Amoy Wanderings

My last post was about a trip we took to a ghost mall in hopes of finding urban decay and wound up finding a partially operational mall. And though we didn't find the urban decay that others had posted about online, it still was an interesting place to explore. This post is about a trip we took in hopes of finding an interesting place and wound up finding urban decay. This last weekend, Sandy and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary by spending the weekend in Guangzhou, just for some time away to enjoy being together. On Saturday, we decided to explore a little and went to an art factory called Redtory that TripAdvisor had listed as an interesting place to visit. Had I read the reviews a little more closely, we wouldn't have gone because some of the reviews discussed how the shops were mostly closed down in October of 2019. (This actually brings up an interesting issue many travel sites are having: with the pandemic greatly limiting travel over the past few years, most cu

A few weeks ago, someone told me that the largest abandoned mall in the world was located in Dongguan, Guangdong, about a 2 hour drive from us. Well, that really interested me because I am familiar with two abandoned malls in Xiamen, and they were very interesting to explore -- and honestly a little creepy. It is no wonder they are referred to as ghost malls. That is not to say there are no businesses in them, but the majority of storefronts are empty, and those that are in use look more like squatters moved in -- stores you would encounter out on the street with little glitz or glamour -- definitely no mall appeal.  So, I did some research on the mall and found out where it was, saw a few photos, and read some description about it, but most of the info was from 2013 to 2019, nothing recent. Wikipedia has a bit of information as well, but all quite dated. Some of the basic stats are that the mall covers  9,600,000 sq ft with enough space for 2,350 stores.  But with the pandemic, what

So, our second school year at BASIS International School, Park Lane Harbour is wrapping up. Sandy and Emily are finishing up their college classes, with Sandy completing her BA and Emily her AA both in intercultural studies. We are all looking forward to summer vacation, though mine won't begin until June 30.  The long and wild ride which began in 2020 seems to be coming to and end, and it has been very heartening to hear how life is beginning to return to normal in the US and around the world. In China, though, prevention measures for COVID are still ever present. With the zero tolerance policy that China has implemented, BASIS Park Lane Harbour (being a boarding school) faced several challenges this winter and spring when new cases broke out in the nearby city of Shenzhen. Just prior to Chinese New Year vacation, we ran 15 days of school straight because students couldn't return home without undergoing schoolwide testing. Then after the holiday, more cases broke out, so, the