First days in Guangzhou

We arrived in Guangzhou yesterday and checked into the White Swan hotel, the five star on Shamalian Island known for its popularity with foreign nationals in China to adopt. At breakfast this morning, I saw no less than two dozen foreign couples with Chinese babies. That'll be us in a week.

After breakfast, we walked about a half hour into the city and found a food market where the entire animal kingdom was available - dried, pickled, shredded, boxed, tied, caged, giant bags of dessicated seahorses, shelf fungi two feet across, buckets of eels, tubs of scorpions, squirrels, turtles, and, as in the picture, cylinders of dried snakes tied together with ropes.

Tonight we found a restaurant that served - get this - Chinese food. On the menu, we had a bewildering choice that included prepared duck chest, roated duck chin and sauce, assorted food with chili spiced, and flied cashew with flavor, so we ate big.