Guangzhou is a very commercialized city; there's a lot of shopping to be done. My sister and I took it upon ourselves to visit the Leather Market near our hotel. She and our mother went last time and found tons of purses and sunglasses at super cheap prices. Unfortunately, there were much fewer bargains to be had. :( My sister did purchase an awesomely bright green purse, and I bought a cross-body purse and some wallets. (Don't judge; some were gifts.) I was pretty bummed that the sunglasses were so expensive. If you know me at all, you know I'm a freak about sunglasses. I own at least 8 pairs right now, and they are stashed everywhere. Car, backpack, purse, by the door, everywhere. Oh well. More on sunglasses later.
On Tuesday, our guides took us to the Pearl Market in a VERY large mall. We went to a different store than my sister had previously visited, and the prices were somewhat higher. The first strand they brought out was 240 USD! Ha! These poor white American girls don't have that kind of money. We kept requesting cheaper and cheaper until finally we got under $100. That's more like it. I got myself a very lovely and classy necklace as well as some earrings for myself and others. Earrings were cheaper at $20-40 a pair.
(Sidenote: One of my earrings broke this morning, so we had to go back. Luckily the girls there fixed it up no problem and put a new pearl on the post. They even gave me a free pair since I had to go through the trouble of coming back to the store! Score! :D)
Today we went to Shamian Island, which is an interesting part of Guangzhou. It was settled by different people, I believe, and so it has a completely different feel from the city (I will have to look up more island info later.) It's a very lovely area with tons of luscious trees and park areas, like a little oasis in this huge city. There are a lot of tourist shops there that are good for buying junky souvenirs for people back home. Don't laugh. You know you crave that sort of thing.
Back to the sunglasses: We found one shop that had knock-off sunglasses and Coach purses. We had searched the leather market high and low for Coach bags, as they're our personal favorite designer brand, but they were no where to be seen. I found some cute ones at this store and bought one for myself and one for my sister-in-law for her birthday. I also found some very lovely Giorgio Armani sunglasses. LOVE!
It's been a good time and a heck of an experience, but I am ready to leave. I saw something near McDonald's here the other day that sums up the trip pretty well. We had just walked by some pretty scenery and were on our way back to the hotel when we saw a little boy crouching on the edge of the sidewalk. Lo and behold, he was wearing split pants and POOPING ON THE SIDEWALK. So China: Sometimes pretty, sometimes disturbing, but definitely something to see. :/
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