Every corner is packed with high-rise buildings, new and old. People running marathons especially in the afternoon till late evening. What I like the most is the back streets, where the old Guangzhou of traditional neighbourhoods still moves at old pace, with families and friends sitting outdoors enjoying tea, mahjongs, reading and napping.
Beijing Lu Pedestrian Street – This is the main shopping thoroughfare, a pedestrian street where most stores are open from 9AM-10PM. But the ambience is more striking & exciting in late afternoon with all the noises, and sea of people. Unfortunately, we only found the street later in the evening!. Itu pun secara tidak sengaja. Much to our disappointment, this street is only 4 blocks away from the hotel we stayed in. Did I mention that Lido Hotel as per address is in Beijing Lu (street)?
On this pedestrian street you'd find both modern/fashionable and traditional shopping complexes. The interesting part of this street is you'd find ruins of a thousand year old road that remains from ancient guangzhou city (dating back to the Song dynasty). Pic below.
Pearl River dinner cruise – This is a one to two hour cruise in the evening and a great way to see the Guangzhou skyline along the Pearl River, including a light show at Bai-E-Tan. Tickets for the deluxe dinner cruise can be bought from most high-end hotels. Prices from ¥50 per person. The jetty is about 15 - 20 minutes walking from Lido Hotel. Note : If you are staying in Lido Hotel & going for the cruise, on foot, make sure to leave early, 2 - 3 hours before ETD. This.. especially for those 'avid shopper'. Along the road, left & right are shops-old wooden shops. It might be old and mostly manned by an old men but you are bound to stop, still, especially 'those'...no matter what! We stopped quite a while at one small 'kiosk' selling miniatures - table fan, study lamp, torch light, and other things that you can find di Kedai 2 ringgit here. No purchase made. We were just 'curious'.
If you are fan of, or a collector, or just buying souvenir/gift from China - Chinese culture, this is the place. I mean Tea-pot, tea-set, tea-mug, tea leaves (all kinds). The famous therapeutic/herbal OOLONG tea is cheap here. We made a stop at 4-5 shops selling these items. Almost everybody walked away with either mugs, tea-pots, and tea leaves. I got myself one mug with chinese writings "Enjoy your tea & have a good life", & I received one very cute tea pot, as belated birthday gift from Nellie. (Actually, I wanted to buy it myself, tapi keabisan Renminbi). Before we came to this side of the road, we already spent some good money at the Jade shop, very cheap! SAPULOH.. Mulaah!..really that was exactly what the shop owner 'yelled' at passers by (us). RM10/10 Ringgit. Real jade, 3rd grade. Why so cheap? Closing down, the building is to be demolished to give way for underground transportation!. This was in the evening around 8.00 pm.
Before here, we were somewhere else. We started our rounds of walking or streets hopping, I called it. From 9.30 a.m and got back to the hotel almost midnight. One most glaring feature is all streets are 'specialised streets'. Electric & electrical appliances street, carpets, watches, shoes, stamping & stickers etc etc. And these are those undocumented! Those 'documented' as must Go & See like Jade Street, Antique, Painting, Exotic etc..we have to miss it. What do you expect if you were on D.I.Y tour. We went into few big shopping complexes, one ada underground lagi. We bought some gifts from Hello Kitty shop. Hello!!! Items sold here and what we bought, cannot be found in any shops (Hello Kitty) back home uh!. Before this pulak, we spent hours bargaining at Jewellery Shop( White Coral stone). Meherun & I bought loose stone, small size for earrings. Nel bought necklace, Carol Necklace & gelang. Sitti -None! After much consoling, we managed to buy at a very good price. And we paid using HKD. (Not many shops accept HKD, they used to. But that was before China Renminbi punya value appreciated).
Sitti wanted to buy gold. Gold? Sabah pun got gold mah!. "But I am looking for yg ada trinkets - with you know Mao Tze Tong head or face"...She said. Ok lah. Jumpa kedai emas, masuk. Pilih2 belek2, she found the One yg ngam. She didn't want to use her credit card, her Renminbi not enough, this shop tdk accept HKD, we too ran out of money. She got RM and wanted to change. The sales lady made a call. After 15 0r 20 minutes, one nyonya came in. Wearing simple worn out shirt and bermuda short with pouch tied on her hip. Ingatkan nyonya jual 4D, Rupanya..Money Changer. "LOL".
Here in this Gold Shop, we were told about the River Cruise, last cruise at 8.30 p.m. We looked at our watch, almost six, still got time. After all the Lady said, it's quite near to your hotel. We left the shop and continued our walking. At this hour, you'll see throngs of people walking. We followed the crowds, we heard musics played aloud, sooner I saw hundreds of lanterns hanging. I've seen it on Majalah 3!. Gosh guys! This is Beijing pedestrian Street. We are here..we walked closer than we saw the landmark " the ruins of old road of ancient Guangzhou City". Yeah!. we are finally here in Beijing Pedestrian Street. With so many people, too many shops with little time & money left....look-see, look-see ja lah.
Almost 7.30, we have to leave the street for another adventure-The Cruise. We made our way back to the hotel. Nasib tidak sesat. We reached the hotel and went straight to the Reception Counter to find out where to buy the ticket. Only to be told that " You have missed the boat!" What?..last cruise is at 7.30 p.m.!!!!!uwahhhh...
Here are two pics of us by the Pearl River bank. Watching the cruise passed us by. Gambar blurrr tapi will do la.We stayed for about half an hour. Walked back to the hotel, on foot jugak. Most shops already closed. Except the Sapuloh Mulaah jade shop. Singgah again just to tease the taukeh. Kasi Lima Mulaaah lah.....and he just stared at us. Hehehehe.
See, 2 nights 1 day not enough! Why only 2 N 1 Day?? I'll tell why.... in my China trip wrap up!
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