8-23-09

8-23-09 As we sit in Starbucks - the only place for free wireless - sipping our house coffee and a Green Tea Latte (I am not kidding - it tastes a little green but is actually quite good!) we will fill you in our days events yesterday. It was a nice,quiet day with checking out the neighborhood and eating lunch at a fastfood Chinese restaraunt where, of course, no one spoke English. We thought we were in trouble right off in having to order not knowing what in the world the menu said - but out behind the counter came a menu in English - whew! We both ate for $4.00 and could not finish it all. Rice, BBQ pork, egg drop soup which consisted of broth on top of a whole egg and a slice of watermelon. We couldn't find a table and sat with a Chinese couple. I'm sure we both spent the meal talking about each other and smiling often. Our bodies are still adjusting to the time change so after a long nap, we headed off on an adventure - pretty atypical for us Uptons. We were pretty proud of ourselves! We went on a Pearl River cruise to see all the lights of the city. Let not the name confuse you -brown, disgusting water is what made up the river! We paid for the dinner buffet which bumped us up to VIPs. We got to sit in the VIP lounge to wait the cruise time which was air conditioned and we even got cups of lukewarm water! We forewent the free chocolates - me for obvious reasons if you know anything about me and Bob because he wasn't convinced that is what they were! First I must backtrack to when we arrived at the dock. As the taxi stopped and we were paying the driver - a 6 or 7 year old girl opens the door for us and tries to sell us some kind of paper flower wrapped in cellophane. Bob told her no and tried walking away. She tried sticking it in his pocket. He took it out and told her no again and as we walked away - she hung on to the ties on the back of my dress. Then, she wrapped herself around my leg and sat down. I could not move. I had to physically pull her off my let in order to move on. I think the policeman walking in our direction helped convinced her to let go. After a couple of tries figuring out exactly where we were suppoced to be, we were seated in the VIP lounge. When we boarded the boat, we went upstairs where there were tables set up with an all you can eat buffet. As wer got underway, two "sailing attendants" - as opposed to flight attendants came forward to show us how to put on the lifevests if that measure became necessary. Absolutely nothing was in English so if we went under - we were in trouble because we didn't even know where they kept those things! Not that we would have been able to put them on before we went down because there were no American buckles - you had to pull the straps through two small holes which even they had trouble with- cross it in front, cross it in back, tie it front, cross it in back, pull it up through two more holes and tie it in front again. RIGHT! We completely understood when they said it was time to eat because it was almost an Olympic event to see who could get to the table first. We just sat and watched! You would think theses people hadn't eaten for quite a while the way they mobbed the table! Stacks of food on each plate. When we felt safe in approaching the decreased level of bedlam, our conversation went something like this: "What's this?" "I don't know." "Are you going to try some?" "I guess so!" "Here are some pan fried complete baby fish - they seem to be a favorite!" "OK - I"ll take one." "What's this?" "I don't know" "Here's some Calamari - are you going to get some?" "I kind of have to - my plate is empty." "Heh - I know this one - chicken!" "Uh - no - that's not chicken - must be pigeon." "Is this seriously snake?" "It sure looks like it." "Are you going to get some?" "Not on your life." "Rice! I know I'm right on this one!" "Watermelon - yipee!" Let's just say we only made one trip through the all you can eat but not necessarily identify buffet. The lights on the buildings were amazing. They truly believe in putting on a show. We saw one building which was at least 30 stories high that was a complete TV screen - even extending around the sides of it. Just when we thought the excitement was over - up comes a Magician. I (Colette) don't particularly care for magicians because it frustrates me when I can't figure out how they do things. I would find it much more entertaining to be seen HOW they do it than the actual act. Of course, when they need a "volunteer" from the audience, who do they usually choose - the person who stands out - who was that? The only Ameircans on board - of course. And does he pick Handsome Bob to come up to be his lovely assistant - OH - NO! He chooses Colette. Other than the fact that he made an egg appear on top of my head and I'm pretty sure made it look like I laid an egg and the fact that the boat turned around while I was up there "assisting" in this act and nearly fell over into the crowd - I guess you could say all in all it went well. I got a silk yellow rose out of the deal and got recorded on many Chinese phones so if you see me on You Tube - Don't tell me!