Pearl River Cruise

Tuesday night, the group climbed aboard a bus to head down to the Pearl River for a dinner cruise. Since the "standard" buffet included items such as fish intestines and chicken heads, our guides (in their infinite wisdom, opted for a more "American" meal. In addition to the food we had delivered, we were given a plate of watermelon and cherry tomatoes. I'm not sure what the significance of that particular combination is, but Sera sucked down the watermelon while I popped a couple of tomatoes in my mouth. A few minutes later, our guide came by and mentioned that the little veggies were washed in tap water and we were advised not to ingest them to avoid illness. Would have been nice to know that 5 minutes earlier (but so far no ill side effects).

We had a good time watching all the lights on the surrounding buildings and bridges as well as several of the other boats that passed by. One favorite was a dragon boat that looked like a pirate ship with a large dragon on the front. Of course, everything was outlined with colored lights, making it look even more spectacular in the twilight.

At the far end of the trip, we came alongside the White Swan hotel. This was the hotel we stayed in on the previous two trips to China when adopting Jeremy and Leah. Apparently they no longer wish to host adoption families, opting instead to entertain business clients. That's a shame as we would have paid a little extra to stay on the island during our last week in China.