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Guangzhou - Bullet The Yellow Sky June, 2008 |
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After reluctantly leaving the fresh air of Yangshuo, we arrived in Guangzhou on an overnight sleeper bus, a rather uneventful trip that passed by quickly. Guangzhou, formerly known as Canton, is a huge industrial and manufacturing center, having a population approaching 5 million, with skyscrapers seemingly being built wherever you look, erector set cranes poking into the sky as far as the eye could see, in its headlong rush to be like Hong Kong. Freshly built consumer stores and malls are everywhere, with shiny high rise office buildings dotting the horizon. We were staying at the Westin Guangzhou for three nights, frugally cashing out more hotel points for rather luxurious accommodations, conveniently located a block away from a subway station, affording quick and easy access to the other sites in town. From here, we were headed into Hong Kong for a week, and figured it was worth a stop as we worked our way east, then north to Shanghai .An absorbing outing is a visit
to the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King, a 2000 year old grave site
discovered in 1983 when workers began We also took the subway down to Shamian Island, a uniquely preserved historical district in Guangzhou, and spent the better part of a day wandering around enjoying the sites and watching the old locals play Chinese checkers. This peaceful and tree lined oasis contains both British and French colonial buildings built in the 1850’s, with many converted into upscale restaurants, hotels and shops. Another day was spent at the Yuexiu Park, a sizeable stretch of urban greenery in the center of Guangzhou, with wonderful gardens, shaded paths, lakes with boat rentals, and loads of families out having fun. After our stay here in Guangzhou, it’s a two hour express train to Hong Kong where we’ll spend a week. No, I wouldn’t put this city on the recommended list of places to see, but if you’re in transit to points east like we were, and you have a decent place to stop at an affordable price, then certainly break your trip up and visit the king’s mausoleum.
Another thing we find very odd
and very Chinese are the babies that don’t wear diapers, but rather have
pants that are slit around from the front All in all, China is very interesting, and fortunately we had 7 months of Asian travel under our belts before arriving here, otherwise, I think it would drive you nuts trying to get things done. For the big cities, we’ve wisely and strategically used our Sheraton points so we have great accommodations at very good prices, sometimes free. All of the cities here seem to have a minimum of 1 million inhabitants, although we will have 2-3 week stretches where we’re off the beaten track and staying in smaller, non touristy places, which we find to be very rewarding, a real slice of Chinese life.
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It’s
depressing to consider that the residents of Guangzhou may never see
blue sky again or that their children will grow up and never grasp the
concept of a horizon or recognize the true color of the atmosphere. Yet,
as I looked out the window of our hotel room, pondering the soccer field
located just across the street 20 floors below, so obscured by the
onerous yellow haze of pollution, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was
a certainty, or if somehow this trend would ever be reversed. With
people saying Beijing is so much worse, we were grateful for the
occasional rainstorm to at least temporarily provide a brief respite of
relief, and wondered why they even considered having the Olympic Games
there in the hottest season with pollution at its worst. I think people
will be in for a real shock when they broadcast images from this region
of the world - it’s not a pretty picture folks. Hopefully, this will
bring some awareness and maybe provide a catalyst for change in this
region of the world. 
excavating
a hillside for an apartment complex. What’s remarkable about this site
is that it had not been plundered and remained as it was when the
ancient king was buried. Nowadays, the grave site has been made into a
fascinating museum, with artifacts from the site preserved and
displayed, including the impressive jade and silk burial suit, gold
jewelry and carved trinkets, and the rather macabre bones of servants
and virgins sacrificed at the gravesite to accompany the king on his
journey to the other side. The actual burial site, with its chambers
locked behind heavy wooden doors supported by giant metal hinges (parts
of which are still intact), have also been preserved, so you get an
extraordinary impression of what the archeologists discovered and how it
was meticulously dug out. Very well done, and highly recommended. 
We
continue to do well on our trip and Marge seems to be able to
communicate in Chinese with the locals despite her limited Mandarin
vocabulary. She hasn’t yet been able to acquire a pill splitter from a
pharmacy despite heroic efforts, something you’d think would be easy to
explain, but isn’t. It’s not really been so difficult to get around,
although the Chinese are an impatient lot and you need to be wary of
their annoying habit of cutting into queues rather than waiting their
turn in line. If you’re at a busy ticket counter at the railway station,
you can be talking to the clerk trying to get information, when all of a
sudden, people cut in, pushing money at the person, demanding a ticket.
I’ve taken to forming a ring of protection around Marge when she’s at
any counter and quickly yet politely push back anyone trying to cut her
off – oddly, when you do push back, the people are very apologetic, so
it’s weird, do they not see this behavior as bad manners? This
impatience carries over into their driving habits, where they would just
as soon run you over than yield the right of way, even when the flashing
green walk sign is on. 
to the back, so that when they have to go to the bathroom, they just go
through the slit wherever they happen to be. If the kid is on the
mother’s lap on the subway, then her pants get wet or worse, soiled. We
suppose it’s better for the baby in that there’s less diaper rash, but
the first time you see it, you have to wonder. 
