First off, I had a gander down the street of the hotel I first was staying in...I came across the most bizarre series of shops. If you look down the street in the photo you will see stores facing the sidewalk and in between every couple of them is an opening to a passageway. Down each of these passage ways there are at least ten shops on either side.Once you got to the end of the passage ways, you came to another open area, and then another series of shops in passageways. There must have been 100 shops --- all of them selling socks!
Socks for kids, women, men, families, frilly ones, pain ones, long ones, short ones, stockings/ nylons/ pantyhose, and sports socks, etc. The huge bundles on the sidewalk are 
actually packages of merchandise...I guess they do a booming business in hosiery.
actually packages of merchandise...I guess they do a booming business in hosiery.Once I came to the end of the sock complex, there was a railway track that somehow seems incongruent with the rest of the bustling street of stores.
Since yesterday, I have been looking for a place to live. Part of this was done at the Guangzhou University City, with a population at least 200,000 students and teachers--that's right a population equal to Regina's! I continued there today, also moving to the hotel on campus for more convenience.
I really am hoping I can live on campus, but the chances are becoming slimmer and slimmer though I am still hopeful! It's a lovely place! The design is great with lots of green spaces...probably someone was using a little Feng Shui, because it's rather pleasant to walk through the streets.
The other place I went to look at was off the university island in a small village. There is no bus service there though, so I would have to purchase a second hand bicycle and ride for about 15-20 minutes to get to the university. I have to admit, I don't mind the bike ride, but I wasn't crazy about the choice of living conditions. This was definitely a little bit of "old China" village life...very rustic. Regretfully, I declined the place..., there was only a squatting toilet in the shower stall and there was no sink.
Tomorrow I will go to another section of the city to look for a place to live, though I understand it is 15 bus stops away and will take me at least an hour to get to the campus each way. Not my idea of fun!I have been meeting some wonderful Chinese people though along the way. They are such a warm-hearted people! They have gone out of their way to help me whenever they can.
One of the most interesting episodes happened yesterday at breakfast. It was an amazing experience to walk into a huge bustling restaurant filled with people from another country (in this case Chinese) and be the only different one (foreigner). It was obviously a popular place, filled to capacity, reminding me of a place kind of like the Classic Buffet in Regina, only without any partitions between sections.
I took a slow walk through, observing people observing me, noting how they stared, pointed and laughed at me. I wasn't uncomfortable in the least, rather relished at the experience, imagining what it must have been like in the reverse years ago when someone from another country with a different colour of skin came into an establishment in Canada or the U.S. I nodded and smiled at people, looking for a place to sit. In China, you join others at their table wherever there is a seat. On my second tour around, a head waiter or someone with some authority took me in hand and helped me find an empty chair.
I was seated with a group of elderly people, who did not seem to know each other, except for one man and his wife. I was delivered a pot of tea, and a page from a notepad. I watched the action in the room for a while to get the hang of things. I eventually realized that one got up and went to the buffet and chose what you wanted. Your sheet was then stamped with the number corresponding to the items and you brought your food back to the table.
The others at my table smiled shyly at me and we ate in companionable silence for the most part, although one gentleman beside me indicated where to put my tray, etc. They again seemed amazed that I could eat with chopsticks. We all nodded and smiled as we finished and I got up and left. It was a most pleasant time (except for the gruesome food -- see the previous day's blog for photos). All without a word of English being spoken.
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The big news in China is the opening of the new Terminal 3 building at Beijing Airport. Shaped like a dragon, it is the biggest in the world at 1 million square feet!
