I flew to LA and stayed the night- no problem
Flew to Beijing to meet my parents (14 hour flight)- no problem. Unfortunately this was a day flight...when you start during the day...even though you are in the air well into the night...it's hard to get your body to register that it's night time and get some rest. So I slept a wopping total of 3 hours on the plane, and arrived in Beijing at 4pm China time, but 3am Arizona time.
Met my parents in Beijing and flew to Haung- Zho- No problem. This was a 1 and a half hour flight and I slept the whole time.
Driver picked us up in Haung Zho and drove us 2 hours to Iy-Wu. All along the way are oyster beds...as Iy'Wu is the Oyster capital of China (the world I think...?) but I missed them all as I was totally konked out again.
Arrived at our Hotel at 10pm China time, 1pm Arizona time. Parents went out to KFC (first of 4 times eating there on the trip...no joke...) I was so wasted I fell asleep in my room and they just brought me some nuggets.
(this sign was in our hotel lobby, the first of SEVERAL hilarious mis-translated signs. This one is blurry but says, "Please keep cleaning" I assume it means, please keep the lobby clean!)
Next morning we got up early and went to the first of two pearl shops that my dad works with. (He is importing pearls, in case I didn't mention that along with the neck ties) There were MILLIONS of pearls in there...it was so crazy. Bags and Bags and Bags (see pictures) My dad was picking up some orders, and also picked up a few other things that we saw and liked. Let me just say this...I am learning a thing or two about pearls...and a nice set of pearls that you would buy here in the states...it has been marked up at least...gosh, how do I say this mathmatically correct...uh...the original price has been doubled at least 20 times! Also, if you would ever like a tutorial on how to tell if your pearls are "nice" just let me know...I've been learning a lot!
Guy opening an oyster...yep...this is were your fancy pearls start...right here with Mr. Cigarette!
The inside of the Oyster he opened. Did you know they can grow several pearls in one Oyster? (Neither did I!) Don't worry, they use the shell for jewelry also, and eat the meat...no wasting here!)
Bags 0f pearls...this is just one teeny tiny little shop among thousands mind you...
Up close...one bag. Unsorted...so they haven't separated the "good" from the "bad" and the colored from the white.
Next we went to the hub of pearl activity. A giant Building with at least 1,000 shops...all selling...you guessed it...pearls! I saw almost no on there shopping, and had no idea how 1000 shops all selling the same thing and no one shopping could stay in business...found out it is because almost all of their business is done over the internet. We went to the other shop my dad does business with and haggled for about 2 hours. I mostly interpreted the lady's poor English for my dad (I have NO idea how he survived there for a year...)
After making quite a large transaction in China, it is customary for the person receiving money to invite the person who just shelled it out, to lunch/dinner. The husband invited us to meet him at noon for lunch, and there was really no polite way to decline, and no way in heck of telling what we would be eating. He drove us in his car (he must be RICH! because hardly anyone has cars) and took us to a very nice restaurant...where he invited us to "pick out our lunch" while I can't say it was very good...at least you can say it was fresh...here are some of our options...
Turtles..
Snakes...couldn't tell what variety...
Crayfish I think...shrimpish
Baby turtles
And a Chinese favorite...EELS!!!
Sorry to say...I was going to try to be adventurous on this trip...but turns out I'm just a wuss. Turns out my parents are too...so here is what we actually ate...
From the picture these looked like Eggroll type things...they were actually stuff with something very long and stiff...not sure if it was animal, vegetable, or mineral. The outside wrapper was also quite tough... and VERY spicy!
A bland soup with Tofu in it. BY FAR The best item at the meal...
Shrimp/crayfish with ALL bodyparts still attached...including eyes!
Extremely soggy green beans that were actually quite good if you drank a gallon of water after every bite...5 ALARM SPICY!!!
Oh, I forgot to mention, after he took us to lunch, he got us seated...and left! I guess it is tradition to by someones lunch, but rude to eat with them! Strange! We called his cell phone when we were done and he picked us back up.
I guess "That's It" (as if that is not enough) of my first real day in China! More to come...still have days 2 and 3!
7 comments:
I am LOVING hearing your adventures! But your math needs some help. If you doubled your original price 20 times you would have some VERY expensive pearls. For example, say you started with pearls that cost a penny each and you doubled the price 20 times. You would have pearls with a price tag of $10,485.76 each!!!
Wow.
That's the most pearls I've seen in my life.
Awesome.
And your food adventures are stuff of dreams and nightmares.
I wonder what I would've tried.
Maybe the turtle.
Good times.
Can't wait to see what came next.
Actually, with that meal, it's probably better he didn't stay: he might have ordered for you! :)
Good blogging! Love the Chinglish sign. I can't wait to hear about the rest.
So seeing how many pearls there are...really makes you wonder why the heck they're so expensive in the first place.
I also wonder how Mom & Dad survived there...:) Haha.
I do miss that mango drink from KFC...
Sounds way to exciting for me. After all that travel were you really only in china for 3 days? Thats nuts!!!
Wow, all your adventures are so interesting to hear about. The food reminds me of when I was on my mission and we would eat at a Samoan family's house. Luckily, they always had rice to go with things so I would try to fill my plate up mostly with rice!
Sounds like you had quite the adventures! I know what you mean by the doubling rate- I had a math class where we learned about that. It's crazy!
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