. Right now it is 12:08pm and she is still sleeping. We went to sleep about 11:30 pm lastnight because I did not feel the best. I think I have your cold Irishman but I brought some things here just in case I did get sick. 

The next morning we got up and got ready and met Ling Lings relatives. Yes, we showed up about 20 minutes late too. When they got in the car Steve had a navigation unit with him. It is all in chinese so I had no clue how to work it. I don't think that they use it much because there was a lot of conversation about it and it took a while to get it programmed to lead us to the park. I have navagation built into my car and I use it all the time I need to find a placew I have never been to before. I have only once been let down by it but this was due to the fact that I only guessed at the town I was looking for. Anyways, as the trip started I quickly saw that it worked just like mine at home. Before I informed Steve about what it was showing him we missed a couple turns. When we finally got on the right track and it said that we had arrived there was no hill, mountain, park or any such thing around. After a quick stop to ask we were pointed in the right direction.

We got to the park and I quickly realised it was a temple complex. I was not sure what it was before we had left but it was much more comercialised compared to Bainyou mountain. There was a small arcade type of set up where you can ring toss or shoot tennis balls out of a cannon for prises. We had something to eat and we were off to the temple. There is a pagoda you can climb and a large statue that looks out towards the sea. I am not sure it is overlooking the sea directly but we could see waterways and boats. The view looking out was very hazy. We decided to get something at the vegetarian restaurant before we left. The meal there was pretty good. I had spinach with mushrooms and some corn with pine nuts. We then headed off to see the park gardens and then back to the car for the trip back.

We dropped off Ling Lings relatives and went to get something else to eat. We stopped at a small corner noodle shop. I think it was one of the best meals that we have had together. It was very good and I did not get a picture of the place. Most places we go to I do get a picture of the place. I hope that we return there for another meal just so I can get a picture.

Afterwards we walked the street and looked at all the shops. Found a shop that only sells honey Arnold! A shop to satisfy every need you could ever imagine for honey. Honey from every source the bees could find.

Here are some more pictures for everybody to enjoy. I did not get many pictures of the circus because it was quite dark.

Dave C

[RobertBfrom aust]

Dave , a great read and the photos are very clear , you certainly are doing the touristy thing , and we are all doing your trips with you and LingLing , with all the cities in China it would take months if not longer to visit all and enjoy what each has to offer , regards Sujuan and Robert

[Martin]

Dave. That first picture is a great shot of Irishman. Glad to hear you are having fun.

[Bee964]

I am really not looking forward to tomorrow. Today is Valentines day and I will be spending it with her. I have bought her a couple things she hopefully will enjoy but I am really not looking forward to tomorrow morning. Parting from this woman will be very hard indeed but I have already started to think about my next trip here and hope it will not be too long from now. I am thinking about next september for the mid autumn festival? This seemed very important to her last september so I have it in mind. It is the only thing that keeps the tears at bay right now.

I have a couple more posts to make for this trip thread and then I think it will be done. When I get back I think I have about 1100 photographs to go through and then select some to put here in a photo album.

Dave C

[joeswuhandream]

hi Dave   great pic mate  you both look great

yes tomorrow we both make our way home
we could say our feelings will be the same to  tommorrow
when we both leave our Lady's 
have a great valentines  day Dave and your lady

just a thought  i am hoping to be back in Chengdu come September for good
who nose we could meet up even if it means traveling to meet up   

regards joey and Sophia

[Irishman]

Dave , I'm delighted to read you had a wonderful trip, Sunny and I are back now in Ireland. Looking forward to catching up with you guys next new year !