After breakfast we ventured out of the hotel and walked. The hotel is in a bustling business area in the Tian He district of Guangzhou. We had learned that there was a Trust-Mart which is a Taiwan owned "Wal-mart" type store near the hotel. We ventured there to purchase snacks and to pick up a few other needed items. For those coming after us you walk out the front of the hotel to the right. Just past the subway entrance on the right there is a set of stairs. These stairs take you under the main road to the other side. If you continue walking straight past the Guangzhou Friendship Store you will come to Trust Mart. Surreal passing a Hageen Daz Ice Cream shop in the middle of small Chinese shops. You will see a triangle of sorts in the center of the road and the Trust-Mart is behind it. It is multi-leveled. For anyone who left basics at home you can find them there. They do not sell Children's clothing though other than infants. They do have a book and toy department. One floor has boxed, shelf stable foods, and beverages. On the lower floor you will find the fresh food! Food so fresh that a fish jumped from a container and was flopping on the floor and Mary Bailey and Billy's feet! They girls thought this was extremely humorous. A worker grabbed a net and scooped it off the floor placing it right back in the bucket. Lots of interesting items were seen that are not common to the USA. It was definitely an enriching cultural experience. You pay and then bag your own items. The photo of the meat cooler is not clear as I was trying to be discreet when taking it but suffice it to say every animal body part could be found! It was cool seeing many items that we purchase at the Super Oriental Market in Homewood. We were able to get the girls their same favorite yogurt drinks and lemon wafer cookies, noodles, and Daddy's Mountain Dew!
We returned to the hotel and met our guide. We made a quick trip to Shamian Island. I will say that I am honestly glad we are not staying there. Having been there twice before and seeing it now was hugely depressing. Being there in the "glory" days when the streets were lined with new families and bustling shops and seeing the now almost empty sidewalks and closed shops made my heart very sad. It was wonderful in that it warmed my heart as it stirred memories of being the place where I "birthed" Mary Bailey and Anneli though. We showed them the White Swan hotel. We showed them Lucy's where we had our first meal with Mary Bailey and later many meals with both of them. We were able to show them the medical office where they had their medicals done to obtain their US visas. We walked in a few shops and left with only one pair of squeaky shoes for our granddaughter, Hadley. We did go into A Gift From China. This is an awesome shop on the Island. All proceeds go to charity. They girls had saved their own money. They had Chinese clothing for American Girl dolls which was very affordable. The girls used their money and bought their dolls an outfit. You are not able to bargain in this store but items are reasonable priced. The other shops on the island will bargain with you. We saw the most beautiful young women being photographed in bridal photos and modeling photos. This is obviously the place to come for photography. It was chilly and starting to mist so our stay was brief. We do hope to return at some point during our stay.
We then went to a local noodle shop for dinner and called it a day. i had posted about this in a Facebook post. Our entire meal was $11.21 US. I was asleep by 7:30p.
Next post will detail our Saturday in Guangzhou...stay tuned.
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