Another day of exploration
Ok, yesterday (Saturday) I went into Guangzhou western city centre and I brought my camera with me so here is another batch of pictures.
First stop was The Temple of the six Banyan Tress, it was nice but I wasn't overly impressed by it. It was a like a not so beautiful garden in the city with a heavy scent of incense hanging over it. I've come to realise that Guangzhou is not a great place for tourists since there are not a lot of tourist spots around. It's also a bit hard to get your head around the layout since there's no proper city centre. The city is simply too big, there's a centre in the eastern part, one "centre" in the western part and one south. Which is a bit unusual for me, being used to the standard central square or railway station to be the starting point of most exploration trips. Something that Guangzhou is great for though is shopping! More on that later.
I think this dragon/sea monster is some kind of instrument, noticing the hammers in the lower left corner my guess it's a gong to call the monks in for dinner? or playtime?
We walked by an "official ivory trader", where they sold amazing ivory carvings such as this one. If you would to buy one you wouldn't be allowed to take it outside China however.
In Guangzhou, and probably in China as a whole, the layout of shops are different to the one in Europe. Sure, there are massive malls where you can buy clothes and shoes here as well but for other kind of wares you would have to look elsewhere. Here almost every street specializes in some type of product(s). Walking down a street and you will suddenly find that the last 8 stores you walked by are selling baby clothes, and so are the rest of the 28 stores further down the street. You continue for a couple of blocks and find yourself on a street where all the stores are selling rubber bands (below), another street sells trophies, a third neon signs, etc etc. Very interesting trading structure.
One of the many stores selling rubber bands and plastic bags.
Hmm, maybe I should bring home a few trophies in various sports to put on my shelves? Well, probably feels better if one earns them..
A back alley with playing kids.
A lot of products are transported this way, on bicycle wagons in surprising high speeds.
On most street corners and below the many trees lining the streets one finds groups of men standing around. Most often they are watching a game of Xiangqi, Chinese chess, but there are also numerous card games that are played. The Chinese love to gamble!
View of the Zhujiang river.
This is the "famous" shopping street, Beijing Lu, here one can find any type of clothes and it's really crowded during the weekends but that part of the fun.
This beautiful building houses the Foreign Affairs Office just outside Renmin park.
First stop was The Temple of the six Banyan Tress, it was nice but I wasn't overly impressed by it. It was a like a not so beautiful garden in the city with a heavy scent of incense hanging over it. I've come to realise that Guangzhou is not a great place for tourists since there are not a lot of tourist spots around. It's also a bit hard to get your head around the layout since there's no proper city centre. The city is simply too big, there's a centre in the eastern part, one "centre" in the western part and one south. Which is a bit unusual for me, being used to the standard central square or railway station to be the starting point of most exploration trips. Something that Guangzhou is great for though is shopping! More on that later.
I think this dragon/sea monster is some kind of instrument, noticing the hammers in the lower left corner my guess it's a gong to call the monks in for dinner? or playtime?
We walked by an "official ivory trader", where they sold amazing ivory carvings such as this one. If you would to buy one you wouldn't be allowed to take it outside China however.
In Guangzhou, and probably in China as a whole, the layout of shops are different to the one in Europe. Sure, there are massive malls where you can buy clothes and shoes here as well but for other kind of wares you would have to look elsewhere. Here almost every street specializes in some type of product(s). Walking down a street and you will suddenly find that the last 8 stores you walked by are selling baby clothes, and so are the rest of the 28 stores further down the street. You continue for a couple of blocks and find yourself on a street where all the stores are selling rubber bands (below), another street sells trophies, a third neon signs, etc etc. Very interesting trading structure.
One of the many stores selling rubber bands and plastic bags.
Hmm, maybe I should bring home a few trophies in various sports to put on my shelves? Well, probably feels better if one earns them..
A back alley with playing kids.
A lot of products are transported this way, on bicycle wagons in surprising high speeds.
On most street corners and below the many trees lining the streets one finds groups of men standing around. Most often they are watching a game of Xiangqi, Chinese chess, but there are also numerous card games that are played. The Chinese love to gamble!
View of the Zhujiang river.
This is the "famous" shopping street, Beijing Lu, here one can find any type of clothes and it's really crowded during the weekends but that part of the fun.
This beautiful building houses the Foreign Affairs Office just outside Renmin park.
Kommentarer
Postat av: Becka
Så fina bilder! Jag älskar att se hur du har det, och att få en inblick i det kinesiska livet :)
Postat av: Zoe
Did you buy any nice rubber bands? :P
Postat av: Richard
@ Zoe
A full sack actually, I thought about starting a rubber band industry in Sweden, great riches here I come!
Postat av: Zoe
Haha, I'll buy some. If they're colourful :D
Postat av: Gule Sebbe och sneöge Ida
2st barn som "leker", ehh den ena har ett vapen i handen.
Postat av: Richard
@ Sebbe
Ehh, du leker ju fortfarande med vapen.. nuff said.
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