Guangzhou - The town that keeps on going

Nice load!

NICE HAT!

On Friday we arrived in GuangZhou and met with Rain, our friend who would show as around her hometown. We dropped our things off and went shopping. We shopped all day... I can't say I have ever shopped for so long. I bought a really nice silk sleeping bag liner for $20 and a hat for $6. We explored a road called Beijing road which was lined with shopping malls and other shops. After eating dinner with Rain's family we retired for the evening.

The next day we piled into the car with Rain's parents and drove to Bai You Mountain, the tallest mountain in GuangZhou. We spent the afternoon following an endless mass of people marching up a paved path to the summit. We took a brief moment to play Frisbee with some random people and then continued up. Half way up the mountain was a stone path with stones that stood upright...

Rain - "If you take your shoes off and walk on this path, you will sleep well tonight."

Joel and I took off our shoes and staggered along the extremely long path. When we finally reached the end we could feel our feet rejoicing for the reprieve. After descending the mountain we climbed back into the car and went out to Rain's house in the rural area of GuangZhou.

A bike made for 3

A bike made for 2

Rural GuangZhou

This city is huge. We drove for a long time - at least and hour - and finally got to the countryside, which was still 'GuangZhou'. We got a tour of Rain's parent's rural 4 story house, walked around the neighborhood, and enjoyed the scenery. After stopping for a dinner on the way home, we returned to Rain's parent's house in the heart of GuangZhou and called it a night.

The next day we went to a Buddhist temple - Guangxiao - and did our usually wandering around. 

Now I can throw away the ticket.  = )

Little Buddha Tea Time

A Glimpse of the Divine

We ate lunch at a nearby restaurant which was a Tibetan vegetarian place which served all sorts of types of mock meat. We tried the chicken and shrimp. The pure veggie dishes we ordered were awful, but the mock shrimp and chicken dishes were spectacular.

Mock Chicken

We took the subway to a giant family museum which had a huge art collection and beautiful roof ornaments. We wandered through the buildings and went to 'the most famous market in China'.

The Fang Cun market in GuangZhou is marked as the most famous market in China because you can buy all sorts of live animals to eat from bats and owls to dogs and cats. Ever so challengingly the guidebook suggested that tourists probably shouldn't go and visit.

Dried Lizard Medicine

"These silk worms make a good soup." Rain

The market was mostly tea and dried spices and herbs -- but there was a block where you could buy dogs, turtles and pets. But we are pretty sure they were just pets. There were all sorts of expensive imported western bred dogs, probably not worth making into soup.

We left the market and headed to an area located on an island in the river that runs through GuangZhou where the French and British colonized. We were excited because we had heard there were some good western restaurants in GuangZhou and we figured this is probably where they would be.

We arrived at the island and went to a western sounding place - Lucy's - which had a pretty sizable menu. We ordered a table full for the 3 of us and left disappointed because the food was definitely sub par. 

We tried to show American to Rain, but it was quite bland.

Leaving the island to go home we crossed a Subway which Joel and I both decided to grab a 6 inch Sub. The pickles were Chinese pickles and didn't sit well with me. We returned to Rain's house and called it a night.

It was a fun weekend, but both Joel and I felt like we didn't really 'see the city'. For all of the hype that GuangZhou has, we definitely didn't see or experience anything outside of what we have come to expect from China.