Visit to the Fabric Market

We visited the "Highsun String and Cloth Market," commonly referred to as the "Hai Yin" Fabric Market (because it is located in the Haiyin building). It is in the Yuexiu district of Guangzhou. The fabric market is no different than many of the other markets around here-- completely overwhelming. These markets make my head spin with all the options available. Again, you will find shop after shop, after shop of fabrics. You can find any kind of fabric here -- and I mean any kind of fabric. You can find a seamstress here to sew just about anything you can imagine too. Would you like some of those "parachute" pants from the 80's? I'm sure you could have it made here. It's a fabulous playground if you have a creative mind or like fashion.




This is a picture of a happy lady ready to help. This is what most of the little shops look like. Half the fun is just trying to communicate with the people in Chinese. Often, though, they know a little English or they know someone who does.




At another shop.




Jan looking through the selections.




There is a store around every corner.




Here is a shop that most likely specializes in curtains, and most likely will make table cloths or chair covers or anything you want out of the fabric you choose.




Two ladies discussing business.




Need ribbons? The upper floors have all the tools and supplies you might need for sewing, like buttons, zippers, needles, thread, etc.




Jan's new tablecloth being cut.



After we finished at the fabric market, we were hungry. And since we were all the way downtown anyway, we stopped in for lunch at the Cowboy Express in Guangzhou for good old American style BBQ sandwiches. Although I like to eat Chinese food, sometimes it is nice to eat at restaurants that remind us of home.  Update:  Sadly the Cowboy Express is no longer open.



Jan and I finished with lunch and were feeling quite satisfied.




Bustling city as we drove back home.




A typical day on the streets of Guangzhou.




I love this shot-- we see things like this all the time.




That's it for the visit to the fabric market. I promise it would be much more exciting to visit in person. It's actually quite fun and you could spend hours there just looking around. The truth is, that most shopping trips take up most of the day -- so you select one market and that's what you do for the day. Nice, huh.


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Riding The Metro in Guangzhou

One of the best ways to get around in Guangzhou is to ride the metro. I often prefer it over taking a taxi. To take a taxi you either need to give instructions in Chinese or you must have a business card with instructions in Chinese. You then show this to the driver and he will either nod (yes he will take you) or shake his head (you are out of luck). At the metro you just need to know which stop you are taking and talking is not required. The Metro is clean and organized and fairly easy to learn. The only potential problem is that it can get very crowded during rush hour.


"Tunghe" station is the closest station to my place.



Taking the steps downstairs.




I'm not sure what the small bumpy path is for, but we speculated that it might be for blind people.




People obtaining their metro tickets. There is an option for
English if you can't read Chinese, which I didn't notice until a Chinese person came over and pointed it out.





It's a good idea to pay attention to what amount the machine will accept because some of them are very specific and won't accept large bills. There is usually an information booth where you can get change, or buy a metro pass. Or you can do what I did and try to feed different bills into the machine about 100 times until someone feels sorry for you and helps you buy your tickets using the correct amount.




Here is my friend, Jan, using her metro card. Just swipe the card over the card reader and the gate opens like magic. I love this part.




Now we walk down to platform to wait for the car. And of course, we make sure we are going the right direction by checking the last stop on the route.




Yep, that's where we are going --toward Tiyu Xilu.



Please make sure you are standing in the area with the arrows pointing towards the door! If you are in the wrong line, the subway police will come and remove you! Just kidding :) Of course they won't do that. But you could get trampled by people in a hurry to step out of the car.





Jan, making her way into one of the cars.





A typical scene.



Me riding the subway, although I don't think this picture really needed a description.



You cannot ride the subway if you are afraid of being in close proximity to strangers. I find that most people here in China are quite friendly. Most people will give up their seats for elderly people and kids.



These maps are posted right outside the subway station when you exit and are extremely helpful when deciding which exit to use.




We chose exit "D," which turned out to be the wrong one, so I decided that I would remember the correct exit for next time. Even as I write this, I honestly don't remember which exit I should take. Maybe Jan has a better memory.






All in all, we had a successful trip. Now we just need to figure out what direction we need to walk to find IKEA, where you can get ice-cream cones a.k.a. bing chi ling for 1 yuan. Do you know how much that is!?! It's only about 16 cents!!!! Greg loves it there and has been known to order 2 at a time for himself :)

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Dafen in Shenzhen, China "The Artist Village"

So my two friends Theo and Miranda and myself took the two-hour ride from Guangzhou to Shenzhen to check out "Dafen," which is a kind of art village. It is a place where many artists gather to paint and to sell. Like most markets in China, this market has one main theme, and that theme is "art." Much of the art are duplicates --all kinds -- some are of the great works from Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet, etc. Some are originals and unique. This is a place where you can bring a photograph and have an artist replicate it into a painting. And some of these artists are very, very talented.




Here is Miranda as we first step out to explore.




School children going for a tour of Dafen.




I found a brightly-colored alley and of course had to have a picture.





Here is a sexy version of Sponge Bob, or in this case, you might call him "Sponge Boob." Did I really just say that?




Miranda looking into the sculpture shop.





I had this artist's permission to take his picture. His works were quite good and we looked at them for a while. I loved the atmosphere among all the artists - it was very laid back.




Here is a close-up of what a real artist's palate should look like.



Just a pretty spot right outside of above-mentioned artist's shop.




Theo and Miranda posing for me so that I could capture the scenery around them.




A painting that was purchased at Dafen, and then delivered.





More of Dafen.



Okay, the truth is, I have no idea what this building is, but it looked cool and traditional, and I got Theo to take a picture of me pretending to go in. I think she got a kick out of my performance.





Theo is one of the most fun people to go shopping with! She is an architect who loves art and a good bargain. In every shop, you could hear Theo saying "tai gui le" accompanied by a look of disapproval or disgust. Then the prices would lower like magic. In Chinese, "tai gui le" means "too expensive." This lady knows how to bargain and even though she says she can't speak Chinese except for a few phrases-- somehow, I think that is all she needs know.





Thank you Miranda for being such a great subject for my pictures. She had a bright green shirt which stood out and never complained when I asked if I could take her picture.




We found a little place for dim sum and they brought out these dishes all wrapped up in plastic. I unwrapped them, and then Theo told me that I needed to wash them. I thought she was kidding. She wasn't.







They brought a big empty glass bowl, and then poured some hot tea or water. We then used the hot liquid to rinse off our spoons, cups, bowls and plates and dumped the water into the big bowl. Whew! Now we could eat. I was told later that this practice started back in 2004 when there was the "SARS" scare, or what we know as "Bird Flu."






Thank goodness most places have pictures in their menus! We were able to point to the pictures and Miranda who has a pretty decent vocabulary in Chinese, came to the rescue.





Yum! Once again, success with Dim Sum. The green beans were the best!




I will definitely be returning to Dafen soon!

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Lion Dance Video

The Lion Dance as promised.

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