Friday, November 14, 2008

Shopping tips for those coming to Guangzhou

We have been here for almost a week now and have done A LOT of shopping. Here are my tips:

- My favorite merchant, by a long shot, is Michael, of Michael's. Just walk out of the hotel on the first floor, turn right and then make a left on the first street. You'll see his shop right away. He's very nice, his quality is the best in my opinion, and neither he nor his clerks are a bit pushy. That is a big-time rarity here, and makes for a much better shopping experience than in most stores, where someone follows you around and says, "That's very rare. You want that? You want that?"

- Try the green tea latte at Starbuck's after a long day of shopping. Yummy.

- The owner of Jordan's is very nice, and his shop has ADORABLE Chinese rag dolls for girls.

- If you want a doll for a boy, check out the awesome charity shop on the pedestrian street near the hotel. It's called A Gift from China, and it's right in between Sherry's and Starbucks - two places anyone can point you to. If you're looking for Christian-themed Chinese souvenirs, or you want to buy someplace where your money goes to charity, this is the place. And the knit boy dolls are super cute - someone in our adoption group spotted them and bought one for Quinn (thanks, Melanie!!).

- Catty-corner across the street from Starbuck's is a very nice art gallery called E-Gallery. Nice variety, very good quality and very fair prices. They did bargain, but not a ton. And they take Visa, which is rare in China.

- Someone in my group suggested buying several years' worth of Chinese New Year's outfits while we're here. We found one we loved at Michael's (Quinn is wearing it in his red couch photo) and we bought three more in bigger sizes. It's short-sleeved, which will be good for us in Tucson (most of them are very heavily quilted).

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