August 22nd
Went into work around 11a and worked on finishing up the packing process. Spent about an hour doing that, then it was lunchtime. The catering is terrible, so I always skip lunch.
We were done with the packing of the graphics systems so Alex, Christina and I left around 12:30.
Went back to the hotel to change and took a taxi to Jimo Lu market. They had not been yet and wanted to check out the North Face place. I was able to find it again, which surprised me.
Alex is quite the negotiator and got excellent prices for him and Christina. Wish I had waited to make my purchased with him!
Then we went to the 4th floor where you can get designer luggage, purses, wallets, etc. Christina wanted a Lotus purse – or something like that. A brand that is popular (and expensive) in Greece. She found what she was looking for and Alex talked them from 700 yuan down to 200.
I checked out the Coach products at few of the booths. Coach is made in China – but this stuff was fake. It does look exactly the same – the fabric, logo, etc. – however, the leather and zippers are very low quality. So maybe it was real – just a cheaper version ?
Anyway – none of the stores have the Gucci, Coach, Louis Vuitton, etc. out on the shelves. You just walk in and look around and they eventually ask you what you are looking for. Once you tell them the brand, the open one of the many suitcases that are for sale and what do ya know – they are full of the designer brands.
So after a while, we decided to catch a taxi back to the hotel.
On the way, we saw the TV Tower and decided we wanted to go there. It is huge and is a place Christina and talked about visiting because it is surrounded by gardens and a temple. However, we had never gotten around to it.
We pointed to the tower several times and finally got the driver to understand that is where we wanted to go. He dropped us off and we walked up to the entrance. Closed for the Olympic period. That’s strange. It is a tourist attraction.
We walked around and took photos and noticed the gardens down below – so decided to try to get to them. There was a pathway down the side of the hill/mountain – it was kinda overgrown with brush, but we decided to give it a shot.
Went into work around 11a and worked on finishing up the packing process. Spent about an hour doing that, then it was lunchtime. The catering is terrible, so I always skip lunch.
We were done with the packing of the graphics systems so Alex, Christina and I left around 12:30.
Went back to the hotel to change and took a taxi to Jimo Lu market. They had not been yet and wanted to check out the North Face place. I was able to find it again, which surprised me.
Alex is quite the negotiator and got excellent prices for him and Christina. Wish I had waited to make my purchased with him!
Then we went to the 4th floor where you can get designer luggage, purses, wallets, etc. Christina wanted a Lotus purse – or something like that. A brand that is popular (and expensive) in Greece. She found what she was looking for and Alex talked them from 700 yuan down to 200.
I checked out the Coach products at few of the booths. Coach is made in China – but this stuff was fake. It does look exactly the same – the fabric, logo, etc. – however, the leather and zippers are very low quality. So maybe it was real – just a cheaper version ?
Anyway – none of the stores have the Gucci, Coach, Louis Vuitton, etc. out on the shelves. You just walk in and look around and they eventually ask you what you are looking for. Once you tell them the brand, the open one of the many suitcases that are for sale and what do ya know – they are full of the designer brands.
So after a while, we decided to catch a taxi back to the hotel.
On the way, we saw the TV Tower and decided we wanted to go there. It is huge and is a place Christina and talked about visiting because it is surrounded by gardens and a temple. However, we had never gotten around to it.
We pointed to the tower several times and finally got the driver to understand that is where we wanted to go. He dropped us off and we walked up to the entrance. Closed for the Olympic period. That’s strange. It is a tourist attraction.
We walked around and took photos and noticed the gardens down below – so decided to try to get to them. There was a pathway down the side of the hill/mountain – it was kinda overgrown with brush, but we decided to give it a shot.
After a while, we saw that there was a ski lift – so we tried to find where we could get on that. Of course we asked locals who were also on the path and they had no clue what we were asking. They talked & talked and we just assumed they were mocking us. Or plotting to kill us – it would make for a good story – an American, Italian and Grecian kidnapped on the side of a mountain.
Eventually, we found where you get on the ski lift. We attempted to get on without paying by using our credentials – didn’t work. I think it ended up costing us 40 yuan (about $7 USD) to ride it down to the temple.
It was a very peaceful ride over a tea farm and the side of the mountain.
Once we got to the temple – we found that the grounds were not at all well kept. It was surprising as all the gardens and temples I had visited in other cities were immaculate.
Alex got some of the monks to pose with him, which we were very surprised about!
The temple itself was closed, so we didn’t get to see the Buddha.
I found the plastic grass to be strange
When we decided to return to the hotel, it was 5pm, so it took an eternity to get a cab. But we had fun with it. Afterall, the past few hours had been an impromptu side trip that we all enjoyed very much.
The 3 of us met up with Billy and Ben for dinner. We went to the buffet at the Shangri-La Hotel. Wow! First of all – we learned – just from the lobby – the difference between a 5 Star Hotel (Shangri-La) and a 4 Star Hotel (our hotel)! The smell alone was worth its weight in gold! It was the first time in almost 5 weeks I smelled something fresh & clean!
So the buffet was everything we had heard about and more! Just the décor alone was worth it!
It was around the dessert area that I got asked to stop taking photos. Which I knew was going to happen eventually – the same thing happened when Lili was here last week.
Endless variety of anything you could possibly want to eat and it was all delicious!
I am not a dessert person – I have tried a bite or two over the past month – and it has all been terrible. That has been the general consensus with everyone. They make pretty desserts, but the taste is awful!
However, the desserts here were not only amazing to see, they tasted fabulous!
A great day of working, shopping, playing tourist and dinner with an excellent group of (new) friends!
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