Pearls and Toys

Dana at the pearl store with guide Kelly

With most of the adoption related visits behind us, today we decided to head over to the pearl market.  Our guide Kelly had offered to take us there to help us find the best places and negotiate better prices.  The ride was about 20 minutes from the hotel, but with being driven around the city, I have no real idea where we were.  Normally, I like to better understand the layout of a city by studying maps and getting around the city myself.  But I’ve noticed that since Google Maps has become so prevelant, I don’t get to know cities as well.   And our internet in China is entirely reliant on WiFi through a VPN, so that hasn’t been the easiest experience.  Even in our hotel, the service seems spotty.  I think some of it has to do with the VPN service that we use to allow connections through the Great Firewall to sites like Facebook and Google, but sometimes I can’t get service because there is a sign in page that is in Chinese. 

But back to the pearls.  Dana and Cami had a good time at this store, finding some great prices on pearls.  We picked up gifts for several people.  Alex just wanted to look at the pretty stones at all the vendors and desperately wanted to buy something.  Eventually, he did get to pick out a shiny stone.

The boys weren't as excited about pearl shopping

After the pearl market, we headed back to the International Market, known to our kids as the “toy market” because of the knock off Lego store and other toy stores available there.  Kelly mentioned that she normally picks up some Legos for her son as a gift when she takes families to this store because it’s not close to her home and the prices are significantly better than department stores.

Ben and Luke enjoying noodles

The kids had fun shopping and ended up with more Legos, This time, we were able to explore more levels of the store and discover that there was more than just toys.  We bought some souvenirs for ourselves and as gifts for friends.  .

After we finished up at the market, we went over to the noodle and fried rice stand that we visited during our last visit and enjoyed a nice lunch.  

After lunch, Kelly took us to a department store to find some clothing for Luke.  We especially wanted to get him some longer pants, or trousers as he is accustomed to saying.  Even though it is warm, he seems to prefer wearing trousers most of the time and that seems to be fairly common when you look at the average man on the street in Guangzhou.  On the other hand, I don't think I've worn trousers once while in China!  When we arrived at the store, Ian had fallen asleep so I sat with him on my shoulder while Dana and Kelly took Luke shopping.  Ben and Cami quickly lost interest and joined me on the bench.  Dana found Luke a pair of trousers and a shirt, but he wouldn't let her buy him more than one pair of trousers.

Alex loves noodles and snacks!

By the time we finished up, everyone was ready to get back to the hotel.  Once we got back, I took the kids down to swim.  When we returned, we were not sure what to do for dinner so we decided to just get some noodles, local snacks and drinks and just eat in the room.  I walked over to the Trust-mart and bought various noodles, bags of snacks we normally don't see at home like Chicken Cheetos, lime flavored Lay's, and tomato flavored snack straws.  For drinks, I got grapefruit Sunkist, a green tea drink, a honey pommelo drink, something peach flavored and a watermelon flavored drink.  It was fun to try some different flavors in snack foods and drinks.  Not the healthiest dinner, but fun and easier than trying to get everyone out to a restaurant when everyone is tired.  Being away from home this long is tiring and Luke is ready to get to America.  We still have a consulate appointment before we can travel back.  Originally, that was set for Tuesday, but we were able to get it moved to Monday.  That means we could theoretically be ready to travel by Wednesday.  Unfortunately, our flights are on Saturday, May 21, not Wednesday, May 18th.  We consulted with our travel agent on changing flights and international change fees are expensive and with the difference in fare, we found it would be less expensive if we bought new one way tickets.  But ultimately it is less expensive to travel to Hong Kong and stay in the hotel than it is to buy one way tickets.  So we're going to stay the course and experience Hong Kong before coming home.  

Look at all those Legos (Lele brand)

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