For my free-day this week, we went to Yuexiu park.
It's where the famous goat statue of Guangzhou (goats are Guangzhou's symbol) is, and I thought it was nearly a crime to not have gone there once during my 5 months here in Guangzhou.
Phil said he never went to the park either (!) so it was set, and we headed out to town.
First we did some banking business (for my panda hat), and then recharged my phone( money goes out quick when you're texting), and we were off to the metro. We got a 'metro meal' a small,cheap and oh so tasty little lunchbox full of lotus root (renkon)tofu, mushrooms, carrots, and what we call fungus. YUMM!! It was like having Osekiryori.
Yuexiu was a few metro line transfers away, and then had a bit of a mix up with the exits, but we finally found the park gate.

The park was actually really big! We only managed to cover one half of the park in one day, and not only is it a big park, but it's also got some terrain!

I need to give the kids school in a few minutes so I'll let the pictures do the talking.

I think I'm actually getting Phil to be more photograph friendly! Miracles do happen!

We did some yoga by this monument, and shortly into a few asanas, two older women came along and started doing some tai-chi! I guess a few other people thought it was a nice place to do some slow exercises.
I cannot believe how out of shape I have gotten concerning yoga. All of my flexibility has been lost again. It's always like that. I get super into yoga, then get burnt out, lose all the flexibility that I've gained, then I get back into it again, and the cycle happens once more. :P
I think I'll put yoga aside for a while, and get into this hooping business. There's some pretty cool hooping going on out there!
ah I gotta go. the kids school time has begun.

Today, Phil and I went to the zoo.
To see pandas and giraffes.
The best part of it was, was that it was all for free!
That's right, we got 3 tickets to any Chimelong attraction, you could chose between Amusement park, Safari Zoo, Water Park, or the Circus.
For me it was either the circus or the Safari Zoo, since they had tons of pandas.
And so we went to the zoo.
Woke up nice and late, had a brunchy lunch of corn soup and cereal for breakfast (plus gingerbread) then headed out the door into the lovely sunshine for the Hanxi station. Phil's younger brother, Sam, came along with us to use the other ticket, as they would expire this year.

Pictures will have to come later since I'm blogging from Phil's computer, but I shall say it was so much fun! First we saw flamingos but our main aim of the day was giraffes and pandas.
Pandas and Ressa Pandas came first, hurrah!
Then Phil's giraffes, which are always cool with their slanted backs and long black tongues.
Then we went to see the monkeys, where Sam had moments with the monkeys and we tossed gingerbread to the Rhesus baby monkeys. The older ones were such greedy ones, and would swipe the gingerbread right out of the air and then gobble it down while the baby monkeys looked on with sad eyes. Poor things. We tossed a some more until a few of the baby monkeys had some gingerbread to eat.
I felt like a kid again, oohing and cooing at the animals at the zoo, but it was great.

On the exercise front, yesterday I did 30 push-ups, in sets of ten, so I don't know if it counts as saying 30 or just 10 3 times. Ah well.
I got myself a nice hula hoop for Christmas, and it's been quite fun hooping, since it's been such a long time since I last hooped.
Pictures will come later, and now I'll have an English class in a few mins so I'll leave you here.
So close to new years you guys! What are your resolutions?