06.16.02

China Trip-Day 7

Today was a relaxing Sunday. Aric, Ashlyn, and I got up and headed to the street markets. This would be the only day Aric has time to shop. We had a huge list of things to shop for. Mainly gifts and requests from friends. We walked to the street markets, grabbed a quick bite (cold noodles with hot sauce) from a sidewalk vendor. Despite the repeated warnings from my dad about eating from sidewalk vendors, we took a chance. It was pretty damn good.
We started our shopping spree. The street markets were even more crowded on a weekend. I was worried that with the stroller, we might not be able to get around at all. But I was wrong. Like I previously said...in China, you always have to yield to bigger things. In this case, if you don't move out of the way, I'll clip your heel with the stroller. *pause* Dude, I've adapted to their "every man for himself" attitude in a quickness. hehehe

One thing I learned shopping the street markets was that "there's more than meets the eye". A small shop selling mediocre handbags can actually sell the most impressive and flawless knockoffs in the backroom. But because they're really cracking down on that, they have to conceal the real goods in the backroom. We got a crapload of really great purses, bags, watches, scarves, pens, socks, DVDs, and much much more. We even bought another full sized suitcase so we can fit everything for our flight back. I think Aric and I got pretty good at haggling. I felt really bad for the other fellow foreigners who were there pounding out the price on the calculator, only to have the vendor shake his head in disagreement. Not to mention, Aric and I had our lil' bargaining chip with us. Oh, which reminds me of something funny...at one point, when I came out from a shop, I saw a huge crowd growing larger by the minute. Being equally curious as the next person, I fought my way through to get a peek at what everyone was looking at. I thought some vendor whipped out the secret stash or something. When I finally got a peek...it was only Ashlyn! What is the big intrigue?! I mean, yeah...I think she's cute as a button, but I have to think so...I'm her mother. Aric and I were both taken aback by how much attention she got. I think it's because she's so smiley...it trips people out. Alright people, break it up!

Aric and I kept shopping, then decided to stop for a drink. While we stood around enjoying our refreshing beverage, a man and woman stopped by to look at the baby. They gave us their card and introduced themselves to us. From Hong Kong, they're in Shanghai shooting a commercial for Nestle's. They were looking for a baby to promote the infant formula line, and were interested in Ashlyn. We gave them Aric's cellphone number, and said that we'll consider it. Then we continued shopping. By evening, we were finished and headed back to the hotel. We picked up Mc Donald's again for dinner. This time I tried their pork nuggets and spicy chicken wings.

Got back to the hotel, ate, and layed out everything we bought. We bought a ton of stuff! Because we were busy shopping, I hardly took any pictures. I only got some of Ashlyn from this morning. Enjoy!

Ashlyn's pics of the day