Tong Tong doing his thing where he touches our face.
Tong Tong pushing his wheelchair at the pool
Tong Tong and dad playing at the museum/shop
The kids in our awesome travel groupHere we are, in Starbucks, again-this time with mediocre tea. Whoopee. But, lest I forget, we do get FREE wifi with our tea. Pretty cool.
Today we started off by going to a museum with lots of Chinese art and carvings. They were very beautiful. After that, we went back to the hotel and went swimming-or at least, most of us did. Tong Tong didn't go in the water, instead he pushed his wheelchair like a madman around the pool. At least this time, he didn't freak out when we put it away.
After that, we went to an underground mall. It was rather overwhelming. The shops are all about the size of a closet, each stuffed with a disorganized array of clothing. The prices were good, though. Everything is so much cheaper here than it is in the US. I think that's because everything is made here, and they don't have to pay for shipping, and stuff.
We got to see Aunt Lisa again after that, which was really nice. For dinner, we decided to go to a pizza place recommended by one of her friends. This, however, was much more of an ordeal than we had originally thought it would be.
The poor bellboy outside of the hotel had to find two cabs for us, since we have too many people for just one. But NO ONE wanted to drive us. Apparently, this restaurant was very close to the hotel (low fare for the cabbies), and not very well known. Finally, the bellboy ran up to this cab driver and started yelling at him. We thought everything was okay, so we went into the cab. That was a slight mistake. The cabbie jumped out of the car in his rage, at which point he and the poor bellboy got into a shouting match! Well, I'm not sure exactly what the bellboy said (threatened) to the cabbie to get him to take us, but finally we were on the go.
And, believe it or not, things went downhill from there. In the first 30 seconds or so of our ride, one of the cabbies took a completely different direction than the other cabbie. Then, we started getting in this, like, ghetto area of the town, and we were afraid that the cabbie was going to dump us off in the middle of the ghetto, because he was so mad, and then he drove right past a pizza place, so I was like, Hello! Cabbie! Stop!, at which point we did, and went to the restaurant.
Me, Lisa, Caroline, and Claire arrived before (0r so we thought) my Mom, Dad, and James, so we decided to eat outside. We ordered our food, then waited for like 20 minutes for my parents to show up. After about 15 minutes, we all started to panic, like maybe their cabbie dropped THEM off in the ghetto, or he was taking a really long route to make them pay more...we were about to hail ANOTHER cab to get back to the hotel, when the waiter came up to us, saying, "There's 2.5 people inside who are waiting for 4 people, and you're waiting for two people and a toddler, so maybe you're looking for each other?"
We were. We had spent all that time freaking out, when we were really just a few yard away from one another.
I love it when things work out like that. And the food was delicious.
Love, Ali and Jenn
3 comments:
Wow! Sounds like quite a day! I'm glad you guys are all safe. I can't wait till you come home! I miss you. I can't wait to hear all about your trip and, of course, meet James!! Love you!!
Kara
Wowee what a night! Glad we made it but I've never seen three more quiet (maybe scared is a better word) as I did in the cab that night. I think we were all a little surprised by why it seemed so difficult to them, and why the cabbie was so honked off the whole way over there....but seriously, it was GREEEAAAATTTT Pizza! Hope you had a fun-filled day...a little gory by the looks of things but fun, nonetheless. AND we got our first webcast for dear Tong Tong to catch a glimpse of his other Ai Yi (auntie) Cols and Johnny, Sean and Anna...so glad that Kate and Tong Tong met via phone too....it's been wonderful, MAAAVELOUS having you here in my land, see what life is like in China! I am still marveling at how funny Tong Tong looked at me when I spoke Chinese (okay, broken limping Chinese) to my little nephew...he's thinking, she's a meguoren (american) how can she be speaking in my native tongue!?!?loving you guys and thanks for the memories, more to be made on Friday at our 1,000th celebration! Woo hoo!!! Looks like you had quite an eventful (and illustrative of China) day...glad it all went well. Loving you, Lisa Ai Yi
How can I say "This is the fifth comment" in a cool way?
What a journey that must have been with your new friend the cab driver. That's something I can see in a movie or a book or something. Write about it and it will make you millions!!!
Once again, I feel I must express my jealousy of your trip to China. It must be so amazing and different to be there. Your travel group seems like a great bunch of people.
If it's any consolation, I feel that way whenever I can't find something in my room (and what a mess it is). It usually is right in front of me too.
Stay safe!
~Arika. (Obbiump was what I had to type in to get this thing to post. I think it's kind of a funny word. The computer says it's spelled wrong too. I don't feel so alone anymore =].)
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