Random giant pedestrian street and Shamian Island [again]

I got bored and met Josh again, but this time where I had my day trip last weekend.

After exploring that big underground mall, which is apparently called the "Best Come" shopping mall or something like that, we headed south toward Shamian, only to find some interesting sights on the way:

I was initially under the impression you could really only find this architecture on Shamian, but it turns out you can find it in the area, as well.

Turtles, fish, and a shrine with a woman praying. Yep.

This area turned out to have a tremendous amount of jade shops including a three story jade mall nearby.

Josh, meet squid on a stick. Squid on a stick, meet Josh. (He liked it!)

I love it.

These were all taken at this interesting pedestrian mall street that didn't seem to have a name (I'm sure it does).

An entire alleyway with a wide variety of foods...including:

Fried bugs! Woohoo! Here we have beetles, scorpions, centipedes, tarantulas, and...something else. The gentleman to my left just purchased himself a stick of scorpions.

This was taken inside what turned out to be a Karaoke club where you get a private room to eat, drink, and sing - we just sort of wandered around it under our new principle of exploration: "keep going until somebody stops you!" I like it.

Now THESE are desserts.

Not bad for 6 yuan (under $1 USD). Those are strawberries. Josh's had a variety of fruits but it was topped with a tomato (indeed, a fruit, but that doesn't mean it goes well with the rest).

Whoops, walked too far; now it's a pedestrian AND car street.

And on to Shamian, again:

I tried to get a picture of this boat last time but it was too fast. The lights to the right are seen at 3 locations in this fork in the river, and appear to move to music (or, well, try to, at least).

Remember that big, tall building on Shamian? That's the White Swan Hotel.

White Swan hotel center. Not bad, eh?

They had buffets available for an insane 400 yuan including a service fee (for a buffet?). Additionally, they had an Easter buffet for something like 500+ yuan as well...I'm sure it's good and all but...jeez.