Shamian Island is a fascinating island in Guangzhou; it's a tiny little location that seems incredibly influenced by Western (specifically European) culture. I am entirely ignorant as to its history, but I'll be sure to read through the Wikipedia page for it!
Columns???
English signs???
The White Swan Hotel towers above all else on the island - I'll be sure to go inside next time and get pictures - it's gorgeous!
Lucy's Cafe (as in "I Love Lucy) - I saw multiple foreigners eating there - they had a wide variety of food on the menu but I'd hesitate to say the prices were reasonable.
More western architecture.
I have no idea who these fine fellows are supposed to be.
I *think* this was a hotel...don't quote me on that, though.
The Oriental Express restaurant: part of it was in a train car! Sorry for the bushes blocking the view, but I couldn't get a better shot; you get the idea, anyway!
The Pearl River, as seen facing South from the south end of Shamian Island. The China Construction Bank building has a giant video screen on, well, the entire North side of it.
The first Pearl River dinner-cruise boat I saw; I'll be sure to be a part of that before I leave!
It didn't take long for more and more boats to start floating by!
A "bar street" across the river, as per the giant neon signs.
I ended up wandering away from the island, curious as to what the deal was with the "bar street" across the river, whose signs I could see all the way from Shamian. I walked around the West side of the island, got back on to the mainland (I should note here that Shamian Island is separated by only a small amount of water - you simply walk across a short bridge to reach it), and followed some locals to what I thought would be some sort of method to travel across the river.
I ended up finding an embarkation point for some dinner cruises, so I continued on to find tickets or further information regarding the dinner cruises, since I was already there. However, I ended up in line for what I assumed was a ferry to take people to what I assume was going to be the bar street area across the river; I had to make a lot of assumptions here!
It turns out, I was correct, fortunately:
"Wait, what are we doing?" - my logic was that there are only so many places that this boat could be going to, right? So I went for it, and it ended up costing 0.50 yuan for a ride across the river! That's $0.07-$0.08 USD for a 10 minute ferry ride!!!
"Seriously, what are we doing?"
"Okay, I'll just follow these people" is literally what was going through my mind.
Fantastic view of Shamian Island from the ferry.
Approaching the other side.
We reached our destination at the other side of the river and I was kind of underwhelmed, but it was still interesting:
It looks really pretty but it was far from hopping! This was on a Saturday night!
This fountain was captivating people! This was in front of an international youth hostel.
I ended up discovering where everybody was: hanging out in the park that runs between the bar street and the river. Families and couples where everywhere, enjoying their night!
Away from the bar street and toward the metro station, I found several restaurants in this style of group eating: you pick out what you want to cook at the table in the center of the picture, bring it to your table where you have a bowl of boiling water, and make your own meal! It seemed to be a fantastic dining experience, and I saw several groups of foreigners at other restaurants giving it a shot!
Well, that's all for now!
-T
PS, regarding the blog:
I added the functionality to make it easier to e-mail posts to people you think might be interested. Just click the little envelope at the bottom of a post!
I should add that when you enter your e-mail address, it is not for any other purpose but to send this blog to whomever you want. Google owns and operates Blogger; when they say they won't add your e-mail nor your friend's e-mail to any advertising list, they really mean it! Trust Google!
Also, I added a search functionality to the right of the page ------------->
Basically, if there's a topic you're looking for or a post you remember reading, but you can't find it easily to re-read it, you can just search using that little button for a word, phrase, etc. Basically, it's Google but only in relation to this site.
Cool, huh?
Finally, I added a link to Josh's blog! I'm not sure how much he'll provide updates, however, but it's a good way to get another perspective on a related trip!
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