Sunday and Monday

Sunday was a much better day than Saturday, that's for sure! Tabitha was feeling much better. In the morning, our guide took us to the Folk Art Museum. It was really interesting! The buildings used to be a family temple; only about 100 years old. There were all kinds of art work--wood carvings, etched glass, ivory carvings (newer ones are now made out of camel bone instead, to protect the elephants), silk embroidery, etc. The embroidery was amazing. These designs looked like paintings--so detailed, and the colors just blended perfectly, but they were actually embroidered. And the silk thread made them shimmery too, so the ones with water looked like real water. They were absolutely gorgeous. I would've liked to buy one, but there's no way we could've afforded them! The kids were really good during this trip too, very patient. The boys weren't whining, and Tabitha was still tired out from her shots, so she was very calm. After that we stopped at a humongous grocery store for diapers and water. The store was so big it had ramp escalators so we could take the carts up and down. And there were several more floors of various other stores. It was huge.

We had lunch at Subway again--very American and very good. Then we all took a nap. For dinner we went to a Chinese restaurant nearby. We thought we ordered fried rice with meat and vegetables in it, but that turned out to be a soup with rice and vegetables in it. It was good though. Even with the menu in English, we still weren't sure what we were getting! Today we had to go back to the clinic to check Tabitha's TB test. She had no reaction, so we're done with all the medical stuff. Praise the Lord for that! The rest of the morning we played at a little playground and then had pizza at an Italian restaurant here. It was good, but I wish there were more cheap little restaurants to choose from here. Everything on the island is expensive, except some of the little shops. I'm glad our breakfast is included at the hotel--we wouldn't dare pay for a meal here. One of the restaurant has dinner prices listed at 399 yuan per person! That's over 50 dollars!

On the way back we bought a DVD of the Olympics opening ceremony. I still hadn't seen it. We watched part of it last night--truly amazing!

There's not much on the schedule for the next few days...just waiting for all the paperwork to get done, so we can take Tabitha home with us. Here are some interesting random things we've discovered:

This island is a popular place for wedding photos. There have been dozens of brides and grooms getting their photos taken here every day. Our guide told us that they do the wedding photos a couple months before the actual wedding. Then the photos are displayed at the wedding. They start off wearing the very fancy European-style white wedding dress. Then they change to the traditional red later on.

The hotels here all have "turn-down" service. Housekeeping comes in each afternoon to close the blinds, arrange the pillows, and give us chocolate. If we're here, I tell them no thank you, but they still give us the chocolate. =)

Waitresses do not automatically bring the check. You have ask for it, or you'll be sitting there all night! Napkins are an oddity at restaurants. I guess Chinese people are so good with their chopsticks that they don't need them!

Beds are supposed to be hard for good health. At the folk art museum they had the old furniture displayed. There was a wooden bed with ceramic boxes for pillows. Boy, that sounds cozy. The hotel beds aren't much different, except for the down comforters which I love.

Cantonese people are known for their food. It's said they eat anything that flies except an airplane, and anything with 4 legs except a table. We have noticed that to be true by walking around the streets. One of the seafood restaurants had tubs of various live creatures that I didn't even want to look at, let alone eat! There was a small pool full of something that totally reminded me of the Princess Bride. "You know what that sound is, highness? Those are the shrieking eels. They always grow louder when they're about to feed on human flesh!" Thank goodness there are "normal" foods around too. :)

Well, we're having a good time, but I'm eager to get home. Back to my own bed, my own kitchen, and our own doctors. Heath and I will both feel better when we can get Tabitha into the doctor at Johns Hopkins. And the boys are doing pretty well (besides the daily fight over who gets to push the elevator buttons), but I can tell they're tired and ready to go home too. But this is a beautiful place, and we'll enjoy our last few days here!