Still in Nanchang

We had a very mellow day yesterday.  While Monday was spent dealing with paperwork, driving from office to office, yesterday we had nothing official to do.  After breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we split up.  John took the boys to the pool while mom, Mary and I took Zhen Zhen for a walk.  Crossing the streets is SCARY.  Traffic- cars, bicycles and motor bikes come from every direction, seemingly at random.  Unlike in the US, there is no assumption that pedestrians have the right of way.  On the other hand, everyone seems to just try to make room for everyone else, and the cool thing is, even though it is chaotic, no one seems angry.  There is no swearing or yelling.  Though cars honk, it's just to let you know they're coming.

We made it to a long pedestrian mall/open street lined with stores selling clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. We wandered and took pictures of men playing Chinese chess.   People seemed curious about us and stared a lot, but it was not unfriendly.  We went into a children's clothes store and bought a bottle brush and baby lotion.  One thing we noticed is that babies and toddlers all had on split pants, and when they have to pee, they just squat and go, right on the sidewalk.  The mothers holding infants in split pants periodically will squat and hold the baby in a squatting position so they can go.  There's something sweet about a culture that holds baby pee harmless and inoffensive.  We asked in th store about the split pants- the lady indicated that people just cut the seems of little kid pants.  I'm not sure if they ever come already split or not.

We bought Mary ice cream, and then wandered back to the hotel.  We decided to go into a grocery store which was a lot of fun.  It was both familiar and unfamiliar.  There was a dairy aisle, just like at home, but there was corn-flavored yogurt for sale along with frozen pea popcicles.  Most of the food was unrecognizable except for the ramen noodles and the softdrinks  We bought some of each along with cookies and snacks.  I can't wait to go back and explore some more.

Today we are heading out on a drive into the countryside.