Day trip -- Guangzhou

D and I and 4 colleagues hired a van for the day to take us 2 hours north to China's 3rd largest city. Our mission: visit Shamian Island, make a pilgrimage to IKEA, and finish off the day with some indulgent purchases at Metro, a German-based cash and carry store (kind of like Sam's club, but with fancier stuff and smaller portions).

First we hit Shamian Island. Our poor driver had to struggle to find a parking spot (the entire country is on national holiday, so there are tons of tourists around), but we were glad that he did because on the island we found . . . a Starbucks.


See how happy D is? I must admit, it was quite nice to walk into a highly air-conditioned clean and sparkling slice of Americana. And the coffee tasted like Starbucks. And was in a paper cup. And was served by people who understood my order. All luxuries to be savored.

There's a big market on the island; it's called the QingPing (Bright Peace) Market. There wasn't anything especially peaceful about it. Lots of interesting sights. Dried goods of various kinds. Crazy looking tourists and locals haggling over everything. Live scorpions in plastic buckets being picked up with chopsticks and bought (for dinner? for entertainment? who knows). Ramshackle apartment buildings looming overhead. And rows upon rows of dogs and cats for sale.

Puppies:


Kitties and Puppies:


A poor lonely kitty (who was not happy to be standing on those little bars that made up its cage floor):


After the Island, we headed to IKEA.

It was everything that I had ever hoped it would be and more (I'd always wanted to visit an IKEA, but never lived near one). The place was packed, packed, packed. We muscled our way through the cafe and ordered some lunch (Swedish meatballs with potatoes; walnut torte; salad). This was my view from my window-side table:



We did manage to purchase the bookshelves that we've been needing -- got the cheapest ones IKEA had to offer: Flarke.

IKEA was a bit draining on all of us, but we sallied forth to Metro. What a fabulous place! It has a little bit of everything -- kitchen hardware, clothes, electronics, furniture, and food. We only spent about 40 minutes there, so I didn't get to look around as much as I'd like. But I still managed to procure some treats (including a bottle of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum for only 10 USD and a bottle of Seagram's for about 9 USD). They even had Heinz Ketchup and Hellman's Mayo. I didn't even get to look at the deli case where they had imported olives and cheeses. Something to look forward to next time!