Today took our first taxi ride in Guangzhou and left the island to go see the real Guangzhou. Shamian Island is very touristy, very modern, and very Western. First we walked down to the bank to exchange money. We had no idea that it would be such a process! I stayed outside with the wheelchair and Cami. It took them well over 30 minutes and there wasn't but a few people in there.
This was our first taxi ride in Guangzhou. Not as crazy as Nanchang, but still a lot of cars. In Nanchang, cars, bicycles and motorbikes drove 5 lanes across in a 3 lane rode. Also, there are no traffic laws at all. People drove through red lights, people walked right in front of oncoming cars and buses, and bicyles swerved in and out of traffic. It was crazy in Nanchang!
We went to the Jade Market first. Mom was looking for a Jade piece and I wanted a pendant for Cami when she got older. I had heard that you had to be careful because there are lots of fake Jade made out of plastic and glass rather than Jade and they were right. It was stall after stall of the same type of bracelets and statues. The products in the few shops that appeared to be more creditable were very expensive. No one bought anything. I didn't want to spend a lot of money for something that I didn't know for sure was real. Also, it was getting incredibly hot and humid. We are all sweating like crazy.
Next we went to TeeMall. It is one of the local malls where the local residents shop. And it was air conditioned! It is 7 stories tall and each floor specialized in a different type of product. IE: electronics on 1 floor, clothing on another floor, etc. The best deals were in the basement though. It apparently is the sale area and when we walked out of the elevator you would have thought you were out shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. Wall to wall people everywhere. The kids found a remote control car, I found some great deals on clothes for Cami and I, and Mom found a few great deals also. John was a wonderful! He would rather be anywhere than a mall, but he hung with us for that afternoon. The mall had a Pizza Hut, so we had pizza for lunch. It is much more of a nice restuarant there than it is here. After lunch, we girls went shopping a bit longer and the guys spoted an arcade on the floor below the Pizza Hut so they played there for awhile.
We left about 7 pm, but had trouble getting out of the mall! When we tried to leave by the entrance that we came in, the security guard wouldn't let us help Mom down the flight of stairs leading into the mall. He walked us to the elevator and told us to go down 2 floors to the basement by gesturing. We came out of the elevator into what appeared to be the janitor area. We saw a sign that pointed to parking so we headed that way. Two hallways, a large parking lot and a car ramp later we came up onto the street that we tried to get too. Taxi home and Lucy's for dinner!
