Afternoon in Tainjin- Accused of being Italian!

That first afternoon we went to Ancient Market Street. It is much nicer, and also much more touristy...I wouldn't say the prices were A LOT higher, but it was definately "traditional" Chinese souveniers and such.

We had to take 2 taxis wherever we went, so this time it was My Mom, Amber, and I. We got quite the taxi driver. Usually they ignore you all together, but this guy chattered on in Chinese and smiled a lot, even after it was apparent we didn't speak any Chinese! We began a little comunication mostly through hand signals, and had a hilarious conversation. First he pointing to my mom, then Amber and I and said, "Mama! Mama!' and we said, "YES!" Then he kept pointing to my mom and saying "Peo Liung" (butchered phonetic spelling) and smiling! He would touch his face, point to my mom's face, and say it over and over. I knew he was complimenting her, and we found out later it meant, "Beautiful" and he's right!

Then we tried to learn his name. We all pointed to my mom and said, "Paula." and he would point to my mom and say, "Paula." Then "Amber", and he repeated, then "Ashley" and he repeated, then the three of us pointed to him and waited, and he burst into hysterical giggles. We tried this 3 or 4 times before we gave up on learning his name.

The funniest part of the ride to me was the last "conversation" we had with him. I am pretty sure he had already established that my mom was our mom, but he mustered up all his English and first pointed to my mom and said, "Uh-mer-ee-can!" then to Amber and said, "Uh-mer-ee-can" then to me and said, "Eee-tuh-lee" (Italy) We all laughed and said No, American, but he laughed and said "No, Eee-tuh-lee!"

We shopped and had a great time throughout the afternoon!

The Entrance-

The walkways-

In front of the Ancient monster. This is half Dragon, and half something else I can't remember. This monster is the reason they light fireworks throughout spring festival. Legend says that this monster will sneak in and hurt/kill/take your children during the year if you don't light a lot of loud fireworks to scare him off during the festival....and Yes! It was DANG cold while we were there!