Shopping, fish markets & traffic jams

We slept a little better last night but still not great…went to sleep around 11:00 last night and woke up around 5:00 this morning. We both took about a 2 hour nap yesterday afternoon, so I’m sure that didn’t help…we both just hit a wall around 2:00 in the afternoon. We’ll try to stay awake all day today so we can get a full night’s sleep tonight. Breakfast was better for me today…no runny omelet. We both had scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns…looks like this will be the routine breakfast. There were several new families in the restaurant this morning…some with their babies and some who were just arriving to start the process like us (but haven’t seen anyone from our specific group yet). We weren’t sure why there were families in Beijing who already had their babies…normally, Beijing is the first stop then families travel to the baby’s Province, then to Guangzhou, and then home from there. Veronica later told us those families were probably from Canada or Australia…those Consulates are in Beijing (the Consulate is the last stop in the process….applying for the baby’s visa). The American Consulate is in Guangzhou, so that’s our last stop. After breakfast, we went to the Pearl Market. There are 2 Pearl Markets in China…1 in Beijing and 1 in Guangzhou. The one in Beijing sells lots of things in addition to pearls…it seemed a bit like a flea market to me; the one in Guangzhou only sells pearls. We got great bargains today…souvenirs for friends & family. You ALWAYS negotiate at the Pearl Market…seems that they always came down at least 50%. They’re very aggressive, too….they’ll grab you as you walk by their booth…”Lady, you need a scarf! Come look…shop!” You just have to walk away and even sometimes pull your arm away from them…they’re reluctant to let you go. It was actually lots of fun…quite an experience. They’re your best friend when you buy something…”I’ll give you this additional item for x discount…because now we’re friends.” There’s also an open fish market downstairs…you can smell the fish from the street and from every floor of the market (4 floors). We walked into the fish market just to see what it was like…we made a very quick pass and then hit the exit. We only saw fish, crabs, shrimp…not too gross or exotic…but the smell was so strong we just couldn’t stay very long. Yummy...pick your snake!... Not sure what this is!.... Again, don't have a clue!... There was a huge traffic jam on the way back to the hotel. The shuttle was 30 minutes late picking us up and then it took over an hour to get back to the hotel (it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour…depending on traffic). Shortly after we got on the highway, cars piled up and drivers started getting out of their cars…not a good sign. Our van driver put the vehicle in neutral and pulled the brake…not a good sign. A few minutes later he killed the engine….DEFINITELY not a good sign. We were so tired and so anxious to get back to the hotel…and here we were stuck on the highway. As bad as it sounds, we only sat for about 15 minutes…traffic started moving. We arrived back at the hotel around 5:30…crashed for about an hour…then just ordered room service for dinner. Rina called around 8:00 pm…they arrived a few hours ago and are just getting settled. We’ll touch base with them tomorrow morning and will definitely meet up with them at some point during the day. It was great to hear a voice from home. Only 3 more days to Livie! More updates tomorrow….