Looking back: Guiyang Wal-Mart

Things are pretty busy here in Peoria, but we have a couple pix to share from the week. I guess it will take a while to tell that China trip story. When we visited the previously park on January 13, we went on a fun little paddle boat ride on the Nanming River (that's our guide in the picture). Later, we headed to the local Wal-Mart. Shopping in another country is a bit of an adventure - we were always looking for familiarities and yet we often enjoyed finding the differences. It was the grocery portion of the store that was the most unusual to us (anybody want some chicken feet?). A lot of the food (especially the meat) was less packaged than in the states. There were lots of smoked products. There were live fish, frogs, and turtles for sale (for eating). There was not any opportunity for negotiation over prices there. There were lots of New Year's decorations up. We found a snack that Katie really liked, some little round sweet crackers. Our guide found a bag of them and held it up and Katie recognized them and threw an immediate fit - her first meltdown with us. We ate a late lunch at the KFC in the store, but again we accidentally got breaded chicken that was too spicy. By the way, the Wal-Mart is underground. Above the store is a beautifully decorated park called the People's Square. Interestingly, across the street from this square there is a statue of Chairman Mao with his hand up in the air. Someone slyly commented to us that Mao is saluting Wal-Mart. We wound up visiting Wal-Mart (and KFC) a number of times during our stay in Guiyang.