Guangzhou (Part 4)

Day 6: When we had dinner with my relatives, my uncle suggested that we visit Chime-Long Amusement Park. He was really enthusiastic about the world-class circus, so we decided to check that out too.

I should've blogged about this sooner because I'm starting to forget what happened. I didn't take that many pictures because pictures of amusement park rides aren't very fun. My first purchase at the amusement park:

Panda hat!

The rides at Chime-Long are more fun/interesting than ones I've been on at home. For example: we went on a ride where you have to sit motorcycle-style, and a racing ride where you have to pump this bar up and down (causing the cart to move), get out at the end of the track and put a fake fire out, and get back in and pump the cart back to the front (we finished third to last -_-). There was also a ten inversion roller coaster I didn't go on, as well as one that looked like those hot-dog spinning machines.

At 5 PM we headed out to the world-class circus show. We got pretty lame seats since we were kinda late (like, REALLY lame off-to-the-side, can't-even-see-the-whole-show lame) and the place smelled like pee, but the show was really nice:


Ugh, these pictures suck. Sorry, I don't know how to take pictures of things moving in the dark.

The show was basically Ka with animals. They had bears rolling carts around and this whole war sequence with monkeys duking it out. Pretty entertaining.

So after the show, we didn't leave the park for another HOUR because one of my friends dragged us around because she wanted to buy an animal hat (like mine). Too bad all of the carts were already put away and we walked all the way across the park for nothing -_-

So after that we decided to check out Beijing Road, a pretty famous place for shopping in Guangzhou. It was kinda crowded, but everything was cheaper than in Hong Kong (I bought a scarf for 23 RMB that would've cost me 50 HKD) and the people are a lot more willing to bargain. If you don't like the price and walk away they will literally yell after you and drag you back. You can also tell when you didn't go low enough on a price when they give it to you willingly :/


Day 7: Not much happening on our last day here. There wasn't much time to do anything before heading back to Shenzhen on a train and then taking the MTR back, so we decided to just take it easy and spend the day shopping (again). But we did have dimsum on our last day in Guangzhou:



So supposedly this is "kung-fu style" tea, where you have a pot of hot water on hand that you use to refill a smaller tea pot filled with tea leaves, which you then pour in another little tea pot with a strainer, after which it is ready to serve. Kind of a hassle, but at least now I know (and have made) kung-fu style tea...Actually I just read the Wikipedia article on kung-fu tea, and it's WAY more complicated than what we had to do. Oh well.

Here, have a picture of the last drink I had in Guangzhou:


FINALLY done. I'm off to Thailand tomorrow morning and will be there for five days. And then when I get back I have to do a whole Thailand trip recap -_-. Oh, and I have two midterms on the Monday after

-_____________-

Guangzhou (Part 3)

Day 5: We decided to go to Bai Yun San (White Cloud Mountain) to go hiking. To get there we took a 45 minute or so bus ride. WORST BUS RIDE EVER. The bus got PACKED with old Chinese people (heading to the same place as us) a stop or two after we got on. Like, chest to back packed, you-don't-even-have-to-hold-on-to-anything bumper-to-bumper packed. For more than half an hour. But that's not the worst part. The worst part was that the girl sitting down right in front of me (I was standing and was practically on top of her) apparently wasn't feeling too well and THREW UP. And, if you can believe it, this isn't my first experience with barfers on Asian public transportation. This also happened to me on a minibus in Hong Kong, with some drunk kid puking all over himself for the whole 20 minute ride. Also, we saw this girl again at Bai Yun San, happily skipping around with her boyfriend. Guess she felt better. >:/

ANYWAY. We got through that, only to face the bitter cold on the mountain. We took a cable car because hiking would've taken us FOREVER. I'm scared of heights, but the ride wasn't too bad and the view was pretty nice.


So Bai Yun San is split up into different areas that you have to pay (5-10 RMB) to get into. We decided to check out the bird area, which includes the biggest bird cage in Asia.

About ten minutes in, one of my friends got pooed on by a seagull (yes, very exotic), so we hightailed it out of there. REAL FAST.

After aimlessly walking around for a while, we paid 5 RMB to walk up a GIGANTIC set of stairs. It seriously took forever just to get to the top, which wasn't even that special. I guess it's a pretty big attraction for couples, because you're supposed to bring a lock with you and chain it on this contraption once you get to the top so that your love lasts forever. Can't believe I PAID to walk up those stairs. Also, this guy asked my friend to take a picture of just him with HER camera and gave her his email to send it to him later. What a weirdo.



