Dinner Cruise on the Pearl

Guest writer Larry here again. Last night we went on a dinner cruise up and down the Pearl River here in Guangzhou. The Pearl River cuts right through the center of Guangzhou and is one of the major points of pride in this city. Guangzhou recently hosted the Asian Games where they had guests from 45 countries competing in all Olympic events. In an effort to welcome the guests the city of Guangzhou spent an inordinate amount of money lighting buildings and bridges all along the Pearl River. The beautiful lights were the main attraction of the dinner cruise, but we were also looking forward to the Chinese cuisine that was to be served buffet style. The weather was not very cooperative for this cruise as it was windy, rainy, and cold. Most of our pictures were taken from inside the boat. Erin was left hungry after the dinner because most of the food was very spicy and had to resort to eating Abigail's cookies. I on the other hand was most pleased with the meal. As you can see from the picture I tried just about everything that was available (when in Rome...) I went and found our agency reps and asked them about eating chicken feet. They asked what my experience was and I told them that I thought it was a lot of effort for a small amount of food. They laughed and told me that in Guangzhou most people only enjoy eating chicken feet when they are drinking hard liquor! I still found it interesting and it reminded me of when Jim (Erin's brother) and I polished off a plate of fried chicken knees in Japan. Good times. The buildings and the bridges were really beautiful despite the cold rain. Erin managed to get a great picture of one of the bridges with its lights reflecting off of the water. I got a decent picture of the Guangzhou Tower, which our guides claim is the 2nd highest building in the world (see reference here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Tower). Just as I thought the trip was complete, I was reminded of a famous saying: "What dinner cruise isn't complete without a clown?" The clown came out to a Russian polka that was only about 30 seconds long and repeated over and over for about 10 minutes. It was fun (sarcasm intended.) Our tour group got back on the bus humming and whistling the polka tune.