The previous two pictures are from a little trip to the island of Gulangyu.

It was a European, mostly British, enclave, with remarkable architecture. Some of it is in decay, but much is preserved as tourist attractions. Many guided tours passed us during our visit.

To us target-oriented-shopper types it means one thing: Pearl World and Nena.

We found the shop and introduced ourselves. The name of my employer worked powerful magic. They immediately fetched Nena, a young girl of about 25 who spoke very good English, which, I came to realize was taught mostly by people from my company. She opened a business card binder with page after page of our cards in it. I, foolishly, didn't bring one. No matter, my partner had one, and he had "The List". Pearl World is famous among my coworkers.

We spent two hours there filling orders from the people at home, selecting the pearls, deciding the length, and watching the girls string them.

I asked for a jade bracelet and got to hand pick the beads and helped arrange them into something I thought C would like. Fun!

It's 4:00 AM here, Saturday morning. We're going back!