Greatest Hits

The journey home begins

We flew China Southern home - an airline we have never used before but they had a direct flight LAX. Mike was pretty happy in their VIP lounge. First, there was Hagen Das ice cream in mango flavor. It was pretty good. But then he discovered you can order freshly made wonton soup and they give you a pager that goes off when it’s ready.

Eventually we also found the “quiet zone” designated area of the lounge which was much better because overall we found quiet is not something normal in the conversations in China and use of cell phones without headphones or earbuds for watching TV and ridiculous videos is the norm.

What’s the problem with deer in China

Do tiles help

Why can’t we have nap pods on the US

OH, NOW I GET IT. Deer tiles, have nothing to do with preventing deer from scratching things. It’s just a brand of tile that would be resistant to scratching, even from deer antlers.

Of course I was in the shower

Our room is on the 89th floor of a 100 story building. I don’t get too close to the windows. The views are spectacular. This little coaster notice was on the bedside table. I found it a bit odd that there were no dates for when window washing might occur. Mike figured maybe they just put them out during the possible days it may occur. There was no way we were going to keep our drapes closed from 9-6 - that’s the whole day. I have been thinking I would love to see the brave souls who take up window washing as a career and dangle outside the 89th floor. So I’m in the shower and Mike comes running in showing me a photo he has just gotten with his iPad as indeed the window washer did come by today. I asked Mike to at least close my shower door - which is heavily tinted - and the washer seemed to only be doing the window in the main living area - so it all worked out. I do wonder how many people have been caught off guard if they didn’t notice the one little coaster notice! And thankfully they included English!

We almost went birding at Haihzu wetlands

We did some research and decided to squeeze in some birding on our last morning in Guangzhou. Haizhu National Wetland Park is fairly close to our hotel and has two sections. The original, Phase 1, is more paved, landscaped, and crowded. Phase 2, reached through the South Gate, is more natural, with bird blinds and paths winding among trees and ponds.

We tried to arrange a birding guide or tour guide, but that didn’t work out. The hotel concierge arranged transportation, and we planned to explore on our own.

We put quite a bit of effort into choosing a route, taking the tides and the morning light for photography into account. We also prepared directions in English and Chinese for the driver.

Directions to the South Gate in English and Chinese.

Our carefully planned birding route through Phase 2.

Unfortunately, our driver didn’t speak English. Although the concierge had told him to take us to the South Gate, he couldn’t find it. He reached a nearby parking lot, realized it wasn’t the entrance, and started to drive away. I tried to show him the location on Google Maps, but he got back on the main road and took us to the main entrance instead.

The impressive main entrance—about two miles from where we meant to start.

Our actual route looked rather different from the one we had planned.

We tried birding near the main entrance, then decided to walk toward the South Gate and the more natural habitat. That was harder than expected: the signs were in Chinese, and Google Maps wanted to send us along public roads rather than the paths inside the wetlands.

We eventually made it to Phase 2. It was lovely habitat, but by then it was rather late for serious birding. We didn’t want to walk the two miles back to the main gate, where our driver was waiting, so we took a DiDi—the Chinese equivalent of Uber—back to the hotel. When we returned, we told the concierge that we had abandoned the driver.

We still saw a few things along the way:

These two friendly cats were easier to approach than the birds.

Canton Tower and the Four Seasons rising beyond the wetland ponds.

One bird that was particularly easy to photograph.

Flower beds in the more landscaped section of the park.

Sooty Bulbul

Little Egret hunting along the edge of a pond.

Juvenile Black-collared Starling. Its black collar will appear as it matures.

White Wagtail

We finally reached the South Gate—just in time to head back to the hotel.

The Suite Life

We often get a suite at the end or beginning of our trip since the larger space makes it easier to organize  two suitcases.  The one at The Four Seasons is particularly nice and perhaps a bit more space than essential.  The view of the Canton tower from the bathtub is nice. And of course, the Japanese toilet in China is also nice 

Another bonus of this hotel is that they deliver room service from their Michelin star restaurant. We didn’t bring clothes appropriate for fine dining, but can experience the cuisine while in shorts.

Walking around Guangzhou

Flight change bummer!

So far on most of our trips we have been very lucky with flight times staying on schedule. Our luck ran out and we didn’t depart until midnight and arrived at four seasons about 5:30 am. That was a tough one. It was a four hour flight on a plane that barely had upgraded coach section so we missed a lot of potential sleeping time.

But when we did arrive in China, we found out we were special! There is a whole lane reserved for people over 65 and there was no line whatsoever and we just sauntered right up. All was going well until we found out we were not so special because this line was not for short visa we needed here. So they redirected us to that line which fortunately was also empty and they were helpful and we got through. i'm glad we didn't wait in the very long line for young people to find out we were in the wrong line .

All we do is eat and get massages

We have enjoyed the food at Coral Eye. One interesting innovation they have is at breakfast time you tell them what you’ll be eating for lunch and at lunchtime you tell them what you’ll be eating for dinner from their à la carte menu this speeds up the service quite a bit the food quality is also very good. A mixture of western and Indonesian cuisine.  

They have a gluten-free corner just for Chris. She found some chocolate crackers that are yummy. 

Mike is the fruit guy here as well. In addition to the regular mango papaya, etc. they have a snake fruit which is pretty good on our last day, they put out mangosteen and Mike ate half of them. Later at the airport, he found Mangosteen chocolate, but it doesn’t improve upon the chocolate nor the mangosteen. 

The bar only has two crappy rums that you can find in any grocery store in the US. However, they have 40 or 50 different types of gin and Mike with the health of ChatGPT found monkey 47, which makes a great martini.

More Coral Eye

We originally wanted the beach plunge pool villa for four nights, but it wasn’t available, so we had to “settle” for the beach villa without a pool for the first two.

We’re getting settled into our new room, which is larger and has a pool.

Here are some other updates.

We’ve been walking along the beach every morning.

We’ve been getting massages every day. It’s better than getting up at 4 AM to carry heavy camera equipment through the rainforest.

Mike snorkeled, and Chris went out on the raft we brought.

She was going to go out one more time, but then she saw this really cute baby stingray.

“That’s it, then.”

They also have one giant crab. Maybe more. And by giant, I mean only about 8 inches.

We saw some birds.

Sahul Sunbird (male)

Yellow-sided Flowerpecker

Gray-cheeked Green-Pigeons

Collared Kingfisher

Black Sunbird (male)

Mike composed this. He is really relaxed, and his brain is only functioning at a fourth-grade level.