I went to the Saturday DragonBoat training for experienced paddlers instead of Sunday as we wanted to travel to the beach that weekend and still wanted to go to a practice. Jack and I also purchased our own paddles that are carbon fiber and much lighter.
I brought my A game so as not to show I should not be there. We separated into male and female boats and we raced one another. The women did much better than the guys. Mostly we have better timing and we coordinate well. The poor guys had to put their heads down as their coach was disappointed.
We then drove to Shenzhen to the beach for a weekend vacation. First stop was a restaurant that serves the biggest oysters and varieties of seafood. It was seafood overload.
Then we continued on to the hotel which has a private beach and marina. First off was getting into the water and then after we bought some instant noodles to use with the leftover seafood we could not finish. I even took my snorkel to practice though the water was very cloudy.
The hotel gave a free yacht cruise in the ocean. We went on that cruise the second day. We could see Hong Kong to one side of us and the Shenzhen port which is one of the top ten in the world economically. We then headed back to Dameisha Beach.
I went for a run along the Yantian coastal Greenway to see some sights and then spend time in the water again veggie packing up to leave.
A yummy lunch of aubergine with salted fish, one of my favorites!
We headed back to Guangzhou. A great beach weekend!!
After a great day on Saturday of watching Godzilla vs. Kong, eating unbelievable fish, and then enjoying a massage, Jack and I planned our next day.
We ate dim sum with friends and I colored hard boiled eggs to give to them.
After dim sum, we went to check out the alpaca Cafe but first found the comic city at the entrance to the metro.
The alpaca Cafe was pretty fun. It was an open air room between buildings with a few smaller covered rooms for the cats, pigs, and bunnies. It was fun to see children excited about the animals.
This Cafe across the alley has Shiba Inu dogs. I’m surprised that there are dog cafes. This other cafe across the alley has an alpaca as well but it seems to just make some extra money.
We traveled to haizhu district to find the DragonBoat training center. We met a few members at a going away party for my friend Maiko who was headed back to Japan. We learned how to paddle correctly which is much like what you do stand up paddle boarding. If you do it wrong then your arm hurts and you Ajay get schooled. We did drills including two at a time paddling the whole boat. It was quite the workout.
The village deals in bolts of fabric and also small scale sewing of clothing.
The old villages have shorter buildings with evidence of older brick and styling. They look forward to development as they receive multiple apartments for an income.
I had tried going there the week before by myself but was not able to follow the directions to get there without being late. Instead of just going home I walked around haizhu lake instead.
This year I’m planning on taking a small spring break trip to Huangshan (Yellow mountains) but the beginning was spent with friends in Guangzhou. We can’t leave China yet.
I met Elaine and my friends from school Anne and Trixie at the sports center. I had told them about the fashion hub mall underneath the sports center so we were going to spend the afternoon enjoying it. You can go to this mall and spend all day and still not see everything. From entertainment, games, shopping, restaurants, a real arctic town, and crafts including pottery.
First up is taking pictures at a photo booth.
Massage chairs came in handy. After running the day before and rowing dragon boats, it was timely.
There were plenty of photo ops depicting days past in China. You can actually rent traditional clothes to take pictures in the mall.
Of course we should buy cotton candy to share.
I’ve always wanted to try one of these karaoke pods. It is really made for two but we made it work. Directions were not in English so took us some time to figure out how to find songs.
We were entertained with kids playing games.
We did some shopping including my favorite Japanese store that has great collectibles. From there we went to another mall connected through an underground passageway.
We passed through that mall to get to the poutine restaurant on the street behind. Coronaritas and French fries with toppings was an great late lunch.
From there we went to the pig Cafe I have been at previously. It was a lot of fun with more people.
At the nearby upscale mall we went to the book store. There are items from around the world including the British Museum. I liked this lucky cat which is a riff on the Chinese lucky cat. This one had its middle finger up.
There are always interesting things to see at this mall. These bicycles are mostly art.
This is an actual art installation called Flow. It was fun to watch how people use it flowing in and out as well as the flow of lights.
The weekend before I completed a 21 km walk around Guangzhou with a friend and met some new ones. I would rather run that distance than walk it!
I went to a blood drive at a hospital to make a blood donation. I have done this before and have a blood donor card in China. I could not give blood though as they just changed their rules. I would have had to give blood one more time before I turned 56 to still give blood until 60. I was pretty disappointed but at least Jack gave blood for the first time.
This is a jellied dessert in a ginger syrup. What I like about deserts here is that they are not very sweet.
We then traveled to Nansha watershed park. Even though there are very few cases here, we still wear masks and there are checkpoints to check temperature and check health codes through the app. It tracks if you have been in a high risk area. If only other countries followed what could be done to keep infection low.
