Touring in Guangzhou

The picture above is a poorer section of Guangzhou. As per typical, the city streets have shops all around on ground level with residential apartment like units above. Haphazardly between these quasi residential/commercial areas is either fancy skyscraper buildings or large new construction as seen in the background behind the bamboo screenwall. The city's are really quite clean for the massive amounts of people. There is an odd thing about this picture - this picture is not as densely populated with people as most areas. The area in Guangzhou where we spent most of our time was more a tourist trap. The "real" Chinese people other than shop Owners were busy in other sections of town, leaving this area for foreign guests. Tara and I almost compare parts of Guangzhou to Cancun - it is really beautiful, but touristy, and the people are pandering to you, all to make the sale. "For you... special price - big discount", they really know how to work a sale. Tj and I were walking around and a young girl working in a shop can out and asked if we were brothers.... She went on to say I couldn't be TJ's father because I couldn't be more than 27. Needless to say that is where I bought all my souvenirs....

This was a scene inside the Thai restaurant, the same place where TJ ate a pigeon dish. The people in the background all gathered together while we ate our early dinner, to practice their English. It was really funny listening to them working on this as a group... It somehow made me feel better knowing how hard we have struggled with our Chinese....

Yes it's true - McDonald's is in China. Along with Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Even AmWay!!! Somethings are just plain wrong. China should keep their bad toys and we should keep our .......... stuff. Amazingly enough these places are always busy here and really are much better facilities here than in the U.S.. In reality as much as I believe it is a travesty to have these entities in China - honestly after a period of time a familiar sign and identifiable food substance is quite refreshing and comforting!

Any guesses on the tallest building in Guangzhou? It is the Amway head quarter's building.... I had fun with our guide on this one. You'll have to ask me about the details.

This was a view of a huge shopping area in the center of town. Lots of exterior vendors, specialty shops and a major multi-story mall that would make any mall in the U.S. pale in comparison. These people know how to shop! This shot of the central walkway through the mall area was much more representative of the vast amounts of people and traffic we experienced. The hustle and bustle reminded me of New York and East coast. People everywhere doing there own thing. We all held hands and stayed very close together so that we did not become separated.

The weather was simply amazing. While in Guangzhou we suffer through the 60-80 degree weather, while only 10-30 degrees at home with snow and ice to boot....