I remember by now I just wanted to get out of Bai Yun San because I was freezing and tired, but we decided to stick around to find the Peach Blossom Valley. I'm happy we did. It was reallllly nice, and I found a statue of five sheep! I don't know if it's the one Ba's talking about, but I can't imagine how exciting other statues of five sheep can be.





We left Bai Yun San at about 6-ish? And decided to head to Tee Mall. I've been to this mall before! And I think I bought a pair of jeans here, but I don't remember much else. We basically just ate dinner here, and didn't really do any shopping.

Next up: Chime-Long Paradise!

Guangzhou (Part 2)

Better start writing this stuff down before I forget.

Day 4: We headed out to Guangzhou on a 2 hour bus ride, passing a lot of countryside on the way. I guess the preferred living quarters here are the perfectly square/rectangular houses (I saw a lot of these, but I couldn't take a picture because the bus was pretty fast). I also saw a lot of bayou-like living situations, with little shacks lined up alongside a murky looking lake. Very cool (but also no pictures, sadly). We stayed at the 7 Day Inn which was probably on the same level as a Circus Circus hotel room. Each night was about 230 RMB, split between four people, so we each paid less than ten dollars a night. We also had to share beds here, but at least we got a western toilet.

The original plan was to visit my great aunt on the day after arriving in Guangzhou, but since we had nothing better to do we decided to move the visit up. Good thing we did too, because she told us she was going out of town on vacation on Tuesday. So she met us at the bus stop and took us back to her apartment where we met her husband. Her husband and two of my friends speak Mandarin, and one of my friends speaks Cantonese, so I was the only one who couldn't talk to my own relatives :( I tried though!

So we hung around for a while waiting for dinner, which I thought would just be heated up leftovers, but turned out to be a really fancy restaurant dinner. I felt bad since they didn't know there were four of us until right before we met at the train station. What also made me feel really bad: the amount of money I got from them for Chinese New Year.

My great aunt's daughter and her husband came to pick us up and take us to the restaurant, and my uncle (daughter's husband) kept talking about how he visited our house in 1993 and Ba took him and Hob to Disneyland. He also remembers that Mommy made abalone soup for him. Of course I don't remember this because I was only four at the time, but he did seem (very) vaguely familiar. And I couldn't pinpoint him until half an hour into dinner when he said he worked for Wrigley's for 17 years. And then I remembered! Bubblegum Uncle! I got really excited because I seriously haven't thought about Bubblegum Uncle for about a decade. When I was little I always used to wish Bubblegum Uncle would visit because he'd bring us Juicy Fruit or something. So yeah. Epiphany. Also, my aunt visited us in 1998 or something, but I don't remember that at all.

I thought the restaurant was too fancy for me to whip out my camera to take pictures, but we had this one thing for dessert that was REALLY GOOD so I want to remember it later. It was this little purple ball with sesame seeds or something on the outside, and it was really purple inside with some gooey sweet center. I think it was made out of those really purple yams. But yeah, it was DELICIOUS.

Anyway. After dinner we dropped my great aunt and her husband off at their apartment, and my uncle and aunt took us to some famous spots in Guangzhou:

The TV tower, which is reallllly tall (reaches into the clouds) and changes colors.


The Xinghai Concert Hall. Supposedly he was a famous Chinese composer or something.


The Pearl River Delta. Suuuuuper cold.


And here's a picture of me and Bubblegum Uncle and Aunt:


Up next: Day 5 at Bai Yun San!

Back From the Motherland: Part 1 (Hoiping)

I wonder how long this recap of the past week is going to take?

Here goes:

Day 1: My friends and I left for Hoiping Friday afternoon. We rode on a bus for about an hour and then stopped at the border and had to go through immigration and customs and stuff. I had to pee by then, and therefore had my first (and probably the worst) squat toilet experience ever. Squat toilets have a very VERY distinct smell, which I can only describe as a mix between chickens and pee. In theory they could be very clean since you don't touch anything, but the fact that people CAN'T AIM makes this the WORST IDEA EVER. Anyway, after peeing, we got back on the same bus and rode another three hours to Hoiping. My first impression of China (aside from the squat toilets): so green! A very nice contrast to Hong Kong. Being in Hong Kong for almost two months = I miss grass.

