Guang Zhou

We stayed in a condominium (with 4 BRs and 2 BAs) owned by grandma's friends. Here is the view of Guang Zhou from the 30th floor of a high-rise building. It reminded me of Hong Kong. So did the people on the streets!

On our second day, we were going to GuangXi by train. I was getting into the van when grandma asked, "Where are my paintings?" Although I was not in charge of her paintings, I remembered seeing the box lying on top of a credenza the night before (after she gave one painting to our host family).

Immmediately, I said, "Let me get it!" and dashed back into the building with our friends' maid (who has the key). With other residents getting out on different floors, the elevator ride to the 30th floor took forever. As soon as the maid unlocked the door, I grabbed the painting. Unfortunately, when we rushed to the corridor, both elevators were already going down towards the lobby. I started running down the stairs, telling the maid we had to hurry. I was hoping to catch an elevator on its way up and turn it around. After about twelve flights, I realized even if we caught an elevator, it would probably go up further before going down. We just have to wait.

I was happy to get into the van. Looking at my clock, I knew time was running out. We started praying. The driver's cell phone rang. It was our hostess in the other van, "There is a big accident on the freeway so we need to take short cuts."

The Guang Zhou train station did not resemble train stations in the States. There was no clear parking places and all we could see were people shoulder to shoulder. By the time our van arrived, our hostess from the first van already took grandma walking. We had to carry our luggages and walk past the people. In chaos, one of us fell down and hurt her ankle; two people almost got lost in the crowd, and we were led to a wrong door upstairs and wasted a few more minutes there.

By God's grace, we eventually got onto the train, about five minutes before it left the station! When we got to our cart, Grandma laughed, "Even so and so (our hostess) was thanking God at the end."

Copyright © 2006 Winnis Chiang, Parenting ABC