Sorry that I didn't end up posting. I DID end up working and have been soo busy at the office since we got back. Things are finally calming down.
So, China.
We got into Shanghai at 5:30 pm and rode the United Crew Bus over to the Hotel of choice that the crew always stays in. The captain that flew our plane was friends with Valerie's sister (Also a captain for United)and he not only flew us to China but ended up taking us all out to dinner!
(See pic 1)- Look at my "sprite" Ha!
The next day was SHOPPING. We shopped the majority of the trip, when we weren't eating or at the Spa ($13 for a two hour massage?! $12 for a pedicure? Yeah, we went every night!). The stores are so different there, they are all set up with "booths", there are NO PRICES on anything.. everything must be bartered for, and they follow you around the store. If they see your gaze slow down at any one particular item, they were immediately taking it down, handing it to you asking "How many you want?! What color you want?! HOW MUCH YOU PAY??!!" It got very exhausting and made it impossible to just "look".
The Captain taught us on the first night how to say "No I don't want it, Thank You"... which is pronounced "Bo-Ha, Shay-Shay". Well, he also taught us to say "hello" which is "Ne-How". Turns out, we got the two mixed up and spent most of the trip saying "Ne-How, Shay-Shay" to people when they tried to push items on us which meant "Hello, Thank You." Wow, dumb Americans.
Some of my purchases included : 18-20 Coach & Prada purses (already gone)$12-$20 ea.
8 REAL pearl necklaces (Already gone as well)$20 ea.
Chinese PJs for Jack and Bryce/Carli (Niece and Nephew)
The most amazing part about my trip was the Great Wall. When we got there in the morning, we were the only ones there. We rode the chair lift up over the beautiful countryside, I could hear a rooster crowing in the distance. It was one of the most breathtaking moments of my life.
The wall was indescribable. The time and effort for those men to carry all the heavy stone to the VERY TOP of those thousands of miles of mountains.. Looking at it left me speechless.
I came home from this trip very humbled. The "homes" were humble to say the least, although I didn't see ANY individual homes but rather apartment buildings.. most of which had concrete bare white walls, maybe a single flourescent bulb hanging in the middle of the room, if they were lucky a very small TV in the corner sitting on a cardboard box.
My favorite purchase was these paintings, which we are currently having framed. We met this young art student at the dirt market and we told her to bring her paintings to our hotel because we were interested in them but didn't want to haul them around all day. There were some purse vendors that did this as well, shopping from from your hotel room... NICE.
