Growing Closer to God Daily: Returning to Shamian Island

When we realized that this trip back to China was actually going to happened, we envisioned going back to Shamian Island where we stayed in 2010, but we weren't sure it would actually happen. We had kind of hinted at Jason and Paul, our guides, that we would love to go back to shop. Well we went to the Pearl Market in the morning on Tuesday, then as we were heading to jump in a taxi to go back to the hotel, Jason looked at us and said, "Would you like to go to Shamian Island?" , and of course we said, "YES!" So us and a few other families headed to the island in another taxi. Again, not so bad, as long as you don't pay attention to what is in front of the car. :) We spent about 3 hours shopping on the island and eating lunch at Lucy's Café, a very Americanized restaurant! As you can see below, we totally ordered American food!! We can actually say that we have eaten at Chinese restaurants about 6 times and surprisingly have loved all of them, but it was definitely time for a cheeseburger and fish. But we will also admit, that we have had Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC, and McDonald's. We have had many more options as far as food this time, because of where our hotels have been. We are pretty sure that we have gained 10 pounds each this time, instead of losing. Although with the heat and humidity, maybe we have stayed the same.

The Famous White Swan Hotel- home of many Adoptive families for 6 days

The best part of Lucy's was our waitress understood English and the Menus were easy to understand!!

I didn't have to work hard to get a sprite!

Oh so good!!!

Roger thought this shirt was a little silly!

Here is another reason why we should appreciate the work of the Chinese, even if we do get tired of everything being made in China. While we were shopping on the island, three men began to put this scaffolding together with bamboo and strings. They started at the bottom and just kept adding to make it where they need it to be. You see no machines or heavy duty tools, just hands and mind!! Wee were completely blown away how simple they made it and in so little time.

Our boy did really well shopping the whole time, and
this is what happened on the way home!!

In the evening, we went to another Chinese restaurant called Macau Street Restaurant. We will admit that it was one of our least favorite ones, but mainly because we didn't get to order our own food. Our guides ordered it for us, thinking we would be brave and try new things. Well...we tried most of it and the dishes that got eaten the most was the fried rice and noodles. The pork was ok, but a little fatty, and the dish that you see below was supposed to taste like a big mac, but it wasn't quite the same. We made it through though and had a good time with our families.