Up and At 'Em

Finally rolled out around 3 p.m. this afternoon, and the hotel maid was eager to get in and start smoking in our room.  We walked about 15 minutes down the road, only having to cross a street once, and went to a nice, big, three story shopping mall to get something to eat and stretch our legs.  It was overcast, but I gave Maryn my sunglasses so she could go undercover.  Dined at McD where they offer a photo lineup of menu selections.  Our index fingers speak English and Mandarin so that works well.  Won't order the milk next time unless I need it to put myself to sleep, but the rest tasted as delicious as it does at home.  I'll leave it to you to determine your own level of deliciousness for that.  Attached to the mall is a Wal*Mart so we went in in search of air freshener and found it on our own without a dictionary or international incident.  A bottle of spritzy *Glade* in a lovely scent and two cans of lavender gel are doing their duty in our new adjoining rooms with one king bed and two twins.  The open windows are doing what they can to exchange the air and also bringing in the sounds of Hefei which go something like BEEP, beep beep, EEEENG, HONK, squeak, rumble, rumble.  I like it because it doesn't sound like home and reminds us where we are and what we're doing here.

I must apologize for two of the pictures above.  I don't like it when I'm on someone's travel blog and see pictures of tomorrow night's dinner waiting around in cages or tubs without being forewarned they are coming up. But, this is Wal*Mart, and those snakes are not something you're going to see on people**at*wal*mart*com, or whatever that site is.  I give you my solemn word you won't see any more pictures of things in cages or tubs here so come back again.