And I took so many beautiful pictures!
I was looking through my pictures of stuff I already have to do a blog post (yes, I was feeling lazy about taking new pictures) and I just saw these old China pictures. They make me smile because I had such a good time for these 2 months with my family despite getting sick a lot haha..
I want to go on vacation again so bad now. I went to lots of places like Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou and a bunch of other places I don't remember the names of.
The Great Wall of China
Couples attach two locks together and lock them here to represent their love for each other
I don't remember what this said but I'm standing next to it because it was of some importance lol
The Temple of Heaven
The palaces were always so big
Climbing these stairs.. I was about halfway when I took the photo.
$5 CAD pet bunnies anyone? - At a night market
Nanjing Bridge where many lost their lives to build
Some trinkets I bought along the way: pearl bracelet and necklace at a pearl factory and these art pieces (a glass ball but the hole is super tiny at the bottom..and artists use a tiny brush to paint the insides through that hole).
I'm going to the states to shop tomorrow. I'm really excited! I've been itching to go. I really want to go to Downtown Seattle to visit Nordstorm to perhaps buy something expensive if the item is right up my alley and to eat at the Pike Public Market.
These pictures are lovely, everything looks amazing; I so want to go on a vacation after seeing these pictures, I bet you had a great time and you look so beautiful, glowing really! You have a lovely blog and I'm a new follower! Hope you'll like my blog and follow back!
ReplyDeletePop Culture&Fashion Magic
thanks Sara! I'm glad you enjoy my blog, I shall visit and follow you as well. I always look at these pictures to encourage me to go on a vacation soon lol.
ReplyDeleteHey, I've been to the same China trip as you this summer. Btw during the Nanjing 'art gallery' place was there a "master" who sat there and claimed to be the artist of the moving picture for the Shanghai Expo?
ReplyDeleteohhh I remember at the Nanjing bridge they said the master teachers students here but i didn't see the master. I didn't hear the connection about the moving picture for the Shanghai Expo and the master tho =\
ReplyDeleteOh... the reason I asked cause they're scam artists... my family got scammed into buying a $5000 CND piece of 'art work' that they claimed the master to have used tiny brushes to draw/paint. However, when I went to the Shanghai airport I saw ton of these 'art works' in the shops so.. they were just mass produced. Also they paid for the shipping to deliver it to our house and it was from Hong Kong so we figured the factory was there and not how they claimed it to be. The whole thing is very confusing but it took us a while to catch on to the whole ordeal behind the trip. Yeah... but we got to see the 'master' (the master's assistant has to ask the master if he wants to sell a certain piece - physiological role) Haha sorry if I'm confusing you .. but yeah just my experience..
ReplyDeleteoh gosh! thanks for telling me your story. that is just so low of those people. when i went on those tours, i was so skeptical of those places the tours brought us to shop.
ReplyDeletedo you remember that place with the clay pots? well apparently there's a set that's like 3 in the world and my parents and this other asian couple bought one for fricken $3000 CAD. I was so pissed off my parents bought it. I hope that clay teapot place wasn't a scam =(
..... Yeah I think it's hard for people to take it in because it just doesn't seem true ! But since you've also been to the same trip I thought I'd share my thoughts and experience. Hm... well, after we got scammed we basically thought every place they took us was a scam. It's so messed up! For each day did you get a new tour guide? I should have seen it coming when I saw so many 'Apple store' around town.
ReplyDeleteYeah, at the clay pot place they had that guy spinning the tea pot right? My mom and I were paying very very close attention to him because we caught on ( because this was after she had been scam). When he was 'molding' the teapot, the teapot looked exactly the same, as if he's not even touching it and we noticed that once the crowd was gone he disappeared... I mean it's like he's a paid actor. Our red flag went up cause there were these other two couples in our tour and they've been to a tea shop before. They bought this tea pot where if doesn't break even if you're standing on it... and guess what? The couple didn't even get to bring it home and it already shattered when they got on the plane lool..
