pearls pearls pearls

Yesterday I went back to the happy lemon and made the mistake of asking one of the employees to make me her favorite drink. It was disgusting, and I never want to talk about it again. I also have been pondering the fact that I am unable to have dairy queen when I'm at school at home, and yet it is a mere five minute walk from where I am staying right now.

We walked through a typical market where people were waving sticks of live scorpions in our faces, trying to convince us that scorpions are god's gift to the snacking world. I, of course, found a stand where I watched a woman chop up a piece of watermelon and turn it into juice. Watermelon juice is one of my favorite things on earth.

After lunch, mom and I met with a friend of a friend named "Joe" who has a beautiful stand in the pearl market. I am now officially the most spoiled person in the world. Joe treated us quite nicely. After the pearl market, we went to the hotel bar where I had a kiwi daiquiri.

The most exciting part of yesterday, however, was dinner. http://www.thebeijinger.com/directory/Pure-Lotus-Vegetarian The Pure Lotus is a vegetarian restaurant whose waiters and waitresses are decked out in gold and silver sequined tunics. For my drink, I ordered kiwi pineapple honey juice. They didn't really ask mom what she wanted to drink, and she received some concoction to relieve the symptoms of menopause. We ate vegetarian "sausage" known by the glitzy waiters as Buddha's finger. The presentation of each dish was breathtaking- and usually included a lotus flower. For dessert, we were served watermelon on foil in a driftwood bowl filled with water and dry ice. It was beautiful.

Today we are going to do real tourist things. :)
-Megan