Trip Number One - Sightseeing

China is different than any other country I've been to and I've been fortunate enough in life to go to a few.  The people are very friendly there.  They seem to love Americans.  I know at least one does. Hehe...  I was captured by so many beautiful sites that I forgot to take photos most of the time.


The markets in Guangzhou are incredible and I felt quite at home there.  To the right is a building total dedicated to selling fabric.  There must have been 200-300 shops selling nothing but fabric in the 4 story building.  Inside it reminded me of the markets in Mexico.

I mentioned in a previous story about all of the different American businesses that are there.  Every morning when I woke up the one thing I missed more than anything was coffee.  The don't drink much of it there.  The coffee at Star Bucks is expensive and you will only find Westerners and rich, young Chinese people at the stores.


In Shoaguan however, they do not have a Star Bucks.  Fortunately there is a KFC across the street from the hotel where I was staying.  So every morning I would head over to KFC.  What I still don't understand is why they would greet me every morning by saying, "Good Morning Colonel!" then giggle.

On the main shopping drag in Shaoguan you could find many stores but one stood out and in this night photo you can see the name of the store.  They would never get away with this in America.  It is Amway.  I tried to go in the and spin some circles for them but they looked confused.

Having been a volunteer firefighter before, I do have an interest in fire safety and fire fighting techniques.  I didn't go to a fire station, an issue I intend to resolve on trip number 3.  I did take note of the fire extinguishers everywhere I went.


The ones on in the picture on the left were outside of my hotel room in Shaoguan.  I made a note to myself that I wanted the room closet to the fire extinguishers in the future.  The reason was that these were the only fire extinguishers on the whole floor and I wanted to makes sure that I had one and Xin Jiao had one.  Fire fighter rule number 1.  You can't save anyone from a fire if you don't save yourself first.

The next picture on the right is the Hotel where Xin Jiao and I stayed at in Shaoguan.


There is my beautiful Xin Jiao posing in my favorite dress with a scarf my mother knitted or crocheted for her.  She is on a walking deck 2 stories above street level.  


Notice the century I placed outside of her bedroom window.  Really we were two stories above that and the living room was all glass.  Xin Jiao like me stayed away from the glass.  We both have a healthy fear of heights.

This next picture is a shrine.  I think it is either the first emperor or the first shogun and could be one in the same.  I don't know.  I do know that there are shrines to this man every where I go.  This was one of the nicer ones I saw and it was in the lobby of the hotel I stayed in while in Shaoguan.

I had to get a photo of an older type Chinese building in this blog somehow and here it is.  I am not sure what kind of building it is.  It could be a school.


The picture is being taken from the window of a bus but it is the air pollution that causes the hazy look to the photo.

This is an intersection in Shaoguan.  School has let out.  Notice the haze in this picture.  I'm not on a bus just standing on the corner.  I did have to adjust the color so that you could see beyond the haze but look at the sky.


You would think this is heavy traffic but this is typically very light traffic.  Normally it would look like the edge of the stage at a Jonas Brother Concert.


The buildings are more typical of China today.