Pink Eye and Qingping Market

This picture is supposed to be at the end but I can't figure out how to move it. This is for Harrison and Logan. Our guide says they are not lizards, turtles or frogs. But she couldn't tell us what they are. So this may be the closest thing we can find in China to a dinosaur.

At the waterfall in the White Swan Hotel

The amazing Qingping Market. Loved it!

Live scorpions that people buy to add to food. Yikes!

So many interesting things for sale.

Everywhere we went there were these cute puppies for sale - as pets. They were so cute I wanted to pick them up and love on them but we were warned not to touch any of the animals by our guide.

Interesting sky-line.

I've never seen so many different kinds of turtles.

Baby chicks

More cute pics of puppies -these are for you Sis.

And yet more turtles.

At the central mall area. It was very crowded but we loved it.

Inside the mall area.

So today did NOT start out well. I woke up and immediately realized there was something wrong with my eye. I was pretty sure I had pink eye! I couldn't believe that I'd picked it up. I am a crazy hand-washer and neither Haylee nor Kevin have it - only me! What? So I called our guide around 8:00 and woke her up - ooops. She told me to go to the White Swan clinic - a prospect that I wasn't thrilled with due to the fact that I have not heard good reviews. But it was close and open and I wanted to get something for my eye asap. The clinic held true to its reputation. The doctors were very nice but we had a hard time communicating as they spoke no English. They called someone on the phone and I told them what was wrong and then handed the phone to the doctor. Then she took me back and looked at my eye and gave me some medicine. The whole visit and medication was 100 yuan - equivalent to $15.00. Now if the medication works than I got a deal! I felt rather annoyed that I'd come down with it and have felt a little blue all day. But thankfully it is something where I still feel well. We just are trying to be very careful not to pass it around. Me and Kevin spent some time this morning wiping everything down with antibacterial wipes. At 9:40 I walked back up to the White Swan again and met Cordelia and two other families to work on our consulate paperwork. They are all very nice and all are from Washington State. There is another interracial couple - she is from Indonesia - and people keep trying to speak Chinese to her as well. They have a two and 1/2 year old and then another woman is just here with her baby. She is 17 months and from Beijing. She was there with her whole family - 3 other kids and husband - for the last two weeks. The husband and kids headed home when she came to Guangzhou to finish up the process. In Beijing they require a long time period so I was feeling better with the 7 days required in Guangdong.

After the paperwork was done we headed to the Qingping market. It is just over the bridge and not far away from the island. It was so interesting! I loved it. There were just a million stalls selling all kinds of interesting things. The live scorpions were awesome! People buy them and put them in their drinks. The poison is supposed to be good for rheumatism. A little further on was the pet market. There were so many cute dogs and a million varities of turtles. There were birds, chipmunks - which people have as pets here, and little rodents. It was fun but we were careful not to get too close. Then we crossed the street and entered a higher end mall area that sold clothing, embordiery and food. It was very big and modern and crowded. It was very fun walking through. Me and Kevin have been seeing these signs for a restaurant called Kung Fu. all over Guangzhou. It has a picture of Bruce Lee as the logo. We asked our guide about it and found out that it is Chinese fast food. We decided to try it for lunch. It was very disappointing. We had these little short ribs with bones and something so fatty that even Kevin couldn't choke it down. While we were there Haylee was sitting on my lap and all of a sudden I looked down and it seemed like she was trying to chew on something even though we hadn't given her anything to eat. I pryed her mouth open with some effort and she has one of the little spare rib bones!!! She had managed to grab one off the tray. Me and Kevin are really going to need to sharpen our baby skills. It has been awhile and we are RUSTY. She has also fallen off the bed - on Kevin's watch. But then he is quick to point out that when I cut her nails I manage to clip a bit of skin and it wouldn't stop bleeding. We are slowly getting back in the groove. We have been having a hard time getting her to drink anything other than her formula but today we finally figured out how to get her to drink some juice - we just added warm water and she was happy. She also is starting to drink a bit of water but only if it is room temperature. That is how most Chinese people enjoy their beverages. Hoping that my pink eye recovers soon and that I don't pass it to Kevin or baby. Wish me luck!