Exploring April 18 (sat)

After searching the internet high and low for a map of Zhongshan I still ended up empty handed. I managed to find a street map on google maps but only with Chinese characters, which really doesn't help me.
After meeting a gent yesterday, while out for a walk, in a golf shop..thanks mom for sending me in there... who speaks English, he mentioned that the bus that passes by our street will take me into the city center (or close by i think) of Zhongshan.

So today after waiting for the rain to let up, we gathered our courage and patience and ventured out. The bus arrived and we tried to use hand gestures and waving money to find out how much it cost. He waved us by and we took our seat. 20 minutes later the bus arrives in a colourful town with people all around, everyone exited the bus including us.

We popped into one of the grocery stores (there were several) in hopes of finding something/anything good to eat. I haven't been able to find any proteins (chicken, beef, beans) but I have found isles and isles of crackers, hundreds of different types, noodles, rice, and soy sauce. Many isles, many.
I wish I had snapped a photo of the guy working at the store who was sinking his hands in a huge mound of rice (not packaged, like bulk) and playing with it. Picking up handfuls and allowing the rice to drizzle out of his left hand flowing to the right. Instead we walked by and tried not to think of all the rice we eat each day... :)

It's not that I want to eat Western food in China, I'm not the tourist who wants to eat at McDonald's and not appreciate the culture. But, in the meantime, I have to eat! It's been a week and today is the first day I found lettuce to make a salad.
So, we ended up eating dinner at an Australian restaurant, of all places. I KNOW! But I wanted to eat a steak. I needed some meat! We've been eating shredded chicken and other bits all week. In fact, besides a few people, the restaurant was filled with Aussie's all happily eating their cuisine.

In the end I'm not exactly sure which part of the city we visited but a good trip. No worries along the way. I didn't mention yet that the bus ride ended up costing 1 Yuan which is the equivalent to like $.17 CAD.
I also tried on 2 pairs of shoes, both of which were 2 sizes too small for my feet. I wrote down on the paper 40 as in size 40 European, and he brought out a garbage bag full of shoes for men and women and began to hand me different styles. None fit! I was looking for trainers since I am going to attempt the GYM. Smooth moves to meet people, oh ya, and for my health..

Click images to see them full size.