Oh.... man... do they use the teapot? I feel your pain. I was begging my mom not to buy that stupid fake piece of art but she's too ...unconscious because they had already gotten to her head. Just remembering how her expression was when she bought it kills me..
Hopefully these types of tours will shut down and the government or some type of regulation can take control of the problem.
ohhh! we got about 4 tour guides. the first one, in the beginning, was with us the longest. ohhhh i never seen an "apple store"
ReplyDeletei don't really like tours because they are so rushed! i feel like i don't get to spend my time and moneys worth at each place.
oh when i went to the claypot place. i did see the guy demonstrate that you can't break it by standing on it. but i didn't see a guy making/molding one infront of my eyes. my parents never used that stupid teapot that came with only 2 cups. $3000 for that T_T. my brother and i were telling our parents we don't want it because our parents said it will increase in value since there's only x amount in the world and we have one and one day we can sell it....um yeah..
i have this cheapo clay tea pot at home that i drink tea from and i think it's fine. i do agree that it does make the tea have a different taste. but my parents said they bought that pot for more of an investment peace instead of using it.
did you remember going to the jade factory, some jail tower place that sold little stone lions, the crystal factory, the pearl factory, the green tea factory?
the only good thing was the grean tea leaves at the green tea factory. i still drink it to this day and i think it tastes really good. i bought a purple crystal bracelet. and some pearl necklace/bracelet but one of my friends said the prices i paid was kind of pricey =(
omg, at the pearl factory. did you see the chocolate pearl? my mom was going to buy it =( i told her not to.....thank god she didn't buy it..i don't think we need another "investment" piece or something that sits in the safe of a bank for years unlooked at.
Yeah... I agree... but then again if you weren't with a tour I think it would be dangerous for foreign tourists to be walking around even if we can speak the language.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh... that is EXACTLY what my mom said too... " it's an investment piece. This guy is famous.. once he dies I'll pass it on to you and it will be worth a lot!! " -FACE PALM-
Yeah I remember there was two jade factories. One was a normal looking one ... and one was REALLY creepy... which is the one I think you're talking about. First we went in and we were brought into the rooms and this guy was presenting why the jade were so 'godly' blahblah.. then my mom decided to screw him over by saying, " what if we can prove you are wrong" (something like that) and that guy started stuttering a lot... I'm guessing it's cause he's new and he already practiced the script so he didn't know how to respond. Then afterward he had to call his 'boss.' Let me tell you this 'boss' was REALLY REALLY freaky. He was bald, always holding his little Gucci coin purse (which was fake), and he talked sooooooo slow. I felt like I wanted to slap him... -.- and he claimed that he could speak Vietnamese,English, and french. So he asked me how old I was in English and I responded him and I was going to ask him more questions but he ran away from me. And he did the whole reverse psychology on the people, "even if you want it, I won't sell it you" in my head I'm just thinking, " oh please, stfu " He also claimed that a real jade can cut through glass and he demonstrated it. The first time it didn't cute then the second time it cute. The trick was that we saw that all his finger nails were cute but his thumb.. to which he used it to pierced through the glass. Now, you're probably thinking how can a finger nail pierce through the glass? Well, probably because that glass wasn't even a real glass.
For the jade and pearl.. they're not fake it's just that they put a ridiculously high price tag for something that is not worth it at all. They talk so highly of their products and make all these bs stories to deceive people. It's like every room was to brainwash you then they show you the product.. I guess they couldn't brainwash me because I didn't understand what they were talking about lol and I'm always skeptical about things.
I don't remember the chocolate pearl... how much was it? It's just really dumb that you can haggle more than 50% off of the retail price.. I heard from my mom's client that one time they stayed at the pearl place for over 3 hours because no one bought anything and in the end they all had to buy something... SCARY ! That is good that your mom didn't buy it !!