Guest Post #2 - Art & Judy

I'm Judy and today, I thought I would write the blog. We started the day walking through the back alleys amongst all the "marketeers". They are the street vendors that sell live animals such as the ducks (pictured in the basket behind us), dead animal parts like pigs feet, and live fish that are swimming in bowls awaiting their fate. I'm so used to going to the grocery store and finding my food in the back area of the store, wrapped in cellophane, ready to take home to cook for dinner. Just try and imagine seeing the Donald behind us, watching the vendor twist his neck, skin and clean him, and wrap him up for you to take home for dinner! Hard to believe this happens... It definitely takes time to get used to seeing this.

Next we went to Gu lang yu. This is an island off of Xiamen (which by the way is also an island). It was a nice walk meandering through the alleys. This island used to house the embassys of other countries when China wouldn't alow them on the shores of it's country..... It was such a nice day... but very hot so I had to break down and buy a hat!
This is definitely the coolest hat I've ever worn.... All I know is that you would wear this if it was over 100 degrees too....
After some awesome shopping which included the purchase of pocketbooks, pearls and watches, we decided we wanted a pinda pijiu (cold beer). What fun... The bar held probably 10 people at most. It was a very quaint place in one of the alleys on the island...

At one point, it rained unbelievably hard! We got soaked but it definitely didn't slow down our shopping!

So after the island trip, we went out again on Xiamen. We partied with the crazy Mexican- still don't know his name!
Today we went to a temple to pray for Mark, cause he didn't feel too good today. Must have been the crazy Mexican!
On the way home, we went back through the marketplace in the alley.... If you ever go to China, you need to see how the people really live. It is something special to witness....

Come visit Tina and Mark!!!!! They are such good hosts... Judy