Shopped until We Dropped....

Today, Karen and I hired a wonderful guide, Ann, to take us shopping in Guangzhou.  (Thanks, Donna and Lucy for the recommendation!)  She was just fabulous.  Not only did she take us to all the hot spots for VERY reasonably priced souvenirs and mementos, but we had a wonderful lunch by the Pearl Market.

Chloe and Ann

Chloe loved being with her.  She naturally gravitates to anyone who speaks Chinese to her, but Ann was particularly wonderful with her today.  Chloe wanted her to be her "big sister" since Zoey's big sister Jenna was there, and Ann played the role.  They sang songs together and Chloe recited all of her school poems.  Ann told us that she was very bright, but "naughty" or precocious.  I think we already knew that.  Below is a short video of the song and dance that Chloe wanted to perform on the street.

Ann took us all over via the subway today.  I could not tell you where our first stop exactly was, but we went to a little retail shop where we bought Chloe, Tim, Kaleb, Zach, and me some traditional wares.  (I bought Hannah hers in Beijing.)  Then, we went to another shop and bought tea sets and kids'  chop sticks.  Next, we headed over to the Pearl Market where the streets outside are lined with vendors...and, of course, a 7-11.

A shaded street outside the Pearl Market

Tim stopping for a Slurpie at 711 with Jenna and Zoey

The Pearl Market area is very interesting.  It reminds me of a huge flea market.  Ann took us to one of her vendors and we were able to pick out some beautiful strands of pearls.  Tim bought me a really nice multi-colored pearl necklace for our anniversary for probably 1/8 of the price we'd pay in the States.  The ladies who worked the shop, strung the pearls in front of you.

The ladies stringing the necklaces

The shop had bins and bins of all different types and quality of pearls

After shopping for pearls, we stopped at a little jade kiosk and bought a couple of pieces; then, we went to another store and purchased a maj jong set (for my grandmother) and Chinese checkers for Zach.  They came in beautiful hand painted boxes.

Needless to say, we were exhausted when we left.  Chloe fell asleep in the taxi and we decided that meeting the group for a large Cantonese meal was not such a good idea, so we opted for a little playground time and McDonalds in the room.

Tomorrow we go back to the medical center and have Chloe's TB test read.  Hopefully, all will be well and we'll be able to finally put that behind us.  It will be one of the last steps to getting Chloe's visa.  While we're truly enjoying ourselves, we are really ready to be home.  We miss the rest of our crew like crazy!

Hope everyone has a great day!