Getting lost but finding out lots....

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Yesterday was an interesting day! The three amigas, Dawna, Joyce and I decided to go exploring on our own, using the book MAGIC XIAMEN as an inspiration and also our maps. We figured that, armed with our transit passes and our three good brains, coupled with the generosity and helpfulness of the Chinese people, that no matter what, we would be ok. And we were. And we did get lost! Oh, how we got lost! LOL We rode the BRT which is the rapid bus transit system perched high above the city on concrete pillars. We started out by regular bus and took a bus that we had taken before, but which took us to a different drop off point. That should have been our first clue that things were not going to go as planned. Our target initially was a western style store called Olive Oil, and was in the downtown region, or so we thought. We rode the buses to where the general area was. Then we disembarked and started questioning the locals in our limited CHinese using our books and maps. It seemed like a good strategy at the time, LOL, perhaps we are not so swift after all. After questioning several people, including on Japanese tourist, who very politely apologized that he couldn't help us, and which we laughed WITH him about, we ended up deciding to take a taxi when nobody could seem to point us in the right direction. However, some things are just not meant to be. The cab driver couldn't find it--it seemed to have disappeared, POOF! LOL Onwards we trekked. We discovered a fitness centre in downtown Xiamen that offers yoga. I was in heaven! I will definately be looking into that. At that point, our plan B was to find another English style store, little did we know we were setting ourselves up for a trip to Costco, but ignorance is bliss, to be sure, and so we decided to ride the BRT. On we got. The train went in the right direction. But....we were not! LMAO MY seat-mate, a nice Chinese man, helpfully pointed out that we were not going in the right direction! We needed to go back from where we had just come and go in the opposite direction and that we could take a number 33 bus to the store we sought. Luckily, though, the girl standing next to me spoke English and translated this. Everyone on the bus laughed when I threw my head back, laughing at our crazy situation!! LOL BUT, because of that, we discovered how to catch the BRT at our stop by the apartment and learned that it is the 9th stop of that particular leg of the journey. So, all in all, that was ok. We also met another angel named Andrew, a young local in his 20's who decided to look after 3 foreign ladies by escorting us to the right bus stop from the BRT, which was a little bit of a distance for us to walk to and he even waited for us by bus #33 until we got on! Andrew told us he is an entrepreneur who owns his own export business (LED lights) and I mentioned to him that Christmas was coming and he excitedly related how he was gearing up for that! What a lovely young man. We managed to find the Metro store, and even had a big tour of the Chinese version of Home Depot, which is called Orient Home. Very nice stuff in there. I am really thinking about purchasing or renting my own personal sea-can so I can bring back the best of China to Canada with me! LOL While we were in that store, we decided to check out the toilets, since it seemed so nice we thought maybe they'd have real ones.....no such luck. Those awful squat toilets and of course I peed on myself yet AGAIN. OMG. I hate the johns here, they SUCK big time.
In the Metro store, we got ourselves a membership to the world's largest Costco-like store, or so it seemed and they gave us our cards. I have included a picture of mine for you to see. It looks so funny, all that Chinese and then my name! The first card they made for me, they'd spelled my name wrong and had to re-do it, which they did very quickly.
What a bonanza in that place. OMG. It is full, FULL of stuff. AND I found Coke Zero, and bought myself a whole flat of it! We bought cheese, pasta and sauce, cold cereal, bacon! BACON...mmmmm! We spent just over $1000.00 yuan, had a WHOLE lot of food and that bill, which sounded like so much really only works out to about $140 bucks in total. Crazy. Now, tired and hungry--Joyce and I had only had oatmeal for breakfast and this was well into 4:30 pm, our biggest challenge lay ahead...getting home. We were NOT going to take all our crap on the bus, it would have been impossible. So, we opted for a taxi, but couldn't find one! I went and tried to get the girls at the front to call one, but when I returned Dawna had had an offer from an employee to drive us for $40 Yuan or about 5ish bucks. We took him up on it and ended up with a great, albeit long ride home in rush hour traffic in a clean van. He even helped us out with our groceries. Last night we dined in style on spaghetti and sauce, mozzerella cheese, French olives, crescent rolls and butter and also some Chinese dumplings which had thawed and had to be cooked. Mmmmm. I collapsed after the meal full and happy, having done the cooking duties, was off the hook for clean up. I took a couple of videos of the trip home in the taxi. Enjoy!

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Comments

[Suzanne]

kindness
Glad that the Chinese are looking after you my dear! What an adventure tour,lol!

[Debzilla]

One word for you regarding toilets in China...whizzer! That little gadget would have come in sooooo handy for you. We should have had the forethought to pack it in your bag when we pulled it out!!! Sorry, I didn\'t think of it! We should market that puppy in Asia....

[Pauline]

Wonderful
You quickly realize there are good people the world over. It all sounds like great fun Carolyn.