4 5-6 Xingang, China

Xingang is the gateway to Beijing.  Sorry, but we have been to Beijing and spent 3 crazy days seeing everything.  So, we are not going to travel 3 hours each way to see it again.

Instead we went into Xingang.  Xingang is another big city. 

 

Notice which lane our bus is in.  Just to show how traffic lanes are just suggestions.

Now remember, we are in China.  In this car

 

these are the seat covers.

Notice the KFC sign?

 

The shuttle from the ship took us to the Friendship Store.  It is a high end mall.  So, instead of shopping we went to Starbucks.  We found we were unable to blog, since China has blocked certain websites.

So after we did some email and downloads, we took a walk.  Did I mention it was about 46 degrees and very windy and cloudy and foggy?  No!  Well……

We did have some fun.  We stopped at a pharmacy to try to get some milk thistle.  OK, so most of you don’t know what that is.  It is a type of liver cleanser.  They had no idea what I was trying to say, either.  The lady there only spoke a little English.  She offered us amoxicillin, an antibiotic.  So, we gave up on that.

We needed some toothpaste.  Even though we know we can get some on the ship, what fun is that.  We found Colgate toothpaste for $1.  They also had some Amway toothpaste for $6.  Wow, Amway, all the way in China.

As we walked around we passed people who tried not to stare.  So, we went out of our way to smile and wave.  Mostly we got smiles and waves back.

Oh, yesterday Arleen entered a slot machine tournament.  The high score she had to beat was 4,600.  She got 19,863.  If she had been playing for real, she would have won $3,750.  But this was a tournament.  She waited excitedly to collect her winnings and go back to the cabin and tell Duane.  So finally the casino host came and gave her her winnings ………$33.00

What a letdown. (it was fun anyway.)