Yet another day in Guangzhou

I've been getting a little slack with the blog posts because there is really not much to tell. We're getting a little bored, and very ready to go home. Being in Guangzhou is not as much fun as being in Nanchang. There are only so many times you can walk around an island that's five blocks long and three blocks wide, and only so much shopping even I can do.

Yesterday we crossed the bridge and went off the island. We walked through a market that sold all sorts of stuff we couldn't identify. There were lots of spices -- it smelled like curry -- and some mushrooms, and dried things that I imagine you're supposed to eat, although I don't think I would. I'd probably end up eating something you're supposed to wash your hair with, or vice versa. Then we walked through some back streets in the neighborhood behind the market. The main streets were very busy and crowded, and filthy dirty. We turned off a street into a little alleyway, and that was spotlessly clean. This alley was only a few feet wide, and it was lined mostly with people's homes, rather than shops. There were brooms leaning up against the wall at regular intervals, and we saw several people out sweeping. Guess that explains why it was so tidy. We saw a cat on a leash inside the front door of one home. I don't think Lulu or Kitten would care for that. There were little side alleys off the main alley, but they all looked like they dead-ended at someone's front door, so we didn't walk down any of these. This alley eventually ended at a T. The top of the T was something between a wider alley and a very narrow street. This one had shops. We stopped in a pet shop. There were about half a dozen pens with pure-bred puppies in them, cages of cats out front, and a big pile of beds for the animals. This pet shop was cleaner than any I've ever seen in the U.S.

Back street in GZ

Shamian Island

After lunch, we hopped in a cab and paid a visit to the pearl market. We first walked through a giant shopping mall, 5-6 stories tall. We saw a few stores with rather amusing names, as you'll see in the photos. We crossed a plaza with a fountain in the middle, then entered another mall that was identical to the first. This one was all jewelry through. A 5-story mall selling nothing but jewelry! We bought Miss Z a string of beautiful pearls for when she's older. I chose the pearls I liked, and a girl strung them & knotted them right there.

Bad Marketing

Check out the name of this store

Outside these two malls is an outdoor pedestrian mall. We walked down this a couple blocks to a department store, where we bought a few more diapers and some toys that we're keeping hidden until we get on the plane. There were several times when we were in the department store that we saw big groups of people gathered around a table, picking through the merchandise. There'd be a dozen displays in the general area, and everyone would be crowded around one in particular. Once it was sweaters, another time it was a big table piled high with packages of maxi pads. We guessed that it must have been the Chinese equivalent of a blue-light special. If only it had been a table piled high with padded silk jackets for little girls (or their mommies), I'd have gotten in on the action! But I really don't need any second-quality polyester sweaters or giant packages of Chinese maxi pads.

This morning our guide submitted Z's visa application at the U.S. consulate. We got a call about an hour ago that everything was accepted. I was a little surprised, as I realized after I'd turned in all the paperwork that I put down the wrong city for M's birthplace; guess they don't look all that closely. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll go to the consulate where we'll take Z's oath of citizenship for her and receive her visa to enter the U.S. As soon as she's admitted to the U.S. in San Francisco, she'll be a U.S. citizen.

Big girl

Z is snoozing right now. As soon as she wakes up, we're going to go out & buy another suitcase for all the stuff we've bought in China. You can get a suitcase for less than $15 here, and we need one. We could barely get everything in when we left Nanchang, and we've acquired plenty more since we've been here.

Cleanliness is next to holiness

One more post tomorrow, then the next one will be from home!