This is the Chen Family Temple, from the street.
The gardens around it are very lush.
There is a lot of very intricate work in the trimming and the roof.
Froggy and Little Panda could hardly wait to see inside.
The two lions out front are a male lion and a female lion. The male lion has a ball under his paw, to symbolize power.
The female lion usually has a baby lion by her paw.
In this case, the female lion has a baby lion, and Froggy and Little Panda.
The entrance doors are each painted with a different god, to protect the house.
The doors are huge, and just inside are some very carved wood panels.
The kids were not very interested in the carvings.
The museum is serious--no naked, barefoot, or drunken people are allowed.
The family temple is a place built by a clan, with an area to venerate their ancestors, and also a place for family get-togethers to do this at certain times. There was also a residence wing for family members who came to the provincial capitol to study and take the civil service exams.
Some of these rooms were set up with old furniture.
Here is a bed with some really supportive porcelain pillows.
This is where the ancestors were venerated, so it was the huge room across the courtyard from the entrance.
Most of the museum is set up to display folk art, and more importantly, sell folk art. This guy was painting porcelain. I bought a tiny painted box that he made. In the next shop Hannah found what she really wanted--a camel carved out of camel bone. I bought a really nice set of camel-bone earrings and bracelet. I just hope that customs doesn't think it is ivory. I don't know how you prove it came from a camel.
Next stop was the pearl market. It is kind of like a huge mall, but there are all these wholesale places selling real and fake jewelry and components. Our guide led us through the maze to a shop that will sell pearls directly to the eager customers.
This little shop was just stuffed with pearls. They lay out a bunch of them so you can pick the quality, size, and color you prefer. Then they will hand-knot them for you. We got some really pretty gifts here. I bought both my daughters tiny pearl necklaces for them to wear for their First Holy Communion. As we were leaving, I realized that Cheng Cheng had swiped the keys to the display case and we were about to leave with them. No wonder he was quiet while the pearl necklaces were being made!
The guide also took us to a shop just outside, that sold embroidery. I wish I had taken pictures in there, because there were some really magnificent things. One small one I looked at was over 5,000 US dollars. There were some that were huge, so I shudder to think how much those were. They were worked on such fine-textured cloth that it was see-through, and then the embroidered pictures on them were so detailed they looked like photographs. I got some embroidered bookmarks and some other things that were much more affordable.
After the embroidery shop, the guide showed us a little place in the basement of the pearl market where you can buy really cute glass charms and pendants for 2 Yuan each. I got a sack full, and had some glow-in-the-dark pandas made into earrings. The shop keeper and guide thought this was very funny, so maybe I am wearing something that Chinese people will think is very tacky. I think fun earrings can be a good change.
The kids were so well-behaved, but they didn't care for the temple and they were sick of shopping.
We went back to the hotel for lunch and naps, and our evening activity was to meet at Tekila, the Mexican restaurant in Guangzhou, to eat dinner with a bunch of other adopting families we are connected with on Facebook. Most of us had never met in person so it was quite exciting to meet in China, with our new children, after all those months of going through the process together.
We had to take a taxi to get there, so the hotel people wrote the address for Tekila on a card for us. We got in a taxi at the stand out in front of the hotel, and off we went. We were so excited about tasting Mexican food again. Hannah and I were about to drool from just reading the menus. Therese was hesitant at first, but she did like most of the food.
This guy rarely meets food he doesn't like, except green veggies and fruits.
We were too busy visiting and chasing kids to take many pictures. I wish I had done a better job with pictures.
Therese was about out of her mind with excitement. She isn't used to being in a crowded restaurant, and she loved the decorative railings which helped her get around. She also tried to climb through them, and on one end she managed to get through. When she tried it on the other end, she got stuck and it took both Hannah and I to extricate her. She had gotten partly through, but her head was stuck, and her brother was helpfully trying to push her through with his belly and one knee.
The hardest part was getting a taxi back. We have never managed to flag one down. They just ignore us. So we walked two blocks to the Garden Hotel since we knew they would have a taxi stand there. We didn't have the stroller and John Francis had a hard time with the uneven sidewalk and steps. It was dark but still so hot and humid, and he was just soaked with sweat even though we walked slowly for him. We got a taxi and came back to our hotel for baths and bed. We were all very tired since we have never gone out in the evening before. It seemed really late to us and it was past the kids' bedtime. It was a lot of fun though.
