June 24, 2015 Last Day in China

We began our last day in China with breakfast at the hotel buffet, just like we've done since we have arrived here.  We have developed a few routines with the breakfast buffet.  First, the bacon here is severely undercooked...Matt Warren could not begin to handle the bacon here.  Early on, I asked the omelet chef if he could put a few pieces on his griddle and cook them a little..actually a lot longer.  He agreed and every day after that he would see me coming and hold out his spatula waiting for me to give him the undercooked bacon.  The second routine is that the kids always grab an extra piece of bread that they never eat.  After we are finished with breakfast we take the extra pieces right out side the restaurant and feed the koi fish.  

 

After breakfast we boarded the metro and took it to Shaimen island without any hitches.  

When we arrived, the girls went onto the island while Jack and I decided to stay on the other side because we wanted to explore the markets.  We had heard from another US family that the markets were awesome.  The plan was to meet at the Starbucks on Shaimen island after two hours.


Jack and I hit the food markets first.  Row after row of foods that I have never seen before that covers about two square city blocks.  Side note, it is so much fun to walk a little bit behind Jack to watch all the people turn and stare at his hair.  The old ladies love to come up and pet him and the daring ones come up and take selfies with him.  It's almost like he's a movie star over here.  I am pretty sure he will miss all the attention once he returns to the states.  After the food market we came upon the electronics market.  Row after row of cell phones, phone accessories, cameras, etc. for another two square blocks.  Then came the toy markets.  Here's a pic of some crazy monkey dude that was running around the toy market.

That's as far as we got before it was time to head back.  We decided to take a cab because we were short on time...big mistake!  We got in and I told him we wanted to go to Shaimen island.  He looked back at me like he didn't understand.  I did my best impression of an island with water around it.  He nodded and off we went.  Right out of the gates he took a right when I thought we should be going left.  I started telling him left, left, left, but left in English must mean straight in Chinese cause he kept on going straight.  Then he headed for a highway.  I told him to pull off and he finally he did.  At this point we were too far away to walk and we were in an area that is old school China.  No one spoke English and there were no hotels (the staff in the hotels speak English and I knew they would be able to help us).  We walked around for a few blocks looking for a hotel.  First we found a police station.  I asked a police officer for help.  He started speaking Chinese faster than I've ever heard anyone speak Chinese.  I could tell he was asking for my passport, which I did not have on me, so I played dumb and we got the hell out of there as quickly as we could.  Next we came to a temple.  All the incense helped calm our nerves and I figured we might find someone that could help us there.  We tried to walk in, but before we could the guard and the homeless guy both told us in perfect English we had to buy a ticket first.  When I asked them if they could help us get to Shaimen island, they both acted like they couldn't speak English.  At this point we had walked about ten blocks and decided we better get back to a main road.  On the way back, we saw a teenager in a school uniform so I asked him if he spoke English, he kept walking like he didn't hear me, but an angel of a woman stopped and said she spoke English.  She agreed to tell the taxi driver where we needed to go so I hailed a cab and she told him where we needed to go. We made it back to the Starbucks an hour later than we had agreed to.  The girls were gone and I knew Nicky was going to be pissed.  I knew if we took a cab we could beat them back to the hotel and lessen her concern, but there was no way in hell we were getting back in a cab.  We took the metro back and arrived to Nicky in tears.  She thought we had been taken down a knockoff alley and had been kidnapped or had gotten hurt and were in the hospital somewhere.  She said that if we were a half hour later she was going to call the police.  I decided not to inform her that she wouldn't have gotten anywhere with the police!  I feel horrible for worrying her, but I never intended for any of this to happen and with no cell service, it's like we're back in the 80's.  At this point, I am passing it over to Nicky to tell you about her shopping experience.

Well the shopping was great. We picked up the last of the souvenirs. As Mike said we were to meet at the Starbucks at 11:45. Of course being women like we are and prompt we hurried the last purchase and got there on time. 12:00 came around and Liya had fallen asleep in my lap. After about 1/2 an hour I started to worry. I thought either they had walked too far and headed back to the hotel or something really bad had happened. We waited until 12:30 and then I decided we better head back to the hotel. My mom thought we should wait a bit longer but I thought no way they were still coming. My mom, Liya, Taylor and I managed the subway and transferring trains all on our own. Each time we would come to a stop we would all start looking at the maps. Not Liya. She would point one direction each time and each time she was exactly correct on which way we should go. My mom and I were hardly speaking the whole way back. We were both praying and trying to keep it together. You can imagine the shock when we walked in the apartment and they weren't there. I lost it. Poor Liya went and told grandma that mommy was crying. My mom fixed the girls some lunch while I sat in the window from my bedroom for about 20 minutes watching the escalator to the subway. From our bedroom you can see the people coming up the escalator right in front of the hotel. I was praying like I have never prayed before and said so many hail Mary's and Our Father's. I could not believe it when finally I saw them come up the escalator. I ran upstairs to let everyone know they were safe and home. I of course was crying and yelling at Mike when they walked in. Jack told me he was scared when they were lost. I was so relieved they were home.

The rest of the afternoon was spent packing and swimming. Simon and his wife met us for dinner to have one last goodbye dinner. At dinner we were talking about the afternoon. Simon was scolding us because he had told us to just stay home all day and rest before our big trip home. But of course we had shopping to do. Earlier when Mike was gone Liya kept putting her hand to her ear like just call "ba ba"'daddy. She probably thought we were the dumbest people around. Anyway Simon explained what we were talking about at dinner and she basically knew what was going on all day. Such a smart kid!

Tonight before dinner Liya asked if we could make her hair curly. She saw grandma putting her curlers in so we obliged and put curlers in her hair. It didn't really work because her hair was still wet. I managed to get a few curls in with the curling iron. Below is a pic of her in her curlers. 

Also a pic of her first hair cut. Yesterday grandma asked her if she wanted a trim and she said yes!

Well it's almost midnight here and we are being picked up at 6:00 am for our ride to Hong Kong. From there we fly out at noon for Chicago. I am so grateful for this amazing experience. Things have gone so well all things considered. No one got sick and I want to give a big shout out to my mom. For a 73 year old lady she has kept up pretty well. She is probably exhausted and will sleep for a week when we get home! She has been a real trooper and I am so grateful for her help during this trip!
So exited to get home and see everyone and for everyone to meet Liya. She has no idea what awaits her. Thanks for following us on this amazing journey!

Mike here again...Someone please call Pepsi to make sure they have a Diet Dew truck ready when we touch down in Chicago.  We're coming home baby!