Shamian Island

Today, Sunday, we went to Shamian Island to do a little shopping and sightseeing. If the success of the trip has anything to do with the amount of money spent then it was a definite success. Only joking, but we did find a lot of things we liked. The first shop we went to seemed a little expensive but it did have some of the things we were looking for, so we got several things. Of course, our guide had told us that we should bargain, but I am not good at doing that. I'm sure the lady in the shop could easily see that. 

We walked around after shopping and went to a park like setting where there was a fish pond and lots of statues that I took pictures of -- usually with the girls in the pictures. We watched some boats on the water and the girls ran around blowing bubbles -- their choice from the shop. It was hard to decide if the bubbles were a help or a problem today. They were definitely entertained but some of the people walking by were not that amused at being covered in bubbles. I mean covered, as the wands were very large and they were just slinging and slinging them and bubbles were everywhere. I did try to control some of this, but was not very successful. 

There were a few places that people actually stopped with their small children and watched Piper and Tess slinging out the bubbles. Little kids were fascinated -- probably because they were doing it with such passion. I think we spent about 10 or 15 minutes sitting and watching the girls go wild making bubbles with several kids watching. The mothers could hardly get the kids to leave. It gave us a few minutes of rest.

Then we went to one last shop and bought a few more things. That was the shop where Piper spilled her bubbles all over the floor. A real mess. The lady was so nice about it and said no problem and cleaned it all up. And she still gave us some really good deals. Such a nice shop owner. She said business hadn't been very good since the White Swan Hotel had closed and she thanked us for our business. She was so very nice and friendly and she let me take a picture of her with the girls. 

It was a very pleasant day -- probably our most enjoyable since getting here. Abigail and I both agreed we would like to go back to the island. It is such a good place for the girls to burn up some of that energy.