Sunday was another day exploring familiar places in Shenyang. This time David & I were tour guides to USA colleagues as well as Ron, David’s boss from Bridgewater.
We thought early Sunday morning was a good time to show them Wuai Market. “Five Love” market is HUGE!!! Anything and everything you could imagine. Since there was 5 of us travelling it was fun to hail a cab for the three newcomers to Shenyang and tell the driver where to take them and then hail another for David & I and then tell the driver where we were going and as well to “follow that cab”. A lot of fun in a busy city.
I think the guys were amazed at what was to be found on the street and beside the heavy winter curtains at Wuai Market. Floors upon floors, booth after booth of clothes, shoes, purses, watches, clocks,wigs, bedding, other household goods, calendar, paper, decorations….and on and on…
It was fun to watch David assist them with buying a couple things. And…I got a 2017 Calendar for year of the Rooster.
Next stop Gu gong. Shenyang’s Imperial Palace. I love this tourist area. It’s also the place that David & I did our 2013 Christmas Card dressed in Emperor’s Clothes. We didn’t go inside the Palace, there’s a lot to see outside and time just doesn’t permit to do a thorough tour.
We browsed some of the shops and I found my Jade lady!!! I couldn’t believe it. I picked up a few small Jade animals and helped the guys with their purchases. Our Jade lady was so sweet and I got BIG hugs as we left. I think she was pretty happy we stopped by today.
Here is a pic from when we lived here in 2012…
And today… she hasn’t changed a bit sweet lady.
About this time it was lunch time and we thought it would be nice to have jiaozi. Dumplings are a staple food but we didn’t want to go to the large famous “expensive” spot. So we asked at a restaurant area if they had jiaozi explaining we wanted a “small hole in the wall” restaurant, we didn’t say “hole in the wall” but he knew what we meant. The Chinese people in general are so very helpful and go out of there way for foreigners. He left his restaurant for a few minutes, took us out on the street, led us down another little side street to a very small place, told the servers what we wanted and then helped order. Small places like this sometimes only have 1 kind of jiaozi. But that is ok. We had pork and celery. I am very surprised at how much of my simple Chinese comes back and what I can communicate when I need to.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel where I stayed for a bit of a nap and the guys got turned around and went out for more exploring…David wanted to show them the Electronics street.
Sunday night we had dinner with our much loved China Family. Our driver, his wife, daughter and the family’s dear friend. This family is so very special to us and helped us more than you can ever imagine living in China. We enjoyed a feast of delicious food, and special memories, laughs and hugs. It’s hard to imagine that two cultures, so different, could be so close. We love them and were so happy to catch up!
Our driver even had a special gift for me. A little China Bling.
I loved catching up with my China daughter Wan Jia Xiu and hearing about her boyfriend and teaching English in a private school in Shenyang.
It was a pretty AWESOME day. ( I think Ron can see why we enjoyed our expat time living and working here)
And then stops along Nanjing street, Zhongshan street, Heping, Zhongshan Park, a HUGE flower shop to show Ron the options he would have living here for surprising his partner with flowers lol. haha, I remember the HUGE bouquet David gave me one year for Valentine’s Day.
More exploring of side streets, the Underground ( my how THAT has changed) markets, hole in the wall places…
After dropping off some things to the hotel, we took the Metro ( crowded at evening rush hour) to Middle Street. The oldest, most famous walking street in Shenyang. It was dusk so the lights were beautiful! Oh how I miss this. It was fun to walk the street, popping in some of the high end malls to get warm. The cold bothers David’s back so we stopped often.
When we were finished we took a cab to one of our favourite restaurants for some familiar dishes . Yum!!! This is what I miss!
Lunenburg is a well known fishing town by the sea, it is the HOME of the Bluenose II, and so much of the Christmas traditions and decorations revolves around that. It is also very beautiful!
We took Hwy 8 passing Kejimkujik National Park on the way. We wanted to see the site of the really bad forest fires this summer. Such devastation.
Have a great week friends!
Just An East Coast Girl 