Walmart Visit

This afternoon, we ventured out on our own to Walmart! It was a few blocks away so we just walked. Ally and Alaina took turns in the stroller. We had so much fun looking at the similar things and the unusual things! We saw a large “box-o-beef/ham” (beautifully packaged in a red and gold box for your best CNY gift giving experience!), dried fish hanging on a rope, pig head skins, and coconut coffee. It was sort of like samples day at Sam’s – the Oreo lady was there, as well as the Kraft lady and the Tang lady all passing out samples. It was a multi-level store so we had to work hard to ask where the ramps were, but we found our way around! Our favorite “find” was some Disney DVD’s that cost 15 yuan (about $2) brand new! We let each little girl pick out one – Ally chose “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and Alaina chose the “Disney Princesses” (we all agreed that Miss Randi and SG would be proud!). We brought them back to the room just to make sure they worked on our DVD player – they didn’t work on the portable one, but worked fine on the laptop. They both had the option of Chinese or English. Alaina seemed to enjoy it and sang along to a few songs! Since we know they work, we plan to go back and buy several more in the next day or so. I think we may even be able to get the real full versions of some of the Disney movies – all for 15 yuan! We were the ONLY non-Chinese people there in the entire crowded store. It made me even more aware of how much of a shock awaits Alaina upon going home to GA – yes, we will encounter an occasional Chinese person, but the variety she’ll see will have to be overwhelming! The store was packed with people and all decked out in red and gold decorations in preparation for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration in late January!

We are really enjoying out time in Kunming. Susan, our guide, is really funny and cute. She took us to a jade market that she claimed to be “less expensive”, but we thought it was WAY more expensive than the jade in Guangzhou, so we decided to pass on any jade here. We have a few things that we really hope to find in Guangzhou this time, but not too many. I’m sure we will manage to fill up our suitcase though.

Tomorrow we visit the orphanage. We will be sure to have Susan explain to Alaina that we are just going for a visit and she can take some of her “friends” some candy. I doubt she was very close to anyone there, since she was only there a few weeks (if that) before we got her!