Our 1st Shopping Trip at the Rock Plaza, Guangzhou, China

Day 3, Wednesday - 1^st Shopping Trip at the Rock Square, Guangzhou,  China 

We had a good dinner last night  with J.  He told us a lot of what he has been doing in China and the goals he has set for himself.  We just hope that he would not overwork himself in pursuing his dreams.

I only brought two pairs of shoes with me to China. One of the straps on my favourite sandal came off and I ended up not having any decent shoes  to wear with my dresses. I went and asked the hotel concierge where I could have my sandals repaired. He was surprised and told me that there were no shoe repair shops anywhere near the hotel. The only thing he could think of was someone moving around with his tools to fix shoes or things for others.  He told us where to go to find this mobile repair person. 

We walked around the neighbourhood but could not find any shops or anyone who would repair shoes.  Wow! Things have really changed!  When we were in China in 2008, we could find repair shops and people with temporary stations to fix things easily on street corners. 

But today the situation is very different. With their country’s economy getting better every year, Chinese people are getting more affluent and their living standards have been improving. 

 It is evident that the lives of the average Chinese are better now than they were before. They are earning more, therefore can afford to spend and buy more.   Consequently, they are buying new shoes instead of repairing old ones.

We walked to the shopping plaza closest to our hotel - Rock Square, and did some shopping there.

There were many restaurants serving a variety of foods from different countries. We had lunch in an Italian restaurant . I had Pellea and S. ordered a drink as he ate the leftover from last night.

After lunch, we shopped in the mall and I bought two dresses from Aeon. The prices were very good!

There were many books in the Children's Section in the Mall.

As an educator, I am always interested in children’s books. We took a look at the children's section. There were quite a lot of  reading material available. 

A parent reading right there to his child

However, I  could not find any picture frames there at all. Construction paper, plastic book covers and were expensive compared to Canada, almost tripled the price back home.

We found a fine pastry corner in the shopping plaza

The weather has been hovering above 30-35 degree C and it was hot and humid.

We were drenched and felt tired after walking around for a little while. 

Coffee break time!

It felt good to find a half decent bakery corner in the shopping plaza!

We sat, enjoyed a coffee break with some fine pastries and the air conditioning!

J. furnished his place with IKEA furniture

After our first shopping trip, we went back to our hotel, refreshed ourselves and waited until  J. finished working. We took a taxi  to his place ( 11 RMB) but it wasn’t easy to find.

We saw J.'s place for the first time and we  were impressed by how much J. has done to his place to make it comfortable. He furnished his place with IKEA furniture, such as sets of tables and chairs, a bed bed and some book shelves, not bad at all.

J. looked so tired after working all day.  He took us to eat in a Muslim restaurant near his condo.  It was 9pm when we sat down and ate.  We were happy that we saw him two days in a row! The food was good!  J. offered to pay for our meal.  What a treat for us!

R.T.

Rock Plaza

Guangzhou

China

Visiting Shamian Island, Guangzhou, China

Day 2 - Shamian Island, Guangzhou, China

Going to places is easy using the Guangzhou Metro

We got up at around 10am and glad that we both were able to sleep the first night well in China!

We made arrangement to meet and had dinner with J. later tonight. Though I could not access google in China,  I could search via Yahoo and found a few places where we could visit.

A map to help visitors to get around on the Shamian Island, Guangzhou

We decided that the main reason for our visit was to see J. therefore we did not go crazy trying to see all the main attractions in the city of Guangzhou.

The French and British dug a river and created an island at Shamian in the 1800's

Taking it easy this time, we only planned to visit one place each day.

There are two bridges to cross over to Shamian Island

Though we were in this city about three decades ago, I really did not see much of the city as we signed up for a three day tour with a tour company to visit a couple of cities in the province.

Revisiting the White Swam hotel after twenty six years! 

I remembered staying at the White Swam Hotel on Shamian Island, however, I could not remember much of the island.

It was easy taking the Guangzhou Metro from our hotel to the island. the concierge was very helpful and we took the subway for the first time in Guangzhou.

The Guangzhou Metro is modern, clean, efficient and very affordable indeed.

Some of these buildings were consulate offices of European countries

From our hotel to the Shamian Island, it cost us 3 RMB  which was 60 cents Canadian!

Shamian was an important trading and defence point during the 1800's.

This building is currently used as a clinic.

China gave Shamian Island to  Britain and France as a concession after the Opium War.

