Blogs from Guangdong, China, Asia - page 139

Staying on another Island, this time in land (it is surrounded by a river). We got here on Tuesday to find lovely warm weather so i am liking the south! We had read about a nearby market that has all sorts of livestock for sale, including cats. We found what we thought was the market but it was mainly dried food, a few shops on the backstreets had whole dead lambs hung up which was a bit morbid. We then headed to a park near our hostel which over looked the Pearl River. In the evening we ate in a fancy restaurant, we tried goose which was delicious and half a roast pig, but that was extremely dissapointing. All fat, no meat and also came with complimentary eye ball, teeth and trotters (with are very crispy!). ... read more

Vanuit Hong Kong is het twee uur met de trein naar de grootste stad in Zuid-China, Kanton. De hele route is een grote aaneenschakeling van nieuwe steden, industriezones en af en toe een veldje. Het gebied staat bekend als de "fabriek van de wereld"; hele steden zijn gespecialiseerd in het maken van een bepaald product (bijv. spijkerbroeken-stad). Lucas heeft de hele rit met zijn nieuwe camera in de aanslag gezeten en was zelfs niet beschikbaar voor een spelletje. Ook Kanton is enorm gegroeid de afgelopen 20 jaar, grote delen van de oude stad zijn al afgebroken om plaats te maken voor flats, shopping malls en snelwegen. De stad heeft een zeer lange geschiedenis en is mogelijk meerdere keren de grootste stad ter wereld geweest (een paar honderd jaar geleden waren de Chinese steden veel groter dan ... read more

Sports day..or...sports meeting...or...track and field day....whatever the day was really called...it was spectacular...in every sense of the word. The preparation, the excessive town dignitaries who attended, the amount of water bottles and water jugs purchased, the semi-permanent stage erected in the middle of the basketball courts, the newly distributed, perfectly matching uniforms given to all staff (teachers, administration, and cleaning staff), the 40 page agenda detailing all races, racers, and racing times, the hour long opening ceremonies, the two hour long rehearsal of the opening ceremonies, the laminated number bibs for each participant, the cheering, the excitment.....all of it.....everything put american track and field days to shame. I could have had a 2 day vacation...another 2 day holiday....to go off to someplace, well someplace else chinese. But before I realize... read more

Because I didn't know what dim sum was until I arrived in China, I will explain. It is basically like tapas, if anyone knows of that, where many small dishes are at the table and everything is passed around and shared. It is a traditionally Chinese meal, especially in the Cantonese areas of china. Cantonese is a dialect of the Chinese language, that is spoken in the South, especially in Hong Kong. Cantonese and Mandrian have the same Chinese Characters, but completely different ways of pronounciation. I proudly cannot speak either, but make a pittiful attempt at Mandrian every so often. Enough background, now the dishes. Things have not but dull, but not "I crashed a motorbike exciting" so I thought I would throw together a little light meal of recent life activities in Shenzhen....enjoy! Field ... read more

Hey there! How are things? Here in Guangzhou the 100th Canton fair has just passed and the invasion of foreigners is over - thank god! The Canton fair has since it started 50 years ago grown into a huge convention/fair with a seemingly unlimited number of buyers and sellers, from China and abroad. Twice a year - spring and fall - Guangzhou literally booms. Prices in restaurants and hotels increase and many Guangzhou citizens manage to make their living due to this event. I visited the fair one day; to see Alice. Considering how inefficient China usually is, I was positively surprised how easy it was to enter. Of course, I needed to bring my passport and a picture of myself - to get a perforated entry card (plastic cards are used everywhere, for everything). Alice ... read more