Visiting a Buddhist temple

Tuesday, April 11, 2006, 1:56 p.m.
Three more days until Pam, Camryn and I return home.

By Terry R. Cassreino

GUANGZHOU, China - The humidity.
The first thing Pam, Camryn and I felt when we stepped outside the White Swan Hotel this morning was the hot, thick, steamy humid air. For a minute I thought it was New Orleans in August.
No. Instead, it was April in Guangzhou.
And we, along with other families adopting Chinese babies through Holt International Children’s Services, were headed to the Six Banyans Buddhist Temple.
Today is our last full day in Guangzhou. Our Holt guides took us to the 1,500-year-old temple in the heart of this city while we wait for our child’s U.S. visa, which comes Wednesday.
The temple was beautiful, dominated by a 17-story pagoda. A trip to the top afforded a breathtaking view of the city, but meant climbing steep steps through narrow corridors.
I tried. But the combination of thick, humid air, a soaked T-shirt and short-sleeve shirt and sweat pouring down my neck meant I made it up 14 stories.
Nevertheless, I still had a great view of surrounding apartments and the Guangzhou business district. Pam and Camryn passed up the climb; they looked like specks on the ground from my vantage point high above the ground.
Inside the temple grounds were several places of worship. The highlight was a pagoda that featured towering statutes of the past, present and future Buddha.
There, a Buddhist monk performed a brief ceremony offering a blessing for all of the Chinese babies who were being adopted by people from countries around the world.
The buildings themselves were another beautiful example of classic Chinese architecture: detailed, intricate woodwork accented by the gently sloping roofs of the buildings.
But the damp, thick humid air nearly wiped out me, Pam and Camryn. We had a chance to go shopping in town after the temple visit, but we headed back to the hotel.

Beggars abound

As soon as we arrived at the temple, beggars swarmed the streets.
Officials with Holt and Lotus Tours, along with families who have been to China before, cautioned us about the beggars and suggested we refrain from giving them anything.
The chief reason: Some beggars who pose as invalids may not necessarily be invalids.
One Holt family told us that a beggar on their last adoption trip four years ago tried to pass himself off as handless. But, they said, they could tell the man covered his hand with thick bandages, fooling many.
The point is simple: Some people have mastered the art of conning tourists or, in some cases, picking pockets without tourists knowing they are being robbed.
Our Holt guide cited the story of an American family that walked to a McDonald’s near the White Swan Hotel. Before they knew it, the family’s plane tickets and cash were stolen.

Coke products

Add at least two more drinks to the ever-growing list of products marketed here by the Coca-Cola Bottling Co.
Fanta has a lime-flavored soda that rivals Crystal Limon, a favorite of Pam’s that she and I became addicted to five years ago during a week-long vacation to Cancun, Mexico.
Besides that, Sprite has what it calls Sprite Fire. I haven’t tried that drink, but the Sprite can advertises that the drink includes a touch of ginger.
Then, or course, there’s the original Coca-Cola, Vanilla Coke, Coke Light and Coke Light with Lemon. Just like in Mexico, Coke markets Diet Coke here as Coke Light.
An interesting tidbit: Coke Light is at least the equivalent of 50 cents more than Coke, both at restaurants and at grocery stores.

Camryn adjusts

Camryn continues to adjust well.
Just three days ago when we arrived in Guangzhou, Camryn had yet to laugh and still whined constantly for Pam. Camryn would have little, if anything to do with me.
Now, however, she laughs a lot, seems to tolerate me a little more and appears to be vocalizing simple sounds. She sleeps well, almost all through the night.
And when she wakes in the morning, she will stay in the bed, start verbalizing gibberish (is it baby talk in Mandarin?) and stay relatively calm.

Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.