Lots of Adventures

We started the day with a wonderful breakfast buffet overlooking the Pearl River. I'ver never had noodles and french toast for breakfast before, but it was very good! After breakfast I took some pictures of the lobby of our hotel--it is really beautiful. After that we went to the Bank of China and exchanged our USD for Yuan that we would need later for the taxi ride to the FedEx hub. Then it was time to do a little exploring around Shamian Island, where the White Swan Hotel is located. There are lots of shops with people who are VERY anxious to make a sale. They will come down at least 30% if you say you might come back later, but you don't want to buy anything now--very good at putting on the pressure. We found lots of things, but didn't want to buy anything until we check out the other markets. We did see a cute pug--statue of course, and thought that was pretty funny. The children here are just adorable and we have seen lots of American couples here at the hotel who are adopting. Most of the children are between 9 months and 2 years old and are just precious! We then went on to the new hub--taxi rides are an opportunity for lots of prayer! There are lanes marked on the highway, but they really don't mean much--the good news is that eventually someone gives in without an accident and you get where you are going--I did have several times today where I thought it best to just close my eyes! After working at the hub for a few hours, we came back and decided to go out again and look around some more. We got brave and went to the Qing Ping fresh Market--you know, when in China....It really wasn't too bad. We didn't see any cats or dogs on the chopping block, just dried seahorses, lots of spices that we couldn't identify and barrels of live eels, crabs and other fish. I didn't take my camera, so we will go back later--most of the places had started shutting down for the day by the time we got there. We were starting to get tired, although we really haven't had a problem today with jet lag, so decided to go back to the hotel for dinner. That's when the fun really started. We had the buffet, which was rich and overflowing with unusual foods. I set my purse on the floor next to me and before I knew it, a young hostess was putting a cloth cover over it to protect it from spills--kind of like a purse cozy! Next was trying to decide what to eat--braised oxtail maybe, or marinated cuddlefish?! Oh the choices. Being the brave person that I am, I settled on some shrimp, imported cheeses and fruits. But then I spotted something I thought would be good--Chinese soup--how could I go wrong there? So I asked for the cute little bowl and it was placed ever so carefully on my plate by one of the servers. I got back to the table, ready to dig into something I was sure would taste like the wonderful soup at Benihana. Oh, was I in for a surprise! I took the lid off and saw that there was something at the bottom of the cup...what could it be? I took my delicate Chinese soup spoon and gently lifted it out of the bowl--it was a whole baby chicken!!!!!!!!!! The only thing missing were the feathers! I was ever so glad that I checked it out BEFORE I took a sip of soup! Well, we all got to laughing and I reminded Steve that he had told me he would eat anything--after sucking the "meat" off the teeny tiny chicken beak, he announced he was too full to eat anymore--chicken!!! We have an early morning, one of the Chinese workers at the hub is picking us up at 8:30. More adventures to come, I'm sure!