Gong Xi Fa Cai!

That's Chinese for 'Happy New Year' :)

So the next morning we walked back past the mall and heard some very loud cymbals and drums. As we followed the sound we found a group performing a lion dance in the mall! So we made our way down to them and watched. (Videos on Facebook!)

After they finished their performance on the stage, the lions made their way into the crowd and everyone started trying to touch them. Good luck I guess?

Then they started dancing through the mall. Each store in the mall had a bundle of lettuce, oranges, and a red envelope hanging from the doorway. The lions would dance through the store and then take the bundle. More good luck for the businesses.

I know it's blurry, but see the bundle in the top left?

Now the lion is eating that bundle :)

After we'd had our fill of lions, we got on the metro and went over to a park. It was crowded but also all decorated for the New Year. There were many elaborate lantern displays all over the place. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to light up at night, but we were there during the day, so *shrug*

Then we found a stage where people were doing song and dance numbers. While we sat and watched a teenage girl came over and asked to take our picture. I said yes, and then she took group photos, individual photos, photos with her, photos with her sister... Way more than we expected.

We wandered around the park for quite awhile. We found a garden of idioms and fables, a bamboo forest, and at one point Abby was handed a baby for photos.

I don't know what idiom or fable
this is for, but I liked it :)

Three blind men and the elephant
and a random cute Asian boy!

And when we finally found the exit we were greeted with more decorations!

The next day we spent many hours riding the metro to check out another park at night, but when we got there it was closed...

By the end of our stay we were Guangzhou metro experts. Chrissy and I had to go to the train station to buy our return tickets. We thought we knew which stop we needed, but then realized we needed to go further. But when we got off at the stop we needed we could leave the metro because we hadn't paid to go that far. So we had to go back to where we had paid for, buy a new ticket, and then ride back. Then the man in line behind us kept saying "Zhongshan bai" over and over. I think he was trying to be helpful, but we're not really sure...

And every time we rode the metro we made friends :) People loved to stare at us riding the metro. Many pictures were taken.

It was also during this trip that we discovered Kungfu. Not the martial art, but the Chinese fast food restaurant. They have yummy food- including boneless chicken! That's rare in China. You still have to be cautious about what you order there though because apparently one of the yummy looking dishes has sea cucumber in it...