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June 21, 2005
Urban explorers
I'll spare you the details of the morning, because it's getting repetitive: wash, medicate, eat buffet. Everyone was in much better spirits today -- it's nearly time to leave for home, we're not nearly as sick, and we felt like seriously getting out a bit.
At 10, we met the rest of the group for the Red Couch Picture. The Jiangxi babies all sat for their pictures, many like Emma in Chinese finery, and then the Guangdong children. I might be excused a moment of paternal pride when I say that Emma did better than most during this moderately stressful moment.
Then we moved to the mezzanine in front of the waterfall for an "all group" picture (you'll be able to find this in the photo archives shortly). The group really is quite large...it's amazing that Rose has been able to keep us herded together so effectively. She's pretty tough for her size, I'd say.
Speaking of Rose, she told us to wait in the room for our visa documents and similar important papers. Or more truthfully, she said that one of us had to be in the room, but by this time we were so disinclined to separate that we all just went and waited. The papers arrived just before lunch, so we ordered Danny's again and ate.
Finishing our lunch, we headed out into the streets of Shamian again, this time with serious shopping in mind. At an art gallery, we purchased a series of round "four seasons" prints for me. A craft collective produced a wide variety of keepsakes and gifts, ranging from a painted bottle to a large tiger scroll to a few small toys for Emma.
To our delight, we also located A Gift from China, a charity store that gives a large percentage of its profits back to services for orphans. We bought dolls for Emma, Kyra and Eliza, a scroll for our neighbors Brenda and Arnold (who have been graciously caring for our various animals), a set of lacquered bowls and chopsticks for ourselves, Christmas ornaments and assorted other goodies. Careful shopping also produced a brightly-colored parasol that will match wonderfully in Emma's room.
Shopped out, we returned to the hotel for a late afternoon snack and napping. After a too-brief rest, we went back downstairs to meet Pam and Bert for a real expedition -- a walk to the Pearl Market and the old jade market. We struck out, crossing the river channel that separates Shamian from Guangzhou. Pam commented that she had seen folks bathing in the river earlier that day. I recall thinking that I suppose anything works in a pinch.
While Bert carried Elizabeth up the stairs of the walkover street crossing (a fair climb), I took the front strap of a stroller in each hand and helped Pam and Lara move the babies. We crossed the street, stopping only briefly to snap a few pictures, and then descended into Guangzhou proper. A block off the main drag, we entered the Qing Ping wet market. The day was nearly done, and most vendors were closing up shop. We had been warned to expect them to be selling pretty much anything that moved as food, and a cage full of ragged street cats mewing piteously confirmed that. We hurried on.
A late-afternoon rain had soaked the streets and cooled the air, and the clouds hung on even at this hour, darkening the narrow streets somewhat and, perhaps, making us stand out a little less. Pam was navigating by her nose, a procedure I'm more than familiar with. We passed a small electronics store, and I was granted some reprieve from the mental image of those caged cats by the presence of a lithe brown tabby, collared and well groomed, sitting on the front counter. He deigned to be stroked for a moment while Pam paused to get her bearings.
Just down the block, we found a deep, narrow grocery store, teeming with Catonese. We pushed toward the back and located the baby aisle, finding formula and rice cereal comparable to what we had. Carrying our purchases to the front, we waited patiently in line, enduring more than a couple of curious glances. Much to my delight, we also found Hall's honey-lemon cough drops...a welcome treat for my irritated throat, and a real, if somewhat mentholated, taste of home.
Back on the street, we continued toward our destination. A fine drizzle began falling, and we moved in on the sidewalk, staying under as many awnings as we could. The stores we passed might have been in any American city...brightly-lit clothing vendors, loud, audaciously-colored electronics stores and every kind of food shop. Perhaps the most marked difference was the shoe stores, which seemed to market their wares by the system of making a large heap at the shop entrance, perhaps the better to ensnare hapless shoppers while they searched for the mate to the one shoe they liked.
We reached the main drag outbound from the Shamian district, an eight-lane road abuzz with sedans, lorries and buses. On the corner, a group of men worked frenetically, disassembling some evidently nonfunctional piece of machinery. Pam commented that they seemed to recycle everything. Though I kept my thoughts to myself, it struck me that poverty has that effect on most people. Dodging broken concrete on the sidewalk, the rain from above and mud puddles galore, we soldiered on toward the pearl market.
Reaching the pedestrian mall we had visited earlier, we found it less crowded, but just as brightly lit. The neon reflecting on the rain-slicked sidewalks made for a real photo opportunity, one both Pam and I took advantage of. We walked on, passing through the mall and the pearl market, until we entered a low-slung building peppered with steel-doored stalls. By this hour, darkness was truly falling and many of the vendors had departed.
Still, we shopped a bit and found a couple of small pieces of jade...beads for the three girl cousins, and a pendant disc for Emma. I had the distinct impression, based on the sales pitch, that gweilos were a bit of a rarity in this establishment. Whether that meant we were likely to get better or worse jade I couldn't tell, but we felt the price was fair, and left satisfied.
Our plans had originally been to locate some American food with Pam and Bert. Bert, however, was feeling ill, so we flagged a taxi, loaded the Reedys in, and bid them goodnight. A few moments later, we snagged a taxi of our own, and returned to the hotel for the now familiar dinner in Danny's takeout containers.
After a round of evening playtime, we put Emma to sleep. We talked briefly about our day, about the events planned for tomorrow, and about our desire to return home with all due speed. Then, exhausted, we turned out the lights and slept in the blessedly cool air.
Posted by brlittle at June 21, 2005 11:52 PM