11.15.09
I got really lucky that I brought an alarm clock because the hotel forgot to give us our wake up call this morning. We were all scrambling. We were all checked out and ready to go only 20 minutes behind schedule. So I think that is pretty good. Yolanda was PISSED at the hotel, but we made it fine.
The first stop was the Temple of Heaven. This was my favorite place that we visited. I could have stayed there all day. The temple was cool, but the awesome part was toward the end. We passed this group that was singing all sorts songs. They seemed to be church hymns of some kind. Kelsey and I stopped and listened. It was awesome. We approached them afterward to show how much we enjoyed the show. I think they got the point because they broke out in smiles.
We next encountered what Yolanda told us is where the elderly come to exercise on the weekends. We stopped and watched some elderly dance what we think was Russian, but they were too cute! They were all so happy. We also played this game where a tennis ball had ribbons coming off of it and then you caught it in this tennis racket looking thing. It was pretty fun, but then the guy tried to get us to buy one. We passed and kept walking. We saw them singing karaoke, playing dominos, Mulan checkers (we didn’t know what this game is called, but it is the game in the movie Mulan when she helps the old guys), playing their version of hackey sack, which is this weird thing with feathers coming out of the end, and just dancing. It was awesome walking through there. They were all just so welcoming toward us to join them. Kelsey grabbed Yao Fung and started dancing with her. They were in the middle of the courtyard where they had an amplification system set up and someone was singing. There were people everywhere just dancing. It was fabulous. Laila even found herself a dancing partner in this little adorable old Chinese man. The whole thing was so neat. I could have watched the people there all day. There were people dancing from all sorts of different cultures and different types of dancing. There was a couple waltzing, belly dancing, just swaying or just being silly. It was great and I am so glad that I got to see that side of China and the Chinese.
We then got dropped off for some shopping at the Pearl Market. That place is crazy and has everything you could ever imagine. It had 5 floors jammed packed with everything from clothes to kites to luggage to the newest electronics. Kelsey and I ran around and did some serious power shopping. We went on a mad dash to find an ATM. We eventually found one. Kelsey and I got some money out and it was game on.
Kelsey got a webcam for 50 yuan. We then tried to find CD cases. We eventually found some and we told the woman that we wanted 2 like the one she had out, which was black and had an antique map of China on it. After we bargained down the price to 75 for 2 we rounded up to 100 so Kelsey could get some headphones too. When she brought out the CD cases, they, of course, had Mickey Mouse on them…how fitting. We were just kind of hanging out at that woman’s stand and Kelsey happened to spot a flash drive with 240 gigs on it. After proving to us that they actually worked, we got into a bargaining war. She started out at 240 for one. I walked to stall next door and they had the same thing. So we got them trying to out bid each other. We ended up getting 2 of them for 90 yuan! (about $7 each). That is such a steal. We ended up just killing time and just seeing how cheap we could get people to go. I am quite proud at how my bargaining skills have improved.
We got back on the bus and headed to the airport for Shanghai. It was really sad to say goodbye to Yao Fung and Yolanda. Our flight was delayed about 30 minutes, but other than that it really wasn’t all that exciting.
It was raining when we got into Shanghai so that was a bummer, but the city seems really cool and it will be fun to explore tomorrow. We got back on the ship and crashed. We just hung out and everyone caught up on their trips. We all made plans to shop the next day and said goodnight.