April 17 in Guangzhou

The next day we were confined to the island in case problems came up with our paperwork which was being processed via our guides elsewhere. We didn't mind because we had some exploring and shopping to do, we knew it might be our last chance since we were only there for one more night. The hotel is beautiful, there's a huge indoor waterfall, shops inside with extraordinary things; jade sculptures like a miniature horse, incredibly ornate ones like a cornicopia of fruit and foods all done in different colored jade, ivory and other stones. Some sold for hundreds of thousands of US dollars and were museum quality. There was a playroom, game rooms, a massage parlor(Jimmy enjoyed a good massage there, but no one walked on his back as he had been wishing for), hair salons, restaurants and shops all within the hotel building. Outside, we rented a stroller(for free actually, from the place we had our laundry done) and enjoyed checking out the island. The vendors and shopkeepers are very forward and greet you on the street and proclaim the beauty and low prices in their shops; we soon learned that most of the shops carried the same products and we could easily bargain down the prices. Something I had bought for 120 Yuan at the Jade Factory I was able to purchase another here for only 30!(120 Yuan is about $15 US, 30 would be about $3.50). We found there was a Starbucks, which was out of place but we really appreciated a good cup of coffee at last! That day Jimmy and I also found Lucy's Cafe that had an American burger on the menu for lunch. It tasted great after 3 meals a day of Chinese food. We loved the food there, but needed a change sometimes. After getting our laundry and other things in order, we met up with the whole group to walk to a Cantonese Restaurant for dinner. We had babies, 28 of them, in strollers, etc. and suddenly the skies darkened and a squall kicked up, we had to make a mad dash for it in the wind and rain, laughing and screaming all the way. I put Laina inside my windbreaker with just her head poking out and she was giggling the whole time, the hostesses had a good chuckle at our appearance at the Restaurant. Dinner with agroup like that takes some time so after that, it was back to our rooms, baths for the babes and bed for all.