April 5

Today was our free day, so after breakfast Jimmy decided that he wanted to go walk through the section of market that we walked through with Wendy on the way to the jade and pearl market. So we set off with Matt Hemry and Abbie. It was just as interesting this time and I tried to get some video footage of it. Eventually we ended up in the newer part of town and decided not to go on to the jade and pearl market but to branch off to another street. The markets in this town are all grouped together, so the first street we walked down were all beauty products stores. We went down 2 streets like this, then evidentally we hit the hardware aisle because the next 2 streets were all hardware type stores. Every once in awhile there was an odd store mixed in. We found one store that we determined must be the dollar store. It was kind of fun and the ladies working at the store had to hold our babies and even though there was a language barrier, we understood that they were asking if they were twins and we were able to let them know that Abbie belonged to Matt and Susanna to Jimmy and I. Before we left, they had given the girls a toy, which were these balloon type toys on a string that were filled with water. Jimmy took susanna's away as soon as we left the store, because she's teething and we weren't sure that it wouldn't break. We found out about 10 steps later that yes, it would break when Abbie managed to break hers. Then a few blocks down, we ran into another such store and went in. The lady there immediately gave the girls a few toys. So we looked through the store and got a few things. As we were checking out, we found out the the "gifts" weren't really gifts because this lady was determined to charge us for them. They only cost less than a buck so we bought them and had a good laugh at ourselves. Then we decided to just start walking toward the hotel and to see things along the way. Finally it occured to us that things weren't looking as familiar as they had been and walked up a ramp to a bridge that crossed a busy road to kind of get our bearings. Nothing looked familiar. So we flagged down a chinese man and gave him a card that the hotel gives us (luckily Matt had his, because Jimmy and I didn't). The card basically says in chinese I'm lost, send me back to the White Swan hotel. Well, it seems we'd walked at least 20 blocks in the wrong direction. So he sends us in the right direction. Now I'd left my tennis shoes at home by the bed, waiting to be packed. All I had was my flat soled shoes and I was feeling like I might as well have gone barefoot that morning. We stopped and asked a police-type guy and he also pointed us in the same direction, so we figured we must be going the right way. Finally we saw the bridge across the Pearl river to Shamian Island. As we were crossing the bridge, you could see a guard sitting in a guard booth, laughing. I said to Jimmy yes, he probably recognizes that look of relief on our faces. He probably sees it many times a day from lost americans.

After that, Jimmy decided that he wanted to go back to the first part of the first market and look at the fish section of the pet aisle, that we'd rushed him through the first time (for those of you who have been to the Seattle aquarium with Jimmy, you'll understand). So sanna and I stayed at the hotel. They were cleaning our room so we went down to the Swan room, which is a play room that Mattel has built in the hotel for the babies to play in. She had a great time there. There was a toy there that played music and she just danced to it. She REALLY enjoys music. We went back up to our room, but they were still cleaning it, so I decided to go out and see if I could find a cd of children's lullaby's to buy for her. The first place (Jordan's) didn't have it but Jordan wrote down what I was looking for in Chinese so that I could tell the other shop owner's what I wanted. As i was standing in a shop purchasing a bamboo fan and some baby puzzles, I looked up and there was Jimmy. He'd come back to the hotel and they were still cleaning the room, so he decided to come find us. We went back to the room for a short nap, then met the Hemry's for dinner at Lucy's. Another walk on the waterfront and we went back to the hotel for the night, after stopping to pick up our laundry.

Catherine.