Friday 1 May 2015

May Day in Wenzhou

Wu Ma Street
Today was a day off for everyone here for May Day, so I decided to catch the bus into Wenzhou for a change of scenery and to check out the shops. Wenzhou is a large city in comparison with New Zealand with approximately 2 million residents. It is probably not big at all by Chinese standards as it doesn't appear to have a subway.

The shopping here is insane. Just like in New Zealand when a long weekend comes along, the malls and shops tend to be packed and this place is no exception. It was like Boxing Day Sales at a Westfield on crack. People were everywhere and sales people were out in force!
I decided to spend the day looking for familiar brands such as Nike, Adidas, Converse, Vans, MAC, Kiehl's and doing a price comparison. Unfortunately, most of these were the same price as you would have to pay for them back home, so no real bargains here. But I think I was wandering down the Parnell or Ponsonby Road version of Wenzhou. Wu Ma (5 Horses) Street is a very popular area and has a quite a few foreign shops. I love a good bargain, so I will need to talk to more people about where I can find the deals.
It was a good day out, and I am glad I made it there and back (bus and ferry) on my own without any dramas.
Wu Ma statue


On the ferry, check out the dirty water
 
The ferry























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6 comments:

  1. Unknown1 May 2015 at 23:17

    I wish we had 1/5 as public holiday in NZ too!

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    Replies
    1. Pom3 May 2015 at 21:35

      I know, NZ needs to have this day off too!

      Delete
  2. Unknown3 May 2015 at 19:19

    OMG is the water always that dirty? Is that a river or a lake? I laughed to read your description of shopping on a public holiday. I remember in Japan when they had sales...it was like a total fight and people were ruthless!! I was shocked the first time I experienced that. I hope you can find the good sale zones soon! Do many people do online shopping over there?

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    Replies
    1. Pom3 May 2015 at 21:41

      That's the actual water in the bay, so sea water. Not very appealing is it?
      There is a big online shopping website called taobao here, but not sure how popular it is as I haven't spoken to any locals about it. I know of some expats who use it though. I will check it out :-)

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    2. Unknown4 May 2015 at 14:09

      Taobao is the largest online shopping website, probably larger than Amazon and eBay combined. just ask your Chinese colleague :) Their total sales on a Chinese boxing day (which is 11.11 last year)were 9 billion usd. However, u have to be able to read Chinese , or find someone translate for you lol

      Delete
    3. Pom4 May 2015 at 18:56

      Thanks Ming, that's really interesting.

      Delete

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