Shamian Island

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Geo: 23.12, 113.25

Kate - One day, the four of us might make it down to breaky together. This am, Nana wasn't feeling 100%!s(MISSING)o thought it best if she not eat. Pa, Mel and I had a lovely breaky together. Unfortunately some of the food kept falling off the table. It did give us some fruit for the rest of the day!

We decided to go for a walk around Shamian Island today. The hotel we are staying at is situated on this small island which used to be a sandbar that was given to the British and French people in the 19th century. They fortified the area with artificial embankments and developed the area. The Victory Hotel and the nearby White Swan Hotel are very popular with the American couples who are in China to adopt a baby. The number of baby shops on this small island is unbelievable. Most of the time, the Americans don't even leave the island - hence the dearer prices for the tourist items. DVDs are available for 30 Yuan here - over the river I buy them for 5 Yuan!!

There is a little man on a tiny boat that goes on the river every day picking up the litter and reeds. He looks really stupid and he must only pick up .000000001%!o(MISSING)f the rubbish.

We had a lunch of left-over's in the hotel room today. Biscuits we bought when Nana wasn't well, biscuits from the airplane from Guilin to here, fruit and cheese from breakfast, vegemite from home (can't leave Australia without the vegemite!!) and anything else we could find.

After lunch Nana stayed in the hotel whilst Pa, Melissa and I caught ferry to the other side of the river.
We saw the most amazing sight - a man was riding his bike - not unusual I know - but he had a load of new polystyrene foam hamburger clams - the sort you get from a fish and chip shop with your burger in and has a base and lid. He must have had 15 packets of these clams - I would estimate (from my 'working in the school canteen' knowledge!!!!!) that he had 100 clams per packet and he must have had 15 packets on his bike. You would hope that you do not come across a big gush of wind or he'd be off doing a Mary Poppins!!!! The load was so high that, when he got to the ferry terminal, he had to unload the top half of the clams and place them on the ferry before his bike and the remaining clams would fit under the roof. It was amazing to see.

Melissa again played on the exercise equipment along the river front. It is very popular with the locals - both old and young! Pa went and got his hair cut for 20 Yuan (~$3) - he said he hasn't had a haircut in Australia since they bought in the GST! We then hit the DVD shops again. Pa found some Fred Astaire DVDs so was very happy. Mel and I bought 20 DVDs - hopefully most will work. Pa went back to the hotel and had planned on going shopping in a large computer market nearby but I think sat down when he got to the hotel and didn't feel like moving again. Melissa and I stayed shopping. We went into a clothes shop where there were about 3 customers (including Mel and I) and about 15 staff. Each staff member had an allocated area and probably worked on commission. Mel looked at the same top 4 or 5 times. Each time we put it down on the table, it would be carefully folded - just in time for us to come back and look at it again. Once we had decided to purchase one of the two tops that Melissa liked (leaving one poor salesgirl very sad), we were given a docket with the price and sales assistants name on it and had to take it to the cashier at the back of the store. They would then give us two receipts and an empty plastic bag. We then had to go back to the salesgirl who then gave us the top and one of the dockets. Very confusing.

We headed back to the hotel via the ferry again then caught up on emails and Amy's travel pod (The Berwick Fishers are in Beijing at the moment)

Melissa - We went to Lucy's again for dinner as we were going to go to a revolving restaurant but decided that we would go tomorrow night and go to Lucy's tonight. Lucy's was like a 70s restaurant that was made for Grease (the movie). I had chicken wrap with way too much lettuce and way to less chicken. They were awful. We went out after dinner to the back of the restaurant (the footpath) to look at all the colourful boats going down the river taking people on tours to see all the brightly lit up buildings.

Suddenly music started then lights started and it kept going and going for about 15 minutes. There were green strobe lights coming from the tops of buildings and one from the ground. They went out in a web and they were flashing over each other which made it look like the pictures that sometimes appear on the computer when you play music. It was fantastic. The lights were coming from the other side of the river as well as some on our side.

Kate - On the way back to the hotel, we came across some men playing badminton in the park . They were using a bike as the net! There were also groups of people - usually 5 or 6 - kicking this 'thing' around the circle. It is similar shape to a shuttlecock but the end is made from washers and cardboard joined together with feathers coming out the top. The way they so easily kick this thing, using the side of their foot, from one person to the other is amazing. Nancy gave Melissa one of these things in Yangzhou - I think she has lots of work in front of her to become that good!!

As we walked along the river edge after dinner, a Chinese Dragon appeared and put on a dance. We have no idea why it was there. We stood and watched it for a while before heading back to the hotel.

Maybe more so in Yangzhou, we noticed people going through the rubbish bins. Melissa sat outside our hotel room in Yangzhou looking over the local street and counted the people that went through the rubbish bin that she could see. She counted (approx) 8 people - some poor, some faking it, some collecting recyclables (paper and cans) and the rubbish collector. I guess that the poor would always get fresh food from the bin as there was only 10 or so minutes between each.


Melissa - Did you know the rubbish bin here is also a toilet? We saw a mum dangling her little boy over the bin while he did a poo with absolutely no privacy and no toilet paper. It was not a very good sight to look at. The mum wasn't embarrassed, just held him up there with his legs over her arm as he did what was required, then quickly pulled up his clothing when he was finished and went back into the supermarket. Now think of the poor people we were just talking about going through the bins!!! Hopefully not this one!!!

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Photos

Glad it isn't me riding bike!!!
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