Piano Island

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I've decided that the western world is infiltrating too quickly into China. I've lost track of the number of KFC, McDonald's, and Pizza Huts we've seen, and now, we've finally come across the world's biggest conglomerate... Wal-Mart.


It's like going to the local Supercenter in your own hometown. Sure, some of the products offered are unique and special to China (I especially liked these packaged chicken feet), but some are no different.

I had to say I bought something at Wal-Mart, so I grabbed a couple packs of Wrigley's chewing gum and went through the cash register, where the clerk was dressed in red (hmm... imagine that).


We had come to this huge shopping mall with our hostess and driver from Cowell to have lunch. She had promised us a good chinese lunch.

Now back home, my wife's family loves to get together on Valentine's Day and we've been known to drive 90 miles to go to dinner with them at the food court in the mall. I'll admit this isn't my favorite thing to do, or place to eat, so imagine my disappointment to find that we were actually going to eat in the mall's food court.

It was, however, a pretty fun experience. We feel very confident that we were the only
caucasian people in the place and got a lot of strange looks. This food court was very hectic and we actually had some fun. We wandered around looking at the different types of food we could choose from. Unlike what we would expect back home, you ordered your food and got receipts that you then stopped and paid for as you left.

As we walked around, it was almost a carnival atmosphere with the vendors shouting out what they offered and trying to get us to buy.


I came across these noodle and sweh-jaudz (no idea how that should be spelled), and decided that I had found my lunch. Mike opted for a buffet where he brought back numerous dishes (many of which I had no desire to try). Neither of us is shy when it comes to sampling the cuisine, but I must give the upper hand to Mike when it comes to trying it all. I've "been there, done that" with some of these dishes (like see cucumbers) and have no desire to re-live some of those experiences, so I go for the foods that I know I like and sample some new ones in the process.

We shared our lunches with each other and still didn't eat all that was placed before us.

From there, we were on a mission to get to Pearl World and Piano Island. As we left the mall, the
intersection was jambed up in this grid lock that is typical of busy streets over here and I tried to capture a photo that would show it to you. Unfortunately, the still pictures don't always do it justice. I think Mike might have a video or two that you'll have to see to believe.

We boarded a ferry to go to the Island (about a 5 minute ride, and I got a shot of this kid anxiously awaiting his turn to get on the boat. It made me
think of home and the kids, and cemented to me that no matter where you travel in the world, kids are kids. He was excited and nervous, and totally focused on the experience he was in store for. It was fun to watch.

A few of the boats we passed were painted in the traditional, bright chinese colors and I, of course, had to grab a shot or two of them.

We saw the cityscape as we left the dock and enjoyed the breezy (it was so hot that this was the only way to cool off) ride to the island.

Once we got there, instead of heading directly to the shops, we decided to walk around the island and take it all in. Evidently this is a place that a lot of people from Xiamen would like to retire to. It is peaceful and slower paced than the city, and quite inviting.

We walked some distance, casually taking it all in and found some
pictures to share. There is a guardian of the harbor, I can't remember his name, that they've built a big statue/monument to. This is visible as you walk along the waterfront and accessible as well, though we didn't go all the way to it.

I thought instantly of Deb when I saw this guy hanging out in his pajamas. He noticed me raise my camera and kind of scowled at me, but I took his picture anyway.

With lots of scenery, numerous little parks, and walking paths all over the place, we were able to
slip, almost incognito, through the crowds and get pictures. I loved this family (most of which were gathered giving instructions to the little girl to smile and pose) and don't think they even noticed us. That is unlikely, in that I am a good head or so taller than most of the people over here.

We finally decided our time for sight-seeing was ending as we had to catch a flight that evening to ShenZhen, so we went in search of Pearl World. It wasn't too difficult to find, but was by far the busiest of the shops in the area, and most likely,
on the island. Right away, they called for the English speaking sales girl, who danced between us and several other groups of foreigners in the shop to sell us on the beauties and value of their wares.

We had come to buy, and nothing was going to get in our way. I ended up buying a lot more than I had planned on, and mostly just sat back witnessing the ordeal that Mike was going through.

He had come with a list from co-workers and was trying to evaluate and purchase all the pearl necklaces, jade pieces, and bracelets that he had been entrusted to secure. We were there for well over two hours, as they were stringing our pearls (we wanted 21" strands instead of the standard 16" ones), and had requested that they double knot each pearl.

My head was dizzy just watching all the activity. It was truly an ordeal, and everyone back home should appreciate what Mike has gone through to get these orders filled.


While waiting for the strands to be completed, we wandered to a couple of nearby shops in search of other souvenirs. We got back to Pearl World, only to find that it would be another 20 minutes (more like 40) before they would be done.

By this time, the driver that was waiting for us back on the mainland was calling and telling us we needed to hurry. He was worried that we wouldn't make our flight, and it turns out was supposed to pick up another visitor as he dropped us off.



We got out of there as quickly as we could... all but ran to the ferry... and met him for the ride to the airport.

We were about 15-20 minutes late for the arriving passenger, but still had plenty of time to get to our boarding gate for our flight out.

Feeling pretty exhausted, we boarded, flew to ShenZhen, and rode the hour and a half to our hotel before finding out that some huge party was in progress, with this disco-thumping music permeating every part of the hotel and not scheduled to end until midnight or later.


We arranged our rooms, and headed off to bed -- not sleep mind you, the noise was just a little too much. There are no English channels on the TV. We're in the "sticks" now, and get funny looks from everyone we see. It's that bug-eyed stare like they've never seen caucasians before. We had a good laugh at breakfast, being told (in traditional Chinese sign language -- a lot of head shaking yes or no, and pointing) that we couldn't order the scrambled eggs and bacon from page 3, but need to order the scrambled eggs and bacon on page 1.

We laughed and had a little fun at breakfast as a nearby table got into a very loud discussion. They weren't yelling at each other, just talking very loudly and with a lot of excitement. In Korean, when you tell someone they are speaking to loudly and to please quiet down you say... "you're hurting my ears." That was definitely the case here.