I forgot to say that Andrew last night washed all of our clothes by hand
the littler washer woman was at it for hours hahaha
So i got up for a shower at 1pm whilst Andrew went and bought a heater to dry the clothes as the room is so freaking cold
Anyway 'breakfast' was soup hotpot type thing at 13RMB, the idea is amazing but I'm not going to lie it was slightly odd picking out your ingredients using bbq tongs out of plastic baskets that were placed in a warm refrigerator. Each item was segmented into little bundles to determine price.
All these were then boiled in metal baskets there was something in there that was hard when it went in but jelly like when it came out, however my favourite were the dumplingly things.
Not as good as the Passionfruit Milkshake complete with and icecream dollop!
Fresh, Organic, Tasty and Creamy
At 3.30 we came and went and got Matthew some DVD's and then made our way to the electric store
It was so strange, it was like a market inside for electricals particularly the higher floors as the ground floor resembled more of an electrical fair with all the large brands having their own stands.
There were some demonstrations outside which included games to win prizes all as a form of promotion for the brand.
It was incredibly bright and colourful & it was evident that they like to customise things
Stickers, Choosing colours, Patterns, characters
Innovative forms of visual merchandising included using fluro pens on clear glass which lit up
i bought a memory pen for 65 RMB for 8 GB
we went to store near by that was essentially a factory store for the various designer labels constructed in china but it was in an actual store. It didn't have much selection but it was good quality
Went back and packed for Harbin but met the others at 6 to go to the futsimal temple with Matt, his parents, Laura, Nicole & john.
Its amazing there, it reminded me of Sunny Beach in Bulgaria but obviously Chinese and with a temple in the middle of it. We took a boat ride which cost us 60 RMB each (very typical Chinese boat shape complete with lanterns)
After the boat ride I sampled the Chinese equivalent to a toffee apple, a toffee strawberry stick.
Its a cross between a fondue and a toffee apple actually and they are everywhere in china, street corners, shops, theme parks, ice festivals you name it
walking through the markets there are lots of pet stores, again nothing like that that you would expect to see in England. even as i got off the bike i saw goldfish being sold in the plastic egg shape gum ball machine like cups. In the market rabbits were being sold in cages that they only just fit in, it was like the glass cases you used to be able to put your TY beanie Babies in except they had literally no room to move which i found a little harsh. The dogs in the shops were adorable
The puppies were in the shop window just like in the song all piled on top of each other to keep warm,
there were some lovely dogs in there as well, huskies, labs i would of easily have taken one home :(
Whilst we were there it started snowing which was nice and i bought a hoody that was very Chinese esq
(i shall put a picture up at a later date) i also got the opportunity to see the store that Andrew has modelled for which was nice. Its such a big store, kind of reminded me a bit of Vera moda and jack jones with a hint of Zara but its really big there particularly in Nanjing
we went back and got some food so Andrew had some sustenance to stay up and keep changing the clothes over to dry blessssssss but we had to be up at 3 am to get to the airport yay!!!
There were some demonstrations outside which included games to win prizes all as a form of promotion for the brand.
It was incredibly bright and colourful & it was evident that they like to customise things
Stickers, Choosing colours, Patterns, characters
Innovative forms of visual merchandising included using fluro pens on clear glass which lit up
i bought a memory pen for 65 RMB for 8 GB
we went to store near by that was essentially a factory store for the various designer labels constructed in china but it was in an actual store. It didn't have much selection but it was good quality
Went back and packed for Harbin but met the others at 6 to go to the futsimal temple with Matt, his parents, Laura, Nicole & john.
It was a lovely ride actually and Laura translated for us. The buildings on either sides of the roads were home to prostitutes (more like geisha's) and men would come to them via the river. Poets used to write about them. There is one particular part of the river which used to run the fastest and it was here where a poet had to pass through to meet his prostitute however they fell in love and wrote love poems for each other.
I also learnt that the raised sections on the roofs (like a mini wall) were designed specifically to stop the spread of fire from one house to another as the buildings used to be made out off wood, this combined with the fact they were terrace style houses made them all extremely flammable. After the boat ride I sampled the Chinese equivalent to a toffee apple, a toffee strawberry stick.
Its a cross between a fondue and a toffee apple actually and they are everywhere in china, street corners, shops, theme parks, ice festivals you name it
walking through the markets there are lots of pet stores, again nothing like that that you would expect to see in England. even as i got off the bike i saw goldfish being sold in the plastic egg shape gum ball machine like cups. In the market rabbits were being sold in cages that they only just fit in, it was like the glass cases you used to be able to put your TY beanie Babies in except they had literally no room to move which i found a little harsh. The dogs in the shops were adorable
The puppies were in the shop window just like in the song all piled on top of each other to keep warm,
there were some lovely dogs in there as well, huskies, labs i would of easily have taken one home :(
Whilst we were there it started snowing which was nice and i bought a hoody that was very Chinese esq
(i shall put a picture up at a later date) i also got the opportunity to see the store that Andrew has modelled for which was nice. Its such a big store, kind of reminded me a bit of Vera moda and jack jones with a hint of Zara but its really big there particularly in Nanjing
we went back and got some food so Andrew had some sustenance to stay up and keep changing the clothes over to dry blessssssss but we had to be up at 3 am to get to the airport yay!!!
