Market Adventures

PHOTOS: Market experience in Guangzhou.  It was pretty interesting.  See below...   Today is Monday in China.  It's Labor Day in the states, but it's just Monday in China.  :-)  The day started off quite good... Jen found a Starbucks!  They opened at 7 am; Jen was there, waiting at the door, by 6:57 am.  :-)  I expect that she'll be there every morning, waiting for the guy to open the door for our much needed caffeine fix.    After downing our much loved Starbucks, we made our way downstairs for the breakfast buffet.  I was relieved and humored to find BACON BITS on the salad bar.  (yes- the salad bar is open and available for breakfast.  I don't know why.)  With bacon bits and Cherrios, Shawna was happy.   The three of us spent the morning walking around the island.  It's so quiet and peaceful here... nothing like Beijing or Chongqing.  It almost feels like a remote, European resort.   Ok- resort is a wee bit of an overstatement.  But, it certainly is peaceful.   This evening, we ventured off the island the market area of Guangzhou. (Oh- side note here: we are technically staying on Shamian Island in Guangzhou.  I really didn't think that it meant much, other than a pretty view of the river.  I was wrong.  The feel of the island is much different that the rest of Guangzhou.  Much different. And, just for reference, the Shamian Island really isn't an island either.  Confusing eh??)  ANYWAY- regarding the market area... all I can say is WOW.  What a difference.  The hustle and bustle is just as crazy... people everywhere... split pants, strange food, etc. Yep- it's all here in Guangzhou too.    We walked thru the dried goods market.. it included everything from tea to dried snake skins.  Yum!  Then, we walked through the pet market.  Our guide made a point to tell us that the pet market was truly for pets.. not for food.  Phew!  I was worried that the McDonalds next door might be serving filet of dog.  Again... YICK!  The animals at the pet market looked just our dogs,cats, puppies, and kittens.  It was just weird to see them in cages on the streets.   All of that market stuff lead us to the main square of Guangzhou.  And, surprise, surprise.. it was bustling with people.  Shopping at the pearl market and the jade market was next... followed by dinner at Papa Johns pizza.  Sigh.  Food from home.  Pizza never tasted so good!  Oh-- I almost forgot!! Before we got to the jade market, we had the distinct pleasure of walking thru the Chinese food street ... Some guy asked me if I wanted a scorpion on a stick!  There were all sorts of gross, smelly foods there. Really.  It was quite disgusting.  I'm pretty sure that I saw some dude saute a mouse. EWwww!!   Lori M. Baylor