Six Hour Walk around Guangzhou, China

So Greg, my husband, loves to walk whenever the opportunity presents itself. Especially when it is somewhere new. So, of course soon after our arrival in
Guangzhou, we took, what started out as a stroll, and ended up as a rather long exploration.




Just a typical shopping area, this one dedicated to "electronics."




There are many, many stores like this one, that line the sidewalks.





At this point we were trying to find our bank to withdraw some "yuans" or "Renminbis." It's important to keep cash on hand because most transactions are cash and rarely are credit cards accepted.



Candid picture walking down the sidewalk.




During the new year season these plants with non-edible oranges are ubiquitous. They are used like Christmas trees almost.




Bikes are also common and they usually have baskets. No motorcycles are allowed. I understand they were banned a while ago, but I'm not exactly sure what the reason was, although I have heard different theories. You will often see people using electric bikes though.





Nice flowers.





This was an an interesting little road we found just off of the main road. We were walking along.



I did get permission to take this man's picture. He was hard at work sewing and only stopped when I took the picture. There were a few spaces like this right in a row.



New year decorations mixed with a white Santa?



Candid shot walking around.



Cool looking sculpture.





I captured this shot of a little Chinese child. I've often seen the small children dressed with lots of padding--so incredibly cute!



Its not a famous landmark, just a cool one.



This picture was taken from a walkway while crossing above the road. I went to look for some rubbing alcohol at a pharmacy. It took me about 10 minutes of playing charades to help the employees figure out what I needed. There are a lot of really helpful, nice Chinese people here.



By this time we had probably walked about five hours, and we were not sure where we were. But I saw this bridge and the lights looked beautiful.



We wandered through the streets not exactly sure where we were and getting tired at this point. Greg was definitely more energetic than I was, so we ventured on.




More pretty light.



We stopped at McDonalds for dinner. It's okay, because it's in
China, which makes it special. Not the same experience in the
U.S., where its just another fast food restaurant.




In the following video you will get a little glimpse of an area we were walking through and how ridiculously crowded it was. We were at a standstill as we walked because of the congestion.



So, approximately six hours later, and after I persuaded Greg, he and I were able to flag down a cab to take us home. Whew! It was fun, but I was just so happy to be off my feet.


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