On Thursday in Guangzhou, Dana had lined up a photographer to come to the hotel and take some professional pics. She is an American whose husband works in Guangzhou. It was (of course) spitting rain and overcast, but that didn't stop us. The hotel was beautiful and the photographer knew about a spot in the back of the grounds that we hadn't even seen. It was a very tranquil koi pond with some bridges and gardens. We haven't seen the final product yet, but I think we got some good ones. Here are a few pics that I took of the area.
We then hung out in the room for a bit and packed our bags in preparation for leaving the next morning. We had been told there was a play area in a shopping mall across the street. We decided to head over to the mall and see what we could find. On the way, we ran into some robots. Literally!
The mall was VERY high end. We went up and down and around, but couldn't find the play area. We ended up going across the street to another mall that seemed to somehow be connected to the other, but we couldn't figure it all out. After roaming the floors for a bit, we finally found the play area. The kids had a good time working out some energy.
Around 3:30, Dana wanted to go back over to the pearl market. She wanted to take a cab and head over (just her and Magnus). I was quite uncomfortable with the idea, so I convinced her that it was best that we all stay together and go as a family. As we were walking through the lobby to the cab, Sarah (our genie, I mean guide) once again appeared and asked if we needed help with anything. She also asked if we had checked the flight status, because another family's flight home had just been cancelled. We looked it up quickly and that is when we saw that it had been delayed for almost 8 hours. Here we go again!
Sarah said she would call American Airlines for us to see what options we had and then would call our room at 7:00. We hopped in a cab and took a 20 minute drive to go the 5 miles to the pearl market. We were able to get in and go back to the same store and communicate what we wanted to purchase. The ladies in the store remembered our family from a couple of days before and appreciated that we had come back.
After leaving the store, that is when things got real. We walked outside to hail a cab back and the first one drove right past us. Then the next one. And again and again. We tried changing locations up and down the street, but it was no help. We watched as multiple cabs pulled up and told us no, but then allowed other people to get in. This went on for about an hour and it was starting to get dark. A crowd was forming to basically watch us struggle and stare at us as we failed to catch a cab. I was feeling quite helpless as I couldn't get my phone to work and had no way to contact anyone. Finally, we changed locations and found a cab driver that was willing to take us back to our hotel. Again, it was only a couple of miles, but the traffic was so bad that it took us almost 50 minutes to get back to the hotel. I paid the cab driver double the fare (still less than $20 US dollars) as a thank you for helping us and hopefully helping out the next stranded Americans someday.
By this time it was almost 7:00 and we hadn't eaten and didn't know what was going on with the flight. The girls had been troopers through the whole thing and we had promised them a treat and that they could play in the playroom. I went out and grabbed some food and Dana took the girls to play. Magnus was sound asleep at that point, the poor little buddy.
We ended up hearing from Sarah around 8:30 that she spoke with American Airlines and the delayed flight was still the best option. They acknowledged that we would miss our connecting flight to STL, but would put us in a hotel for the night and on an early flight Saturday morning.
All in all, it was a very stressful evening/afternoon, but we made it through. The delay did give us a bit more time on Friday morning to do/see some things before taking the 2:00 van shuttle for the 3 hour drive over to Hong Kong.
Here are a few other pictures.
Once Again Delayed Family of Six!
The mall was VERY high end. We went up and down and around, but couldn't find the play area. We ended up going across the street to another mall that seemed to somehow be connected to the other, but we couldn't figure it all out. After roaming the floors for a bit, we finally found the play area. The kids had a good time working out some energy.
Around 3:30, Dana wanted to go back over to the pearl market. She wanted to take a cab and head over (just her and Magnus). I was quite uncomfortable with the idea, so I convinced her that it was best that we all stay together and go as a family. As we were walking through the lobby to the cab, Sarah (our genie, I mean guide) once again appeared and asked if we needed help with anything. She also asked if we had checked the flight status, because another family's flight home had just been cancelled. We looked it up quickly and that is when we saw that it had been delayed for almost 8 hours. Here we go again!
Sarah said she would call American Airlines for us to see what options we had and then would call our room at 7:00. We hopped in a cab and took a 20 minute drive to go the 5 miles to the pearl market. We were able to get in and go back to the same store and communicate what we wanted to purchase. The ladies in the store remembered our family from a couple of days before and appreciated that we had come back.
After leaving the store, that is when things got real. We walked outside to hail a cab back and the first one drove right past us. Then the next one. And again and again. We tried changing locations up and down the street, but it was no help. We watched as multiple cabs pulled up and told us no, but then allowed other people to get in. This went on for about an hour and it was starting to get dark. A crowd was forming to basically watch us struggle and stare at us as we failed to catch a cab. I was feeling quite helpless as I couldn't get my phone to work and had no way to contact anyone. Finally, we changed locations and found a cab driver that was willing to take us back to our hotel. Again, it was only a couple of miles, but the traffic was so bad that it took us almost 50 minutes to get back to the hotel. I paid the cab driver double the fare (still less than $20 US dollars) as a thank you for helping us and hopefully helping out the next stranded Americans someday.
By this time it was almost 7:00 and we hadn't eaten and didn't know what was going on with the flight. The girls had been troopers through the whole thing and we had promised them a treat and that they could play in the playroom. I went out and grabbed some food and Dana took the girls to play. Magnus was sound asleep at that point, the poor little buddy.
We ended up hearing from Sarah around 8:30 that she spoke with American Airlines and the delayed flight was still the best option. They acknowledged that we would miss our connecting flight to STL, but would put us in a hotel for the night and on an early flight Saturday morning.
All in all, it was a very stressful evening/afternoon, but we made it through. The delay did give us a bit more time on Friday morning to do/see some things before taking the 2:00 van shuttle for the 3 hour drive over to Hong Kong.
Here are a few other pictures.
Once Again Delayed Family of Six!
I'm having "blog withdrawal"! Thinking of you all at home and hoping you have recovered from jet lag and getting back into a routine. I just wanted you to know that I am thinking and praying for you and wishing for a smooth adjustment for you all!
ReplyDeleteThanks Valerie. We are home and doing well. I hope to post about the trip and arrival home tonight or tomorrow.
DeleteI'm having "blog withdrawal"! Thinking of you all at home and hoping you have recovered from jet lag and getting back into a routine. I just wanted you to know that I am thinking and praying for you and wishing for a smooth adjustment for you all!
ReplyDelete