More Adventures in Guangzhou

Today started off with a trip to the Pearl Market. We didn't go there the last time, so we decided to head on over and take a look. I ended up getting two pearl necklaces for the girls. There are LOTS of pearls on each necklace, and I'm guessing it would have been much more expensive in the states.

(the ladies making the necklaces)

After our trip to the Pearl Market we headed back to the hotel for a bit before going back to the island to get the kiddos' TB tests read. That's when our adventure takes place. What is usually a 20-30 minute bus ride to the island ended up taking 80 minutes!!! It was raining and there was a good bit of traffic. THEN some guy in a taxi ran into our bus. Of course, he blamed our bus driver, so they were out in the street arguing. In the meantime we're starting to worry because it's already past 4pm, and the clinic closes at 4pm!!!! We have to have those TB results otherwise we can't have our Consulate Appointments in the morning! Yikes! So, Scott gets off the bus and starts trying to get the taxi driver to chill out and just let us go so we can make it to the clinic (our guides had called them to say we were running behind). Scott offered to pay the taxi driver for the repairs just so we could get on our way. Of course, the bus driver didn't want any of that because it wasn't his fault. ARGH! Long story short, 200 RMB later we were able to get on our way.

The bus stopped on the side of the road and several of us jumped off with our kids so we could hustle down to the clinic. Good news is that everyone's child was cleared!!!!!

After that we went to the White Swan where Courtney and Scott enjoyed feeding the fish again...

We also took the traditional red couch pictures.

(yeah, not all that interested in photo taking... wanted to eat her cheerios!)

(ahhh... my "O"s... much better!)

Then it was time for a group dinner at an Italian restaurant on the island (great food, VERY slow service). Now I'm sitting in the room waiting for Courtney to fall asleep while Scott is downstairs playing more basketball with some of the guys in our travel group... they were out till 10pm last night playing, and the only reason they stopped was because the lights were turned off!

Tomorrow is our Consulate Appointment. We don't actually do anything for that... we just sit in our rooms while our CCAI guides go to the Consulate and make sure all our paperwork is ok. Then they'll call us to let us know if there were any problems or if everything was ok. Tomorrow evening we'll go on a little dinner cruise along the river. It rained a good bit today... so we're hoping it'll be clear tomorrow.