Pandas, tour guides and Barbie?

After a little confusion this morning as to just where we were meeting we took off with our tour guide for the safari park. The park was about an hour away from our hotel so we handed the kids their Nintendos to play with and settled in for a quiet drive. It was shortly after plugging in the kids that I realized that I wanted to murder our tour guide. Three times - at least - we had to stop him and tell him that the information he was giving us was a repeat of what he had told us on the way in from the airport. Telling him that it was a repeat did not stop him. Giving him no response or encouragement did not stop him. He told us ridiculous things, presenting information as if it were new or original when it was not. And he spoke loudly. I had to fight the urge to tell him, like I always do Mac, I am right here, you do not need to shout. I seriously wanted to rip his voice box out of his throat.

The safari park is a privately owned enterprise with the safari section, an amusement park section and a waterpark section. We paid to enter just the safari. There is a cart ride around a natural setting park, somewhat similar to the Kilamanjaro Safari ride at the Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was divided into sections by continent. The animals are fairly free roaming, sometimes even causing the tram to stop as they crosse the road. We saw big cats, zebra, giraffes, elephants and many other varieties of animals. Afterward we walked the rest of the park. There were a number of opportunities to to hold animals and have a picture taken with them - for a fee of course. The pandas were at the farthest corner of the park. After viewing a few exhibits I realized that Devlin was beginning to droop and started hustling the group toward the panda area. Our guide kept trying to get us to stop at other attractions. "No," I told him, "we can look at other things after the pandas if the kids have the energy, but we are going to see them first and then decide. If they run out of steam before the pandas they will be very upset to miss them." I had to repeat this about 6 times as we walked toward the panda pavillion and he kept trying to get us into the monkey house, the tiger show... The pandas here were so much more enjoyable to see than the one in the Nanchang zoo. Yes, it was still a zoo setting, but it was one with habitats approximating what they have in the wild. They were clean. The pandas looked well fed and happy. After the pandas we left the park. We had lunch and then were dropped back at the hotel. We spent the afternoon playing in the pool.

This evening we had dinner in the hotel buffet. It was amazing. They had some of the freshest sushi I have ever eated as well as high quality Chinese and western dishes. The kids found a variety of choices that kept them happy (ie chicken nuggets and tater tots) plus tried a few new things. They have been very good this trip about at least trying new things. There have been a few big hits, a few acceptable items and lots of misses. Some meals have been downright sad and then I feel guilty and buy them ice cream.

Upon returning to our room we discovered a new barbie doll left on the bed for Devlin. As I explained in my previous post the White Swan is the hotel of choice for Americans adopting Chinese girls. The hotel and Mattel have a special agreement and every girl who stays here receives a special edition barbie called Coming Home Barbie. There has been some controversy over the years as adoptive families who do not stay at the White Swan wish they could be buy this doll for their daughter, but they have never been made available for sale. On ebay and charity auctions I have seen the price for one of these hit $400. Devlin received one 4 years ago and it has been packed away since. Somebody on the hotel staff saw our family here in the hotel assumed that this is an adoption trip and sent one up. Devlin of course wants to open in and play with it. Bill and I need to decide what to do.

Tomorrow we head to the airport a little before noon. We should be in our hotel by about 4 pm. We have no guide meeting us on this leg of the trip which is a bit of a relief at this point.
All in all, a good day. The kids got to see a good wildlife park, we had a blast in the pool and I managed to avoid committing felony murder.