First real "free" day

Today has been good; we've been able to relax a bit. No scheduled activities or meetings, just what we wanted to do. It's the first time really since we've been on this trip that we've felt like we truly didn't HAVE to do anything. That being said, we still grabbed a taxi to check out the Jade & Pearl Market and I (Sharon) scheduled a massage in the afternoon. yeah. Of all the massages I've had in my life, this is the first one where the lady actually walked on my back! It was great. I scheduled another one for tomorrow afternoon (during Danielle's nap) since they're about 1/2 the price you'd pay in the States, plus it feels really good on my back and leg muscles after carrying "Super Fudge Chunk" around every minute for the last several days. I have to brag though for Tom today--he made great strides with her, both putting her down for a nap and to bed and giving her a bath w/o me, yippee!! Danielle still insists on sitting on my lap for every meal, though; we're hoping to break her of that habit before we get home! We've had fun shopping on Shamian Island where our hotel is located and have sampled on good restaurants, too. Yesterday we ventured to a highly recommended Thai restaurant and tonite we were less daring and went to a Western-style restaurant where I ordered a big steak. Oh, and I also ordered "ginger Coke", thinking that it was ginger ale . . . about 15 mins. later they came with what appeared to be hot tea--it was literally hot Coke that had been infused with ginger. NOT what I was expecting. Needlesstosay, it tasted like very sweet syrup so I promptly ordered a Perrier instead. We've been dining most meals with new friends from our travel group which has been fun, esp. when eating Chinese and Thai where we can all sample each other's dishes. We're looking forward to coming home soon, though. Missing the sights, smells, and most of all people whom we love so much. Only 4 more days.