Shopping

Last night I listened to my sleep track on the ipod. It put me right to sleep.
Chris woke me up at 6am. Then he shaved and took a shower. Just after he turned the water on,our room phone rang. It was Alfred. He said they got in at 11:30 last night. He said they were going to breakfast if we wanted to meet them there. So, after we got dressed, we went to the restaurant on the first floor called The Stage. It was a buffet breakfast with fruit, salad, eggs, sausage, breads, juices, and Chinese dishes. We greeted them warmly and caught up as we ate. I gave lip balms to Cecily, Michele, and Marie. After breakfast, we went back to our room with Michele. I gave her the skirt from the 5day market. We got our money and water bottles. Then we met the group downstairs. We were immediately ushered to a bus outside. In each seat was a handheld receiver with an earpiece and extra batteries. The guide instructed us to turn it on and listen. As the bus took us to the market, he told us what to expect today and tomorrow. The bus pulled over at an intersection and we got off. We followed the guide to a large market full of small shops. Every thing was well maintained. He was telling us about a garden which a man built for his parents, but they died before it was finished. The state took it over when he died. It was quite elaborate, with pavilions and koi ponds, and rocks like swiss cheese.

Then we went to the silk market. We were shown how silk is extracted from a single cocoon. Then a lad showed us how she extracts the bugs from a double cocoon, then washes and stretches it, again and again. With many many layers, it becomes silk batting. We were taken to a room where we could buy any size we wanted of batting encased in a cotton covering. I asked about buying the batting separately, but Chris told me not to. They had washable silk covers to put the coverlet in so that the cotton one doesn't get dirty. I pick out one and got pillowcases to match. Chris paid for it and they mashed it all together so tightly that it did not take up much room. Then in the next room., there were silk products for sale: scarves, tops, shirts, robes, slips, ties, pillows, wallets, handbags, etc. And fabric. I got two yards of a really nice green. But we were out of time so I had to leave. We went back to the market street. The booths were so colorful, but we were on a schedule. We followed the guide quite some way to another building where we went up to the third floor. We saw an exhibit of a woman embroidering silk threads onto a silk background. It was thread painting. And all around us were beautiful examples of it, costing thousands of dollars each.

In another room there was a lady making a silk rug by hand. And all around her were piles of gorgeous silk rugs. Cecily needed to sit and found a place. Eventually the others in our party joined her. I kept looking at the pictures and the rugs. I also found a rack of scarves, light and heavy. It was a 2 for 2 sale so I looked through all of them, but nothing spoke to me. Then the guide told me to go upstairs to the restaurant. My party was already there. There was a large rotating circle in the center. The server brought dishes to the table and we had to turn the circle to pass the food. It looked good. But earlier the driver had said that tomorrow we would be eating a packed lunch consisting of ham sandwiches, and if anyone did not want that, they should let him know privately. So I had told him that I did not eat bread because of the gluten. Well, he hadn't forgotten. In fact, he came over to our table, told me that many of the dishes had gluten in them and that he would bring me a salad instead. Oops. So I passed up some interesting foods and ate the rice and salad that he brought. Chris gave me his mushrooms. Finally lunch was over and the guide herded us out so we could visit a Chinese history museum. I asked him if there was any way I could go back to the market.

He said maybe after the museum. But, on the way, he brought me to a man (who was with the tour) and said the man would walk me back to the market. And he did. He sat and waited for me at the silk place as I examined all the items for sale. I finally picked out two and bought them. I told him I wanted to shop at the little booths on the street. He had something else to do, so he pointed out the top of our hotel in the skyline and told me to just walk straight and turn left to get there. And he left. Then I had the most marvelous time flitting from shop to shop, examining scarves and jewelry and knick knacks. One booth had unusual musical instruments. Another had pens and pencils. After searching for a stylus, I finally found a pen with a special tip on it. Then I checked the direction of my shadow, and headed away from it. That got me out of the market going in the right direction. There were a lot of interesting shops on the walk back, but I was afraid I would be missed.
When I got back to the hotel, I checked in with the front desk. They said the tour had not returned yet. Chris had our room key, so the lady made me another one. I went up to our room, dropped the packages and had some water. I ate some leftover kimchi.

Chris arrived soon after. He said he liked the museum but he did not think I would have. I tried to do some Sudoku, but I fell asleep. Chris woke me at 4:55 saying we had to meet his parents at 5. I was groggy and had a hard time getting ready. We went down to the first floor where they were sitting in the bar area. We had drinks and salted peanuts and good conversation. I think we went back to the room for a minute or two and reconvened at the restaurant on the 5th floor. Very nice place. They brought us a meal in a partitioned box and a bowl of soup. It looked really good, but then someone took mine away because it had gluten and brought a less interesting one in its place, and the soup was different. Michele gave me her lotus shoots. I ate what I could, but had had too many peanuts. We had a nice chat over supper. Cecily was not impressed with the food. Then we went to our rooms to get ready for the show. I put a wrap in my purse and picked up my fanny pack. We met the buses downstairs. Ours was bus D. We were encouraged to sit in the same seats each time. We had a trip to a large auditorium with a stage. We waited for the show to start. Then the lights dimmed and the music swelled. We were treated to a collection of acrobatic acts. We had listened to the guide ramble on about how the performance art schools were formed (on the bus trip). Now we saw the effects: troupes of performers doing balancing and flexibility stunts with hats, ribbons, hoops, yo-yos, balls, glass trees, etc. In the last act, they assembled a large spherical cage on the stage. 4 motorcyclists went inside and were driving all around in different patterns, often looking like they were about to crash.

When the show was over, we proceeded out. The performers were selling videos in the outer room. We got on the bus and rode back to the hotel. We each went to our rooms.
I started typing my blog for the day. I checked to see if I could connect with Blogger, and I could but only to view it, not to post to it. So Chris jumped through hoops to get to Blogger on his little laptop. I tried to e-mail myself and then him the blog files that I wrote yesterday, but they did not come through. So he did a direct transfer from tablet to laptop. But my post was in three pieces and the first two were not right. So he read me the first two pages and I typed them into the third file. Then I copy/pasted to Blogger. But Blogger then disappeared. Chris was able to get it back, but it took a long time. I went back to the tablet to continue writing the next blog. When Chris finished posting for yesterday, he gave me the laptop to finish today's post. He fell asleep while I was writing it, so it may not post until tomorrow.
* the dragon wall in the garden *