Trip to China
All Days  |  Previous Day  |  Next Day

Thursday, July 31, 2008 Lot's going on today. After breakfast we met in the lobby to set out for the jade market. Remember that, the jade market. That was our number one goal. However, things turned out a little different. The market was only about a 10 minute drive from the White Swan. I couldn't even tell you what the name of the place was but it was actually much more than just a jade market. It was like a mall on steroids - you had the regular mall type shops (including the Nightmare Before Christmas shop that you can only find in Asia. So wacky how they love that stuff.) and then you had the wholesale gem markets, including pearls, amber, amethyst, etc. There was store after store in the main mall area, and then the stores went several layers deep into the wings. I couldn't believe the sheer quantity of vendors all peddling the exact same stuff. This is just one of the main branches of the mall. If 6 levels isn't enough, just branch out into the endless shops behind the first row of shops. April had heard that people will buy some gifts for their daughters for every future birthday up to 18 years old or something. So she set out to fulfill that, ending up sitting at a gem counter for about 45 minutes (getting stuff for Ava so I won't spoil it). Here was the trouble. We only had an hour and a half to shop before we were to meet back at the front of "shop-opolis". To make matters worse, the jade market was still the main goal, yet the rest of our group was gone and we had no idea where the actual market was. To make matters worser (my Aunt Linda the schoolteacher will kill me for that word), shop-opolis was actually a hub, and all the spokes looked the same. To make it double-dog worser, a torrential downpour had started outside. One other couple had joined us at the gem counter and they were stuck in the same fix we were in. The adventure was on. We wandered around for about 25 minutes looking for that doggone jade market and our group. We were the only westerners in sight and only had limited Cantonese at our disposal. I walked up to the humorless armed guards at the doors (who wear helmets for some reason!) to inquire about the jade market. The dialog went like this: Sean: "Duibuqi" ("excuse me") Guard: "grunt" (making eye contact, which is not normal since they stand like Buckingham Palace guards) Sean: "jade" [blank stare, sound of crickets chirping] BTW, our guide Tracy told me that at first I was pronouncing Duibuqi (doowee boo tse) wrong. She said the way I was saying it I was asking to go to the bathroom. Having mastered the correct tone though, I still couldn't turn it into any kind of useful conversation that would get us to where we wanted to go. We made sure to wander back and forth a couple more times until we finally ran into my Dad. Having been there already, "Mr. Experience" pointed to the general direction of where the market was but explained that we needed Shelly, our guide, to get us there. I was thinking "how hard can this be???" I soon found out since the jade market was actually located outside shop-opolis and across the street in the back. By now we only had 15 minutes and not wanting to be robbed of this experience, we convinced Shelly to walk us over there - in the torrential downpour. We got through just one aisle and one round of bargaining before it was time to leave. We walked back still feeling a little robbed. It did reinforce one thing for us though. If you think you can find your way in a city like Guangzhou just by using your wit and wisdom, forget it. There are many signs in English, but not enough to really orient yourself. We felt utterly helpless just looking for that jade market and definitely needed our guide for assistance. This is a major blow to a man with a built in compass who never asks directions. On the way back our driver swung by the Chinese medicinal herb market. It goes on for blocks directly on the north side of Shamian Island. It is within walking distance of the White Swan. Back at the hotel we skipped lunch again and just chilled out for a while. That gave April and I a chance for just the two of us to hang with Ava. Pretty soon she crashed out for her afternoon nap. While she and April slept, the boys and I took off to do all-male combat shopping. We went to the cheap watch vendor on the street and the boys got some kitschy stuff. Preston got a waving Mao watch and Soren got a waving Queen Mum watch (for like $8 US each). They're a crack up, although we did have a pretty serious talk about the brutal, evil dictator that Mao was and the reason to wear the watch is to ridicule the memory of the man. It still amazes me how revered he is in China, or at least how much the Chinese think everyone reveres him. We also had these cool stamps made, chiseled with the boys' signatures in Chinese characters. We went back to the hotel and by now April and YaYa were awake. YaYa was still kind of groggy so we took our time getting ready. For an afternoon activity we decided to see what a local massage was like. All 5 of us went down to a place adjacent to the river for 70 minute foot massages (RMB$48, or $7.05 US). They served you lemon tea (can't drink it) and watermelon. They will serve you whole meals if you want them. The massage was awesome but a little deeper than I would have liked. The 70 minute "foot" massage included about 30 minutes of a back massage, so you really got your money's worth. They're pretty good at twisting you up like a pretzel too. YaYa was so funny. She was being shy and when the massage therapists would talk to her she would just put her head down on the arm rest and not look at them. She behaved flawlessly the whole time. 28 bucks for a whole family massage is pretty good deal I think. The boys had never had one so this was a real treat for them. On the way back from the massages we went the long way around the island and stopped at a shop next to Sherry's Place and across from the Polish Consulate. I didn't think to get the name, but the shop is unique in that all of its profits go to Chinese orphans. Naturally it has all kinds of things having to do with adoption. Way cool place, we're going to have to go back. While we looked around Preston and Soren were keeping YaYa entertained by spinning the stroller around. Oh yeah, the stroller. You can borrow them for free from some of the shops. We borrowed it from a place called "A Home of Love" next door to the White Swan. All you do is sign your name and you can get a stroller for the entire time you're here. Anyway, back to YaYa and the boys. This spinning around in the stroller business was great fun and marked the first time we really heard her voice other than a tiny bit of fussing one day. The rest of the night she was pretty animated and we heard her voice a lot. We rounded out the evening with yet another adventure. We'd been hearing about this Italian restaurant on the island that was supposed to be pretty good. It is called "La Dolce Vita". We inquired about it at the concierge desk and got some basic directions. You have to walk east to the edge of the island and then make a left. From there it's just a couple doors down. I don't know if we were just gabbing too much or what but we walked right by it and started circling back around the island. We stopped at the Station One restaurant (known for a train car they have on the premises) and inquired about La Dolce Vita. The girls up front said "I don't understand" in flawless English. Sure they didn't understand. We kept walking around to the north end of the island toward the Cow and Bridge Thai place but still no La Dolce Vita. Dad went to to a little recon and disappeared for about 10 minutes. Then all of a sudden he popped out of a side street. Apparently he stopped in to the police station and they didn't understand him either. It's like we were speaking a different language or something! ;-) We decided to backtrack thinking maybe we had passed it. Sure enough, about two doors prior to the Station One, I spotted it. It was up some stairs and the lettering over the door was written in gold. Inside the ambience was what you'd expect of a fine Italian restaurant - brick oven, fine table dressings, earthy tones, dark wood, wine displays, etc.

Everyone had some kind of pasta dish with the exception of me - I was craving pizza and caved. This place was pretty good and pretty reasonable. Our bill came to RMB445, about $65 US. The proprietor of of the joint was a grumpy Italian guy who sure was giving his workers a lot of grief. Never will you see so much wait staff as you will see in China! Everywhere you go there is no end to the amount of waiters. Okay I just noticed in this picture that Preston is doing one of his usual annoying picture poses by trying to shovel his whole plate of pasta in his mouth. What a dork. Heading back we got YaYa to laugh a little more, bordering on a belly laugh. We were playing the 1-2-3 game with her. This was great fun! We walked through the gauntlet of street vendors and eventually made our way to our rooms. This was a reasonably clear night for a change so my Dad and I struck out for the river to get some good night shots of all the lights.

Web site by myadoptionwebsite.com