The Hunt For Kinkos

Where we left you last, we had hoped to visit the well known Namdamun Market. This we did the next day.
Unfortunately there was one very boring but important stop before the highlight of our day. That was applying for our Chinese visas. To do that we required some last minute paperwork that needed to be printed out. Before departing the hotel Mom had looked up directions to a copy shop called Kinkos, apparently just passed the 711. We should have known that using these common-as-dirt convenience stores as landmarks was a terrible idea but I guess we’re slow learners. We were unsuccessful in our search. We don’t have a phone and couldn’t get WiFi on our IPad so we had to look for other ways to get directions. I don’t recommend trying to find a tiny copy shop you only know the name of in a black hole of a city where you don’t speak the language. After 15 minutes of wandering the street in the neighborhood we hoped the establishment was located and tapping random passers by on the shoulder and just saying “Kinkos? Kinkos?” over and over again, making the word rise up at the end like a question, we admitted we needed to go back to our hotel to download the directions. On the way back, Dad stopped us. A small print and copy shop had caught his eye. It wasn’t Kinkos but we ere all thrilled to see it. Without those documents we would be in trouble. The old man running the shop didn’t speak any English but that was a ok with dad. He was looking for any excuse to put his recently acquired Google Translate app into use. Justin jumped right in with a montauge of charades demonstrations and hand motions in hopes to help teach the old timer how to use the app. It didn’t work too well, which so far seems to be the theme of the day. Mom had trouble figuring out how to log into her gmail because Dad couldn’t get the guy to understand the translator and everything on the screen was in Korean. We might have struck out again if it hadn’t   With12 dollars apiece, we were unleashed upon endless stalls dealing in everything from clothing to cutlery. We satisfied our dumpling cravings with an excellent little place called King Dumplings. After a few meat and kimchi delicacies we set out to shop once again to find somewhere out of the sun. The indoor shopping center started underground and continued up at least 6 stories. I bought a few gifts to send to the States, Mom and Dad purchased a Christmas Ornament to continue the travel tradition while Nick bought a cuddly little panda to add to his growing collection of nomadic friends. Later we retired to our hotel room for relaxation (Dad) and homeschool (Everybody Else). I ended up getting a really bad headache and felt really sick so Dad stayed with me while I slept in the hotel room and Mom and Nick went for a walk.