Funny Tourists

Nick and I had a blast wondering around the city before he had to head out. I love being a tourist! It is very cold here. I'm so glad we have our ear muffs. It is so funny walk around town and have the locals stare at you! They seem to take much delight in the funny fuzzy things covering our ears. Most of the folks around here don't wear anything to cover their ears. Some of the gentelmen do wear big fuzzy hats like you see in old movies about Russia. While Nick is away tonight I am hooking up with my friend Stephanie and a few other girls to go to the Xiang Yang Fashion Market. I've decided I must get my husband a big fuzzy hat!! I hope I'm successful. Stay tuned for pics if it works out. Taxi rides here are very interesting. The hotel staff gives you a taxi card so that wherever you go, a taxi can get you back to the hotel since it's written in Chinese. When you want to go visit an area, you simply ask the front desk staff to write down the place you wish to go in Chinese and you hand it to the taxi driver, cross your fingers and away you go! It's like riding in a roller coaster. You zip in and out of traffic and past pedestrians who are trying to make it across the roadway like the tiny frogs in that old arcade game "Frogger". The taxi driver beeps the horn a lot and flashes his high beams. This seems to be a perfectly normal means of communication between drivers and pedestrians and is not taken aggresively at all. The billboards here are HUGE! They love their NEON lights around here. It's just amazing. I will try and get some pictures of this tonight when I am out with the girls. Well, I'm signing out for now. I'm going to grab a snack and a Pepsi and I will report more news tomorrow. Take care, everyone! KM