Guangzhou

It looks like our blog site is blocked here in China. I had heard this can happen. I am trying to post this going in the back door. I hope it works.

We made it to Guangzhou via the train. It was a nice ride. Katie was intrigued by the country side. Bill made a new friend on the train. He ended up sitting next to an American guy from San Francisco who was of Chinese descent. The guys family owns a manufacturing business here so he travels here quite a bit.

Our guide Bob met us at the train station. He is a young guy, very nice. He works for our agency and another agency. He dropped us off at the hotel and told us he'd see us tomorrow at 3pm. We go to get Patrick then.

Now for our hotel, the Victory. This is the first time we have stayed in this hotel. I have read good and bad about the hotel on my Yahoo China groups. We chose to stay here because they have suites and the rooms are larger then other hotels. My mother would appreciate my behavior. She taught me well. We got to our room and it is not a suite as we had requested (and paid for). It was a small business room which means it is a hotel room (with basically 2 over sized twin beds) with a small workspace to fax, compute etc. I would be tight for 2 adults and 2 children (with probably one child screaming :-) It was not what I requested. Normally I would go with the flow but to think we would spend 11 days in the room, I was not happy. I call Bob who said he will contact the desk. I went to the desk and told them I did not care for the room. They sent me to look at other rooms on the same floor but they were just normal size rooms. Back to the desk again. Now they send me to another room on a different floor. It is a suite (smoking yuck, old) with a separate living space but just a king size bed in the bedroom. I go back to the desk and state my case again. They have another portion of the hotel about 3 minutes away, I can walk there to see the rooms there but it may cost extra money. I am still not happy. By this time Katie is with my complaining of a stomach ache. I tell the desk person I will stay in the room for the night but want something different tomorrow. I really tried not to be a angry American. We have never had this room problem before so...I will see what I can do tomorrow with Bob's help. Suffice it to say, it was a long hot, day.

I am going to try to post this...say a prayer.
MB