I spent the next few days in Guangzhou, one of the big cities in China. This southern Chinese city is the birthplace of my dear mommy! =D The first time I came out east, we came here and went by the street where my mom grew up (the building had since been torn down and replaced), but I haven't been back since then. It's been ten years, Guangzhou!
And oh my, has it changed!
Wow! Guangzhou even has a subway now! So convenient and easy! They also have the equivalent of the Octopus card, which you can just scan to pay your fare.
A lot of tall skyscrapers and nice buildings have been built, too! The skyline is so modern now!
Isn't this building interesting? It's the library!
I think they said this was an opera house or something. it was a really interesting shape!
That super huge tall thing is a TV tower! Look at how much taller it is than those multiple story apartment buildings! The clouds are too thick so you can't see the top...it's kinda cool though, because it feels like it goes on forever.
I tried to be as tall as the TV tower...but I am not =(
Look at all the beautiful flowers for New Years!
This is pretty canal street that's very popular to go to!
Everywhere there's street food! A lot of hot sweet potatoes and chestnuts!
My Great Aunt bought me some candy from the street! I had never seen it before, so I didn't know it was candy. He had a big block of this hard candy with sesame seeds all over it, and needed a pick and hammer to break it into pieces.
These are all the pieces! It cost 4RMB. It was really interesting! It was hard at first, but after being in your mouth for a while, it becomes soft like a chewy starburst and it has a delicious sesame flavor. I think my brother would really like it!Unfortunately, once I took it home, it all melded together and now is a big flat rock in that bag. It's way too hard to bite...so I don't know how I'm going to break it apart again. Where can I buy a hammer and chisel?
Guangzhou has advanced a lot...but it is still China -_-"
This, my friends, is the beloved squat toilet. Let me tell you it's lovely properties.
1) You must squat. For men, no problem, they don't even have to squat. For girls...big problem. It is very awkward and you kinda get tangled in all your clothes and your purse.
2) There are often not hooks for you to put your purse.
3) There are no handle bars to hold on. This is a huge problem because of 4.
4) It is ALWAYS WET. Who knows if it's pee or water or what, but the floor is usually really wet. Which means it is also very slippery. I am mortally afraid of slipping and falling into the toilet, knowing how dirty it is. I think if I fell in...I would probably just die from the shock, because I would be fatally mortified by the experience.
5) You have to bring your own toilet paper. Pocket tissues are your best friend!
6) Many of the bathroom's Chinese piping cannot handle toilet paper. So after you wipe, you throw it away in the trash bin in the stall. You can imagine what that smells like after a while.
7) In this particular restroom, the stall wasn't really a stall...it was like half a stall. So when you stood up, you could easily see tens of other people doing their business. Is this what a urinal feels like?
I missed clean Western style toilets so much.
But actually squat toilets are much cleaner...because you don't want to use a Western style toilet that 1000000 other Chinese people have used...trust me, you'll be wishing for a squat toilet then.
Anyways, with the little bit of time in Guangzhou I had, my Great Aunt took me sightseeing! These are famous Guangzhou landmarks.
Sun Yat Sen theatre memorial thingy?
Five story old building!
So pretty and decorated with flowers for new year!
Oh man, MORE stairs?!
Guangzhou's symbol is the goat/sheep/ram! This is also my zodiac symbol!Please excuse that I look very tired. I am mostly tired of being cold.
This building is known for its intricate roof carvings!
Many old buildings have this little raised step before you walk inside. This is to keep out bad luck and ghosts.
This is the inside courtyard!I like going to these Chinese landmarks because they feel so...old. There's so much history in it! You can just feel the grandeur of a thousand years empire and the luxuriousness of noble living. To think of the people who once came here...
This restaurant had fish tanks outside so you could pick your own fresh, swimming seafood!
Throughout the days, many distant relatives visited and we ate out a lot with them. We ate at the same restaurant nearby everyday for lunch and dinner, eating banquet Chinese food.All day long, they were talking about going to see "fa deng" which I assumed was 花灯 or "flower lights." I thought about fa che (parade floats) and yin fa (fireworks) and wondered if they were at all related. Needless to say, I didn't know what to expect.
Wow! It turns out that "fa deng" is a night park with lots of light displays special for the new year! So cool! This is the front door!
It was so beautiful! It felt like Disneyland!
This is a picture of my "cousin" (actually aunt-status) Bonnie, my Great Aunt, and my "cousin" Calvin.
In the dark night, the lights glittered so beautifully.It was really romantic! I wish I had my boyfriend here to hold onto and walk these streets with me!
These lotus flower lights were floating on the water!
These pandas were especially cute because they were just hiding in the grass off to the side.
This little obscene bugger is PEEING!
The fish display he was standing over was really pretty though.
My Great Aunt made sure to remind that these are not chickens, but they are phoenixes.
When I saw this non-bright thing from the distance, I thought it was pretty ugly. Bonnie described it using a funny sound effect word to mean that it just seemed like a blob-thing. I thought it was really funny, but this is a common construction in Cantonese.
It turns out this thing is really cool!When we got close to it, I realized it was entirely made of Chinese dishes, bowls, cups, and spoons! That's really cool!
While Guangzhou isn't very far north and isn't very far from Hong Kong, it is MUCH, MUCH colder! I was constantly layered up and wore a huge puff jacket at all times! I was freezing! And the cold never let up.
I couldn't sleep at night sometimes because i was so cold that it hurt my fingers and toes and nose. =(
My Great Aunt's house seemed a lot better since last time I was there. They had a Western style toilet instead of a squat toilet, and they actually built a shower. (Ten years ago, I had to fill a bucket with water and use a wash cloth and pail to wash myself.) Even through this, it's still pretty small and there's no heater. So cold!
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