Exploration

The other day Amanda and I had our classes canceled so we decided to do a bit of exploring in the city. Our goal was to one of the trams as far as we could and then hike along a road near the coast for awhile. The tram ride lasted about 40 minutes and when we arrived at the end we found out the road was closed for construction, or something. So we took the tram back and decided to get dropped off at a random square. We got off the tram and noticed a Carrefour (French version of Wal Mart), so we decided to check it out. Look for some cheap dvd's. More expensive than the street vendors though ($2-3 U.S. vs. 75 cents). Had an amazing encounter at the store though! While AManda was waiting in line an elderly Chinese lady asked her in perfect English "are you a tourist here?" We talked with her for awhile and found out that she had "resided in D.C. for 20 years." Her name is Ruth and her husband is Benjamin. She said they have those names b/c they are believers! IT was all His timing. amazing. got their #, will see them again.
Had lunch at McD's and then decided to use the map of the city that we bought and try to just explore the area. It was a lot of fun. We hiked all over the area. Went to a beautiful park (Children's Park on Google Earth), walked through a botanical garden, and went through some amazing streets with very American looking homes. All empty though. My friend Jason said that perhaps they are too expensive and n0 one can afford them! It was great to be able to walk around the city with a map and actually find our way around. We are hoping to continue doing this until we have seen most of the city, at least the downtown area.
After exploring the area we took a tram to Russian Town. Which turned out to be Russian styled buildings with lots of Chinese vendors selling random things. We bought some gifts for the folks back home, had a good time bartering for things. It's amazing how marked up everything is. They're hoping to catch some uninformed tourists and rip them off. WOuld have been us if our friends hadn't told us you offer 1/4 price for most street vendor items! crazy way to shop. you feel bad at first, but get used to it after awhile.
Our last stop was a Spanish Style restaurnat called Tapas that we noticed on our way back from the Bingyu Valley. We were praying for some Mexican style food. It was a little pricey but the atmosphere was very nice and the food was excellent. Amanda had a super-green asparagus and spinach soup and we got a garlic bread with chicken appetizer. Great change up for the taste buds! THe main course was almost fajitas...we're still looking for tortillas. But we got the meat, the bell peppers onions and rice. Not bad. Not bad at all.