Snow in Urumqi!

So, today was a bit more relaxed than the last few days. It started off with us actually having to wake Ellie up at 8:30 am. The little munchkin was sound asleep! As it turns out, her sleep schedule has been crazy messed up this week, and we still aren’t quite sure what her regular sleep schedule is.

 

So, after getting Ellie up, and starting our day, we met our guide, Jacky, in the hotel lobby at 10:30 to go to the local bazaar to get Elllie some traditional Urumqi items. But, as we walked outside, we noticed it was snowing! It is so crazy that we had to come all the way to China to find snow.

 

After about a 20 minute drive we arrived at the bazaar. As you might imagine, everything is all about negotiating. Fortunately for us, we were the first shoppers of the day, and each shop-keeper wanted to give us the best deal since it is good luck in China to make a sale to your first shopper of the day. By the way, Allison is amazing at negotiating! Her philosophy goes something like this: find out what the price is, offer what you are willing to pay, then walk away until the shopkeeper comes running back and agrees to your price. Allison turns negotiating into an art form.

 

At this point, around 11:30, Ellie fell asleep in the carrier for her first nap of the day. After a little more shopping, we decided it was time to go back to the hotel and rest. So, we tromped through the light snow over to the local KFC. We thought this would be fairly easy (you know, being KFC and all) but once again, we were wrong! Everything was in Chinese, and they do not have what the American KFC has. We were so glad our guide was there to help us. We ended up getting some chicken burger combo meal that came with a cheesy rollup thing, a tart thing, and a drink. All of it was very good, but the chicken burger had some super spicy hot sauce on it. As a side note, this KFC has no pork, because Urumqi is highly Muslim. As another side note, our bill was 66 RMB (Chinese money) and apparently 6’s are very lucky in China, so our guide told us we had a very lucky lunch. Also, that is about $10.65 in American dollars. 

 

So, then we came back to the hotel and tried to put Ellie in a nap. She took a nap (second nap) for about 20 minutes, then she was wide awake. So, we ate and played a bit. Eventually, she got tired again so we tried for another nap (third nap), and this time she slept for about 2 and a half hours. Well, that was all well and good until now (1:14 am Urumqi time.) Ellie is still up and she is not tired at all. But, she is being super cute and laughing at mommy while playing with some goldfish crackers. (As a side note, it is now 1:50 am Urumqi time and Ellie is fast asleep. Yay!) 

 

Tomorrow, we are just going to stay at the hotel all day (we may go out for a special pizza hut lunch-but please keep in mind that once again, Chinese pizza hut is WAY different than American pizza hut) and try to pack and relax for a bit before catching a plane to Guanzhou Friday morning.

 

-Allison and Ellie in the snow in Urumqi!

 

 

 

-Our guide Jacky in the snow in Urumqi!

 

-The local bazaar!

 

 

-The menu at the local KFC! We ordered the chicen burger on the top left hand side!

 

 

-Ellie in her new dress!