So we get to Hoiping at around 7 PM and figure out pretty quick that just because you're on the sidewalk doesn't mean you can't get hit by a car. Why do they even have sidewalks? Cars and motorcycles just drive right up and park. Also, the "taxis" there are just shady vans with shady guys who actually get out of their cars and come up to you to ask you if you need a ride.

After we get picked up by my friend's dad, we head over to my friend's uncle's house for dinner. They were realllly really nice, waiting for us for almost every meal because we're lazy Americans (who can't wake up before 10). I didn't spend any money on food while I was in Hoiping because we ate with them almost every meal. But the downside is we had the same thing every single day: boiled chicken, goose, cauliflower, and some kind of cabbage. It was really good, and reminded me of home, but three days in a row is a bit much.




My friend's dad has been staying in his own apartment in Hoiping, so we stayed in the extra bedroom there. It wasn't too bad, aside from having to share one big bed between four people, and the whole showering-right-next-to-the-squat-toilet situation.




Day 2: We didn't do too much in Hoiping because it was absolutely freezing. It rained really hard while we were there, so we didn't spend too much time out. We did a bit of shopping (I bought three pairs of socks for under 10 RMB - that's like, $1.50 USD!), and then had dinner with my friend's other uncle. They had a REALLY nice apartment, much nicer than what I expected in Hoiping, which isn't as developed as other places in China. Then we went to this park that was decorated for Chinese New Year and played with sparklers. Can't remember much, except it was REALLY cold. Then we went home and the four of us played mahjong. LOL.






Day 3: I guess mahjong really tired us out the night before, because we woke up at noon the next day. Oops. We went to Xie Weili park, which is some rich guy's private garden, built in 1936. It was really big and pretty nice (but still super cold), but a lot like other parks I've already seen in Guangzhou. Sadly, once you see one nice Chinese building/park, they all start to look the same. We took some super touristy pictures dressed up in traditional dress which are pretty embarrassing (look below). After the garden we went to the Chikan District, a historical city that was built on the business competition between the Guan and Situ families. My friend whose family we stayed with is a Situ, so her family's been around there for a preeeeeeeetty long time. Since day 3 was Chinese New Year, we played with sparklers (again) and then spent the rest of the night playing mahjong (again). So Chinese.



Oh, and this is the friend whose family I stayed with in Hoiping.

Happy Birthday Hob!

I hope it's your birthday. For some reason, I feel like I've gotten it wrong and it ISN'T your birthday, but I'm preeeetty sure it is. So happy birthday! Here's your obligatory happy birthday video:



Watch out for my China posts!

Happy New Year! Spending it in the Motherland

Well, not yet, but I'll be in China and probably won't have internet for the next week or so, so I'm getting a head start. I'm taking a four hour bus ride to Guangzhou tomorrow afternoon and staying with my friend's relatives in Hoiping. Then we're going to Guangzhou on Monday, then Shenzhen? I'm not really sure right now. But we're getting back Thursday next week, so you'll hear from me again then.

I went to the New Year's Festival in Causeway Bay tonight. It's just a huge fair with LOADS of stuff on sale, ranging from millions of flowers to millions of tiger themed carnival toys and stuff. They also had a bunch of infomercial style products and lots of street food. These things always leave me smelling like stinky tofu. Also, it was PACKED. I probably had dozens of different people's sweat on me at one point, because the crowd pretty much moved together as a huge mass. But when does that NOT happen in Hong Kong? At one point I was (somehow) going against the crowd, and saw an old, round white guy coming towards me. Contact between us was inevitable, and somehow that half a minute before being smooshed together and those few seconds of ACTUALLY being smooshed together felt like FOREVER. I swear it was slow-motion.

Edit with pictures after I get back. Too tired.

Here, Have a Monster Post!

Friday: I should really start studying. Being here is just like having a looooooooooooooong vacation. This'll really come back and bite me in the butt.