The river separated Shamian Island from the city of Guangzhou

The British and French dug a man made  river creating an island and a piece of Europe in Guangzhou for themselves.

Shamian Chapel - Sunday Services are still held here 

It was interesting to see all those European style buildings in a Chinese city!

However, it also reminded us of the ugly past of colonialism and how the European countries ganged up and bullied China and other weaker nations at the time.

The best part of visiting Shamian Island was discovering the Shamian Park.

Shamian Park - located right next to the Pearl River 

From the park we could see Pearl River and the buildings in the city of Guangzhou.

It is an absolutely beautiful park for the people, enjoyed by the people!

Shamian Park - a beautiful park by the Pearl River!

 Strolling through the park, we came across numerous beautiful gardens and tropical plants.

We admired the spectacular majestic trees!

We were awed by the many majestic old trees in the park.

Many old trees are seen in the park.

Evidently, these trees are treasured and protected!

Many of these old majestic trees are well over two to three hundred years old!

Old trees labelled and tracked by the city

Many have been tracked and labelled with detail information by the city of Guangzhou.

Grandfather and Child with a Bird Cage

Another feature we loved about the Shamian Park was the sculptures placed throughout the park!

Two Actresses 

 These sculptures were created by local artists of Guangzhou.

Grandfather and Child

Many of these sculptures depict the lives and cultures of the people in the city.

Two blind musicians

They included a diversity of ages and abilities of the Chinese people.

A Woman  Enjoying the Sun While Walking a Dog

A street performer singing for his audience under the city highway

                                                 
                                                                             













 One thing I appreciate a lot in China is how well Chinese people use the space underneath their city highways.

The highway above providing shade to both performers and audience in the park

While some space under the highway has been used as parking lots in this park, on the day of our visit, some space was used as a performing stage providing shade to the street performers and audience from the hot scorching sun!

A lady dancing to the music blasting from the loudspeaker behind her.

There was a group of three men taking turn to sing with a microphone in their hands while on  the other side of the park a   lady was dancing to the music blasting from a loudspeaker close by .

A couple of elder men were immersed in their chess games

There were people sitting under the trees while a couple groups of retired men playing chess.

Children riding their bikes while their parents watching close by

We also saw happy children riding freely on their two and three wheel bikes.

Spectacular old trees abound on Shamian Island

J. came and met us at our hotel. It was good to see him again after more than a year. He looked better than I thought though skinnier than when he was in Canada. We ate at the hotel restaurant on the 4^th floor.

A restaurant on Shamian Island near the Park

He was enthusiastic and talked a lot about what he was up to and about how committed he was to his work. We have not had such a good chat for a long time!

It was a nice dinner. We did take some pictures but I had taken the card out and left it on the computer therefore, did not get any pictures of our first dinner together in China, darn it!

After dinner, he came up to our room and was happy when I showed him the pictures and picture album I brought him. He sat and talked with us for a little while and then left for home as he needed to be at work at 8:30 am! He showed us his schedule for the month and I could see he has been busy!

R.T.
Shamian Island
Guangzhou, China

Taking a Direct Bus from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, China

Day 1 of Our Trip to China

We landed in Hong Kong!

Thank God! It was an uneventful fifteen hour direct flight from Toronto to Hong Kong.

 We boarded the 10:30a.m. plane and I was afraid that it would be a long day ahead sitting in the plane. It wasn't so bad. I watched three movies and had a dinner, snacks in between and a nice breakfast and we arrived in Hong Kong!

An exhibition in the HK Airport

The Hong Kong airport is modern, efficient and well serviced to serve travelers from around the world.









There were a lot of staff personnel around to help travelers arriving at the airport with their questions and transportation needs.

The day we landed in the airport we saw  a display of how some used bike wheels could be turned into art work. It was interesting!

We enjoyed a concert at the Hong Kong Airport

In the other side of the hall, there was a concert going on entertaining travelers who had time to enjoy it!

Tourists can take a direct bus from Hong Kong Airport into mainland China

Our destination was not Hong Kong, but mainland China. We went to Terminal 2 to catch a bus to mainland China.

We didn’t have to drag our luggage too far. For 180 Yuen per person, we could buy a ticket on a coach from the Hong Kong Airport going directly to Guangzhou, a southern Chinese city.

The bus waiting area was spacious and comfortable

The waiting area was spacious and comfortable. The bus ran frequently, every half an hour. We bought our tickets at around 2:20pm, and waited for about 15 minutes and got on the bus.

