Saturday July 23, 2005 - 4:00 pm

I found the Chinese equivalent to Target :) It is very near my hotel so I am very happy :)

I went out to read at the Starbucks for a while. I didn't end up reading at the time - just people watching. I realize that it is just a big city and people are just people - but everything is new to me and it is facinating to just sit and watch. The picture is of three women who walked by carrying these long pieces of wood. That is just not something you see very often. Out in front of a shopping center there was a group of young girls (probably about 6 or 7 years old) that were begging money from people. There were 4 of them that I saw and they would go up to people with their little cup and grab a hold of their shirt trying to get money. They were pretty insistant to people and would chase after them. It was sad to watch because they were so young - but then I saw one of them take something over to a man who was sitting off to the side. So - I don't know if they were working for him or what but after that I didn't feel so bad for them anymore. (well, that is not really true - I still felt bad for them having to do this).

I walked around a bit more going into some of the shopping centers - mostly because they were airconditioned and it was nice to get out of the heat!

I went down a few little alleys that had stores alongside. They were all a little seedy looking and I probably should stick to the main drags. I certainly got a few strange looks when I was in there!

I finally got too hot to be outside when I found a store called Home Mart. I saw a bathing suit in the window and could only think about how amazing it would be to jump in the pool at the hotel - so I went inside and searched for the womens clothing. The stores here are all multi-level so I had to go up to the 4th floor to find it. They didn't have very many - but what they had was cheap so I didn't really care. I figure I wasn't really looking for anything spectacular - just something I could use for my trip. I found a couple one-piece suits that were ok so I grabbed a M size since that is what I would normally take and suddenly I was surrounded by these 3 Chinese worker ladies who were telling me - You No Medium! it was very funny. One of them kept pointing to the tag at the M and then at herself (she was pretty skinny) and then pointing at the M and me and shaking her head. They walked me back over by the suits and pointed me to the XL size! They were very insistant on it and basically would not let me take a M size.

I picked up some bath gel because the stuff at the hotel isn't very good and a poof for the shower. There was a grocery in the store too - which is good to know! There were a lot of flavored potato chips in interesting flavors - Lays brand chips but Seaweed, Mexican Tomato Chicken and Italian Meat Flavor. very curious - but I wasn't feeling very adventurous, so I just got a little can of pringles :)

Thankfully those ladies were right about the swimsuit - I hadn't thought that Chinese M means something completely different for us overweight Americans! The suit ended up fitting pretty good and I was very happy to get a little swim in to cool down. I brought a book (Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto) down by the pool and read there for a little bit it was nice to cool off and relax after a lot of walking this morning.

After the swim I got real clothes on again and went to the little lounge in the lobby. They serve drinks and little appetizers there all day long. I got some fruit tea and a few spring rolls. Funny enough the spring rolls are the first I have actually seen in China! They were quite good - crisp wrap on the outside and some veggies inside. I wish I would have gotten the order of 5 instead of just 3! I sat there and read for about an hour and watched people passing by on the street for a while. It was a really nice time although I started feeling a little lonley at the end - It will be good to have the group dinner tonight and be around people I know.

More after I get back tonight.
Tina