Wednesday, July 11th - US Consulate, Pearl Market, and Beijing Road Street Market

Today we left the hotel about 9 am for our US Consulate appointment at 10 am.  We took this minibus for the 30 minute ride.

 When we arrived, John gave us our instructions and packet of information as he was not allowed to enter the security area.  He warned us since we were Pre-Hague that we'd likely be the last family so be prepared to wait a while.  No cameras or cell phones were allowed hence no photos.  We joined a large group of American families in the waiting area.  An American woman's voice came over the loud speaker to give us instructions.  She then had all parents recite an immigration oath on behalf of the children.  Since we were pre-Hague, Derek was told where to pay the Visa fee with US dollars.  We all waited as families were called one by one up to a window.  We were called as Derek was coming back from paying the fee.  Was pretty quick as she looked over our paperwork, put a few stamps on things, and then said we could leave.  Our guide, John, would return the next day on our behalf to pick up the final paperwork.  Once we land in Newark, we give the paperwork to immigration and Elise will be a US citizen.  We were happy that we were in and out pretty quickly...and that we did not have to stay til the end of the families.

John took us to the Pearl Market.  Was a multi-floor indoor building, similar to a US mall filled with jewelry stores.  The kids were grossed out when a little boy, wearing no pants, defecated and urinated on the stairs.  The dad just kept moving and didn't bother to clean it up.  You really have to watch where you walk in China.

This is the store John took us too as he said they could be trusted.  Below is a pix of the sign.  Beneath the sign are bags of pearls. 

More bags of pearls...pretty much everywhere you looked. 

In the picture above, the lady on the right is attaching the clasp on the string of pearls we selected while the one on the left is selecting pearls for earrings.

In the afternoon, we took our first of a few Guangzhou taxis.  Derek is riding in the passenger seat. 

Elise is relaxing on my lap in the back of the taxi.

Brett wanted to look for basketball shoes so we took John's suggestion to go to the Beijing Road Street Market.  It was a nice open air mall.  As usual, lots of people.  We kept getting bothered by street vendors trying to sell us faux watches and purses.  It was VERY annoying.  In fact, we're quite tired of being stared at.  At this shopping area, we were the only Americans there.  Everyone stares.  The kids are quite tired of it.  I explained how annoying it must be for celebrities.  Unfortunately the shoes were a bust.  No American brands...only Chinese. 

We wanted to finish some shopping so we asked a taxi driver to take us to a store we visited a few days ago.  John wrote it on a piece of paper that Derek showed to the driver.  The taxi driver took us to the wrong place.  In a grocery store, Derek asked a man for directions....he wrote them on this hand.  He was very kind.  Luckily we were only 3 blocks away.  As we were walking we passed a KFC and decided reluctantly to eat there for dinner.  It was a bad decision.  Let's just say, the popcorn chicken isn't like that at home (picture below).  Thank goodness I packed those bars! 

We made our way back to the hotel without incident.  Was a great feeling to be in familiar surroundings.