Our first day in Guangzhou

Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Mel - We had our first buffet breakfast at the Victory Hotel but I'm still not feeling 100% so didn't eat much. After breaky we walked down the street passed a wedding dress and photo place and I showed Mum a hideous dress in the window but it is too ugly to explain how ugly it is. Mums face was hilarious when she saw it. We crossed a bridge and walked along there for a bit then crossed another bridge back to Shamian Island.

We then walked to the ferry station and bought tickets - they were ½ Yuan each - we then walked three steps and put the tickets into a bucket . We walked into the waiting area and after a few minutes the gates opened. We walked over a ramp onto the floating pier and got onto the boat. We walked onto the top to look around Guangzhou. The boat only had a few seats - it was mainly for people to stand and not sit. The ferry trip took us 4 minutes and took us to the mainland. We got off and I ran straight to the fitness equipment. The seats were all wet so I could only use a few. There was a bike thing, a wheel to spin using your hands and a few others but different to the ones in Yangzhou. Nana and Pa bought "the best tasting darn tart ever" - they looked disgusting. We walked up a street and looked at a DVD shop. We then walked up a bit further and looked and Nana got her hair cut - it looked funny - Nana got her hair cut while Val, Mum and I went and looked at more DVD shops. We bought a few DVDs then walked back down the street for a 5 yuan shop for a feed but all the good stuff was gone and Pa wasn't happy so we went to a bakery and bought a few things. We then walked down the street further and were heading towards the ferry station but then Nana saw a restaurant so we ate there instead of eating the things from the bakery . While it was cooking, Mum and I walked over to the fitness stuff. A few people had used them so a few of the seats were dry - yea! I played on a few of the things until lunch came. Half way through lunch I found a dog sitting next to me - he was adorable. One of the ladies who worked at the restaurant showed me a few tricks that the dog could do. It was the first time for this trip that mum and I got a COLD soft drink. Usually our sprite and cola are straight from the shelf.

We caught the ferry back to the hotel and sat down for a few minutes. We then went out to the BIG 2 Yuan shop that Pa ALWAYS talks about. We walked passed lots of shops with massive buckets and bags of who knows what (possibly - Food? Nuts? Mushrooms? Fish?) We walked a bit further passed shops with lots of fish, fish tanks and accessories, adorable little puppies and cute little kittens - except a few of the animals had red tape over their ears - we don't know why. We walked a bit further and then found out the 2 Yuan shop had closed for good - and I had already worked out that I could buy 57 things and still have a bit of money left. I was devastated as were Mum and Val. We'd all been so looking forward to the shop. We then walked along the shopping mall where I was the first to spot McDonalds. We went back to the hotel and ate the things that we got from the bakery for tea in Nana and Pas room. Back to our room to type this up then bed.

Kate - as we walked along the shopping area, to get our attention, the shop assistants would whistle. It would make us turn and look at who was whistling, which got us looking into their shop. They then hope that you will think - ah, just what I need, and head in there!! Very strange but very Asian way of doing things.
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