Leaving the HK Airport and going into China on a bus

The coach left at 3pm. This was our first time taking a bus into mainland China and it gave us a chance to enjoy the nice scenery along the way.

A nice bus ride for us to enjoy the scenery of Hong Kong

I  never realized Hong Kong was so hilly. It was a smooth bus ride; the bus was not crowded, only about three quarter full.

However, there was no washroom facility on the coach. We were forewarned by some friends and were prepared for that therefore we avoided drinking too much water before boarding.

Our first custom crossing at the Hong Kong border

About 30 minutes after leaving Hong Kong, the bus stopped at the Hong Kong custom where we had to bring everything down from the bus and cleared customer there. That didn’t take long at all.

Our second custom inspection at the Chinese border before entering China

I thought it was easy crossing the border. Little did I know that the bus stopped at the Chinese border and every passenger had to unload every piece of their  luggage for the second time.

This time it took a little longer to clear at the Chinese border as the border officer looked at every detail of our Chinese visa and passport. It took longer but we all cleared without any incident.

The bus trip from from Hong Kong to Guangzhou was from 2:45pm – 7:30pm, about four and half hours, longer than we thought. Since we were not in a hurry to get into China, we considered it a sightseeing trip and we enjoyed the ride.

The bus stopped at a number of designated stops to unload its passengers in Guangzhou, China. After it dropped us off at our requested stop, we took a taxi to get to our hotel, it cost 30 RMB ( about Can. $6.00, not bad at all!)

Our hotel is comfortable!

We called J. and told him we arrived at the hotel. He said he would come over next day and meet us. It might as well as we were really tired. I had been up for almost 48 hours.

Our first dinner in Guangzhou, China

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and went to sleep after that. I slept like a baby for the first night in mainland China!

R.T.
Guangzhou
China

Buying Last MinuteTravel Insurance at the Airport was Easy!

Buying Insurance Last Minute on Our Travel Day 

Since we have heard many horror stories about the huge medical cost incurred by some Canadian while travelling overseas, one thing we always sure we do prior to our trips is buying travel insurance.

However,  since there were so many unexpected things going on prior to our departure for our big trip that we forgot to buy travel insurance. I remembered people could do that from the airport and that was exactly what we did.

We called the insurance company which we often use at the airport. To our surprise and relief, our call was answered right away without a lot of waiting time! As long as we had not boarded the plane and were still within the country, we could buy the travel insurance for our trip, the insurance agent told us.

The agent was very pleasant and polite. She asked us a few questions plus some standard medical questions such as what kinds of medications we had been taking, had we been treated for serious illness or hospitalized for past few months and did we have any previous known illness etc. The whole process did not take long at all, about 10- 15 minutes.

However, the cost jumped up a lot from our last overseas trip since we turned 60!  It was close to $200.00 for the two of us for a two week plus a few days holiday covering us for medical emergencies.

It was fast and easy buying our travel insurance last minute before we boarded our plane in the Toronto Pearson Airport

Well, for our peace of mind, we gladly bought the travel insurance and hope that we would not have to use it!

R.T.
Toronto Pearson Airport
Toronto

A Belated Mother's Day Gift from Our Son

It is pretty exciting that we are going to China!!

We are waiting at the Pearson Airport ready for boarding. Funny, I didn’t even feel tired even though I did not sleep at all for the whole night last night!

It has been an exciting day when we called E. yesterday and talked to him before our trip.

He surprised us by sharing his good news with me via email. He sent me three attachments, two of which were his job offers from a couple of tech companies in the U.S. and the other was his resume which was impressive indeed. He‘s got a management position and has essentially moved away from his first job.  This new job he has now pays him much better, a huge % increase in salary that comes with a few perks.

Why didn’t he share with me this great news right away? It would have made a great mothers’ day present for me!  We had a good almost ½ hour conversation on skype and he hasn’t looked this happy and relaxed for a long time. 

This  is why I like calling him on Saturday when he doesn’t have to work. E. was also very excited when talking about his future business trips to Europe. His current title at the new company is some kind of a manager for a huge region. At the end of our conversation, I asked if we could pray together. Though he seemed reluctant, he agreed and we did pray together! 

Thank you God for softening our son's heart! I hope it is a sign that his attitude is slowly changing and that he would seek God and think about the eternal thing more in the future!

R.T.
Toronto