Blogs from Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, Asia - page 8

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Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou September 20th 2014

“I don’t think I can do it”. I pulled the tweezers back from his little body. So tiny. Smaller than my pinky finger. “Well, he has been here for two days and if we don’t get him off he is going to die.” “Yeah, but what happens if I accidently rip the bottom of his stomach off? Can you imagine how much that is going to hurt?” I have no problems digging a calcification out of my eye with a pair of tweezers, but the line has to be drawn somewhere. Visuals of the poor baby gecko’s stomach slicing in half as I tried unsuccessfully to peel it off the sticky door hinge haunted me and shaking my head, I passed the tweezers to Sean, “you do the last bit, he is mostly unstuck now.” I ... read more

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou September 14th 2014

Round and Round it goes... Fourteen hours on the airplane from Toronto and finally we arrived in Beijing, tired but in good spirits. As we approached security, I remembered that I was carrying all of Erin’s homeopathic remedies in my knapsack. Placing my knapsack on the conveyor belt, I nervously awaited for the Chinese officials to see the dozens of remedies in their little yellow vials as they passed through the x-ray machine. And then it happened… The conveyor belt stopped and I anxiously waited to be carried off to a Chinese prison where I would be interrogated – hour after hour – as to the content of these strange vials of small remedies. Wait, my knapsack came out the other side and no one looked twice at me! Phew! From there, we cleared customs and ... read more

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou September 8th 2014

Before returning to Guangzhou, I decided to test out a new experiment on myself: try not to create any expectations. According to yogic philosophy, expectations of any sort create havoc on appreciating something as it truly is and must be avoided like the plague. So, set on experiencing China again as it really is, I completely blocked Guangzhou from my mind for the last couple of months in Canada. I did such a good job of it that if anyone asked me if I was excited about returning to China, the only truthful answer I could give them was, "it hasn't hit me yet". I tried my best to remain in that "no expectations" state throughout all of the months of preparation and planning. The prep work was so intense and all consuming anyway that it ... read more
Sketchy Bag of Henna

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou September 6th 2014

Geo: 23.12, 113.25We went for the weekend. Friday night and then returned Sunday night.Only Problem.... Flight was delayed. We arrived in Guangzhou at 1am Saturday morning.Very common in Nanjing.It was very humid at the beginning of September.We went up to the top of the Guangzhou Tower.111 floors and 448.8 meters high to the roof but to the very tip its 595.7 meters high.It was the tallest tower in China until Shanghai Tower replaced it in 2013.There is a great view of the city. We also saw window cleaners cleaning the windows on the 107th floor. They where tied up with rope. It didn't look too safe to me. We rode Tuk-Tuks everywhere.The shopping markets are huge. They are out of control.There is a huge shopping mall just for ladies clothes.Another huge shopping mall just for ladies ... read more
Shopping in the streets
Sunset on shopping street.
Walking street at night.

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou July 31st 2014

Hi All, Not a lot of help in the hostel this morning as the guy pointed for me to head off in the wrong direction. on my hired bicycle, which was compounded by a lady who also told me to keep going in that direction. It only took me about 20 kms in the wrong direction. It didn't matter as whichever direction you go in it impossible to not find these incredible buildings. They are almost everywhere. So a diaolou. these buildings were built by coolies who had been working abroad in the Americas, Indonesia, Malaysia. The forceful opening up of Canton by the British in the Opium Wars created famine and destitution due to a high influx of migrants looking for work and the destruction of lives due to the opium trade. A high percentage ... read more
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Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou July 31st 2014

My last blog was a quick jumble of what’s been happening since I last wrote so I thought I’d give some more details about some of the things I wrote about amongst new things too. As I write this its 79 days till my sister arrives in Hong Kong for a 2 week stay with me. I’m so excited I could pop, and I know she feels the same too. If it wasn’t for the wonders of the internet and having WeChat I think I would have gone insane not hearing her voice (or the whinging) and keeping up to date with things back home. I have some big plans that I want to put into place and hope the few extra days leave that I’ve requested will be accepted so that when Mouse arrives they ... read more
Sticky head ;-)
Fun time with Sasa's present
KTV event

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou July 24th 2014

The fast train from Wuhan to Guangzhou averages about 300 km/hr. Clean, cool, comfortable, even in 2nd Class. The trip takes 4 hours and costs about half of what it would cost to fly. Best of all, it gets me right into the area where I'm staying, while the airport is over 1 hour away. I'm here in Guangzhou, the third largest city in China. Added this city to my travel plans to accept an invitation from a student, William, from my last trip to HUST. Wouldn't have thought of visiting here otherwise, since it doesn't have much to offer tourists. It is China's major city gateway to Hong Kong and it has been a major port for Southern China for centuries. It is home to more migrant workers than any other Chinese city and was ... read more
William and Yu
Eating
Home of Buffalo Milk Pudding

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou July 24th 2014

My day has been planned for me. William picks me up at the Merry Nest Inn he booked me into in the heart of Panyu, we stop to pick up a friend's daughter, Charlotte, who wants to practice her English, and we head for a dim sum breakfast. This is one meal I couldn't get enough of. William's a conservative orderer, though, and he had planned a busy day, so the breakfast eating had to end. Over breakfast, I caught up on William's start-up. He's working on a organic vegetable delivery service, not to the front door but to drop off shops around Panyu as a first step. He and his partners have sourced the supply, created a website with the next step being to negotiate drop off points. The plan is to keep it simple, ... read more
Guangzhou Central Library
Black Chicken
Subtle-Lit Canton Tower

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou July 16th 2014

Woweee what a crazy couple of weeks. So much has been going on since I moved from Hangzhou to Guangzhou. My flight down was fairly smooth. I had to pay some money towards excess baggage having already sent 4 large postal bags worth of stuff down ahead of me. I’ve only been here 6 months and arrived with just 2 suitcases and my laptop and left with so much more. I hate to think what the situation will be like when I eventually leave China, I’ve picked up so much stuff. I’ve found a DVD shop near my work place and have already amassed a collection of TV series, the ladies are lovely and get me what I ask for if they haven’t got it by the next day. So I’d best fill you in from ... read more
Team Starwars
Quiz Night with the crew
3 moves later and happy with the apartment

Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou July 9th 2014

Hi All, Really easy to get here. A short coach trip from Guangzhou to Kaiping and then a half an hour bus ride to Chikan. I stayed in the Tribe of Diaomin Hostel which was ideally placed alongside the Tanjiang River. Chikan was built in the 1920 by overseas Cantonese merchants. The style of the buildings is amazing. Really great fun just wandering around the back streets listening to the swallows screeching overhead. I arrived here in a torrential thunderstorm a taste of one of the many typhoons that hit this part of China at this time of year. But at least the rain took away a little bit of the tremendous humidity. Enjoy the photos Jah Bless... read more
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