So today I had class until 10:30 AM, sat around for a couple of hours waiting for my 2 PM class, got out at 3, then came back and took a nap. Napped for an hour and a half, then woke up and sat around for another couple of hours, then decided to head out for some Hong Kong street food for dinner. Amy told me I should be keeping track of new places to eat and stuff for when they all come, so HERE:





I don't know what this place is called (I don't even know if it even HAS a name) but I know that you take the D2 exit from Central onto D'Aguilar street, then cross the street straight onto Stanley. I remember our last trip into Soho was really frustrating because we didn't know where to eat, and ended up trying out this Beijing dumpling restaurant which was mediocre and way overpriced, only to come across the place I went to tonight after we finished our meal. It's one of those outdoor, plastic stool "restaurants" that look really dodgy but are must-see/must-try places in Hong Kong, I think, even if it looks so unappetizingly unhygienic. Some examples: I saw a guy running around with raw shrimp in his bare hands, and they write your orders on individual slips of paper, which are placed on plates, which are subsequently filled with the food you ordered, so you get your dish as well as a little wet slip of paper. I thought the food was pretty good (especially the squid) and the total came out to about 40 HKD per person (about $5.50 USD), so pretty cheap. The major downside (other than sitting on a wet sidewalk next to little plastic buckets filled with dirty dishes) is that it took an hour for us to get our food. But I guess that could be a good thing, as that means it was really busy and it must be good since a lot of people go there. The people were really nice too.

And after that I got some strawberry gelato. I <3 gelato.



Saturday: We decided to go to Sham Shui Po (particularly Nam Cheong Street and Ki Lung Street) because supposedly there are TONS of shops there that are dedicated solely to crafts/fabrics/buttons etc. Too bad 80% of the stores were closed. But I am definitely going back on a weekday. Crafter's paradise.



I really like going to places with street markets because it's so different and so REAL compared to the upscale shops and pristine malls of Central, Causeway Bay, and TST. There are always really interesting things to see in street markets, like cured meats hanging outside of little stores (for flies to swarm, BTW) and huge pots of cooking chestnuts:



Oh yeah, we saw a HUGE dead rat in the middle of the street in SSP. Just thought I'd share.

Afterwards we grabbed dinner in TST, which was pretty good Japanese food at Doraya (on Cameron Road, Exit B?) that came out to about 100 HKD; I decided to splurge after the whole 40 dollars a day fiasco. Actually, I might just do that every week because I should probably take it easy on weekdays and stay in and study. After dinner we headed to Mazazu Crepes in Harbour City, a HUGE upscale mall next to the pier. I got the Choco Strawberry Cheesecake, which was a crepe filled with whipped cream, strawberries, cheesecake, and chocolate syrup. It was prettttyyyy delicious.



Things I didn't really like before coming to Hong Kong that I like now: chicken feet and chocolate.

Oh, have three flavors of Yan Yan not found in the States:



I tried the milk flavored Yan Yan already; I like it because it doesn't taste like milk.

You know what's sad? I couldn't even drink my precious chocolate Vitasoy on my 40 HKD budget T_T. It's been so looooooong chocolate Vitasoy! Maybe tomorrow.

Sunday: Disappointing...The plan for today was to go biking in the New Territories, but too bad it rained like CRAZY. I've been checking the weather consistently since I've been here, and it NEVER rains when it says it's going to, EXCEPT FOR TODAY. Bummed.

So instead we wandered around Tai Po Market, which is the area where the biking occurs. We went to the meat market, which has a bunch of super fresh seafood, pork, and poultry:





We also went to the MTR museum, which is TINY and pretty uninteresting. There were some really old pictures of MTR back in the day (seriously like, 100 years ago) and old ticket stubs and such.

Afterwards we checked out a Buddhist temple. That was cool. I think I'm gonna get pretty homesick when Chinese New Year comes around (next week O_O), because I started feeling nostalgic smelling all of that incense.




We had dinner at Pizza Hut (LOL) but it was still an experience. They have weird stuff like Norwegian Salmon Tortilla Pizzas, and we ordered a pizza with thousand island dressing that I mentioned before. It kinda just tasted like animal style fries from In-N-Out or something.

Not much else going on today, except I was examined by a Chinese medicine student we met in the lounge. Her name is Sammy (I think) from Shanghai, and she said I was yang (as in yin-yang) deficient, so I should eat more lamb. Yang deficiency supposedly explains why I'm cold all the time (HAHAH), and why I dislike winter so much. Also, judging by my body type or something, I was a bad quality baby T_T. A BAD QUALITY BABY??? I don't even know what that means.

A bad quality baby...