Blogs from Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, Asia - page 51

Sorry for the brevity of my last blog entry - Nicky, Katrena and I were under strict instructions to get our “lilywhite arses” downstairs to meet our batch for a shopping trip at 11:00am sharp and I was still frantically trying to attach photos to the blog at 11:15am (only Katrena's genius with computers saved our aforementioned hindquarters). We've only been in China for about 36 hours and we've already delayed our batch three times. The Guangzhou Girls have been renamed the “Gang of No-Show Girls”. We’re staying on Shamian Island, a tiny strip of land that is tethered to the city of Guangzhou. Although the island is as humid as a teenager's groin and as polluted as a fallen woman (you could contract emphysema from the smoke in our hallway alone), we love it. We've ... read more

Nicky, Katrena, Connor and I will be leaving for China (and Maya) at midnight on 24 August, in just 76 hours time (but who's counting?). Having read a great deal about China, I know it will be a huge cultural shock when we first arrive in Guangzhou - the spitting, the rudeness, the shoving, the staring, the incessant and incomprehensible jabbering - but the Chinese will just have to cope with our behaviour as best they can. The average temperature in Guangzhou at the moment is 35 degrees, with humidity at 92% and the pollution levels estimated to equate to Dante's Sixth Level of Hell (but as a heretic, it will be helpful preparation for me). Guangzhou sounds like a great place to visit, you just wouldn't want to breathe there. We've all been acclimatising by ... read more

De fleste fik forhaabenlig laest at vi paa en eller anden maade var havnet i Guangzhou. Pga. flere dage paa vaerelset med en daarlig Claus, blev vi der i 9 dage. De forloeb som foelgende: 1. dag Vi ankom om aftenen og fandt det hotel vi havde booket paa nettet. 2. dag Vi fandt et dyrt vaskeri, men da vi ikke selv orkede at vaske saa maatte vi bare betale (100Y for 15stk toej samt diverse undertoj) Var bl.a. paa nettet for at finde et andet hotel, da vi af principsag ikke ville forlaenge opholdet paa dette hotel. 3. dag Op, hente vasketoej og afsted til det andet hotel. Lidt problemer med at finde det da vi ikke havde de kinisiske tegn. dog havde vi et billede af hotellet hvor dets navn stod, og efter noget ... read more

After a full day of HK and two nights, we decided it was time to move on and cross into China. We took a bus from Kowloon to the city of Guangzhou, in Guangdong province (previously known as Canton). We had to leave the coach at the boarder to go through immigration control and cross into the PRC... unfortunately everyone else on the bus seemed to be either Chinese or hong kong-ese and knew the drill. By the time we'd gone through the ordeal, our bus seemed to have departed! All was not lost however, and after a delay we managed to get the rest of the way to the city. It was interesting passing through this area... there seems to be loads of new development going on around Chinese cities, Guangzhou itself is massive, it ... read more

Okay, okay, its been almost two weeks and there is much updating to do. When I last wrote, my stomach was playing all sorts of tricks on me. Well I'm happy to say that within a few hours I recovered from that and everything has been okay since. Thanks to the delay we spent all sort of time dining in the area. Everyone had been warning us that Chinese food in China is nothing like our Americanized version back home, and they were right - this stuff is way more delicious. There is dim sum (our favorite) and all sorts of saucy, amazing dishes to be had. Dining is like a way of life here, people go out for a little lunch/dessert/dim sum/whatever some 6 times a day so the restaurants are packed to the gills ... read more