Afterwards we went to Walmart. It was an experience. Besides the kids being all over the store and crazy (they take after me: they get silly when they're tired) and Mark disappearing several times due to stomach discomfort, it was interesting (and weird) to be in a place that's both foreign and familiar at the same time. Just a couple of notes. (The food post will be longer.)
I found it interesting that all the dolls were blonde.
No racial diversity in the Barbie section. No sir. I have no idea why all these beautiful little Chinese girls would not want a beautiful Asian-looking doll, but even the baby dolls were all blonde and blue-eyed, often with curly hair.
The Chinese branded Barbies were also all blonde. With much more hideous makeup.
The only dark-haired doll I saw in the whole store was this one. The fan-service doll amused me.
But this made me happy. Now I want to know what the show is. Hooray for anime!
This also. Jack found this and REEEEEALLY wanted it. It was only 10 kuai, which is about $2.50 or so, but I said no for this time. I can go back and get him one later. I wonder how many days it will last before he breaks it.
We took the subway from the restaurant to Walmart. You have to walk from the subway stop for a little ways, and on the way we passed this pedestrian bridge:
It leads to a place called Splendid China. We will have to go there soon. Last October Mark was here on business, and his friend/associate pretty much begged to take him here to see the haunted houses. They had a bunch of them, of varying levels of scariness. But it's fun at other times of year, too. They have shows and such showcasing China's ethnic groups and such, I hear.
The subway was really fun. The kids hadn't ridden on it before and they were pretty excited. It wasn't too crowded and we didn't get stared at too much. Also, it's hot, and the subway cars are air conditioned really well. Ahhhhh. One of my favorite things about China is the ads that try to use English. Like this one:
Here is so great!! T-shirt!! I don't even know what they were going for with "here is no time" though. What? No time for what? Time stands still while you're shopping? No time before the sale ends, so hurry? What are you going for here?
We met an Ohio Buck-eye at the subway station on the way home. He just got here recently. He sells imported alcohol. It was nice chatting with an American stranger for a bit. Cute kid.
Well, expect a much longer and more interesting post sometime this weekend. Tomorrow we're headed for our first excursion to Hong Kong! I'll be seeing a doctor that does Chinese medicine and may or may not do anything like chiropractics... and I have the whole day planned with places to see and things to eat. I'm pretty darned excited. It's going to be a really long day, though. We'll be getting home pretty freaking late. It's all good. It's going to be amazing.
I love your adventures :)
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