The lotus flowers were beautiful.
These are the pods from the lotus and the seeds are used here as well in cooking and medicine. The root is also used for cooking.
We walked along the water to look for birds. I found egrets.
Of coarse feeding the koi was fun.
View from the tower
We then walked through the forest.
Nansha port
We walked along the road to find the seafood market.
Fisherman’s wharf
At the seafood market they displayed many catches. They also showed the eggs that are in them as well as that is a delicacy.
Local fishermen sell their catch to grab customers before they enter the seafood market. Look at the size of the oysters.
What I bought was dried squids for a snack. We had already made plans for dinner. It was a great adventure looking at the variety of fish and shellfish being sold.
Plans for the weekend were originally just a massage and some runs. Jack had some business to do but at the last minute he changed his plans. I have been working on being more spontaneous so when he suggested to travel to Huizhou to visit a hot spring I said “sure!”
I booked a room at the Intercontinental hotel using hotels.com. Instead of a single room and using the public hot spring, I used my free room credit towards a room with its own hot spring. Then we could use whenever we wanted.
We left early in the morning and when we arrived we were happy to find it upgraded and the reservation changed to a villa. Since the pandemic, travel was slow to resume and especially to bring expats back. A good business move to bring business with a good review. Here is a video of the villa at the Intercontinental.
The villa in pictures. The kitchen is not great but there is room service and a couple of restaurants on the resort and a little town nearby.
The tub is amazing
Walking
This is a natural hot spring from the ground and people bring eggs to cook where it comes here to the surface.
After walking around and a dip in the hot spring, we chose to go to the village to eat. Eggplant, green beans, and bitter melon as one dish with eggs and tofu skins for another. Not bad but not exceptional. We did eat western food for lunch in the hotel earlier.
Running the next morning we went around the large golf course at the resort.
Of course we spent more hours after the buffet breakfast in the hot spring. The buffet was better than average and it was cool after a rainy day yesterday. As we were refilling the hot spring we noticed the centipede. He would have no where to go as the water is rising so I scooped him up between two cups and set him loose in the bushes.
Before we left I also toured a 3 bedroom villa. It would be great for a bunch of people to come here. Three separate bedroom areas and lots of room. The kitchen is nicer too. Hmmmm… When touring I rescued a pair of frogs too.
As luck would have it, my Google Pixel stopped functioning correctly during Chinese New Year. I was able to buy a Xiaomi phone that is actually quite wonderful but apps take their time to figure things out when you are in a foreign country. Even though I could upload to WordPress initially, the last week gave me problems. Needless to say this post should have been published well over a week ago.
I have been to some of the places I went to on this tour before but was not aware of the history. Cycle Canton had this tour during Chinese New Year that explored more than I have seen before.
We visited the Huangpu Ancient Port, which was the entry point to Imperial China for all foreign traders. Just five families controlled the movement of goods in and out. The Emperor was never involved directly and the families were much like a cartel. The wharf and village is 1000 years old. They exported tea, porcelain, and silk. Ships had to dock in Macao first then be granted privilege to come to this port. The trade was called the Canton system. While they were docked here they fixed boats and would go from here on the Pearl River further in to Guangzhou on bamboo boats to go to 13factories. The cartel of 5 families held merchandise in a series of buildings on Shamian Island much like a warehouse. They would bring the goods then from there in Xiguan to Huangpu port to load onto the ships.
The three pillars of Guangzhou are the pagodas that are scattered in the area. I have visited two of them and actually ran my marathon around the third. These acted as lighthouses and markers to travelers. Before the big buildings, they were the landmarks you could see.
We then crossed on the ferry to Changzhou island, and visited a few historic sights.
One site was a hidden fortress Bei hu gang. This fortress has positions to shoot cannons. This fortress was used during the Opium Wars. They had canons and places for infantry and storage.
Officer courtyard.
We toured the Huangpu Military Academy, which has great architecture. In 1911, Sun Yat Sen with others overthrew the Qing Dynasty. The newly named PRC though was only formed in the south. In 1921 they built a military school to help overthrow warlords in the North and learn military techniques. Chiang Kai Shek was leader of the school. In 1926 there was no more coordination between the nationalists and communists in China which led to the cultural revolution later when the communists took control.
One of two guard houses on each side of the gate facing the river. This is one of China’s navy ships in the river. Officer desks. Courtyard for muster. Military propaganda for sale outside the military museum. We were surprised that material referencing Taiwan was being sold. Other items were the Kuomintang found by Sun Yat Sen.
We tested our biking skills weaving through urban villages. The buildings are called handshake buildings as you can be at your front door and shake hands with the person across from you. They were built for migrant workers. The farmers were much richer and lived in larger houses.
We also biked along a canal some call the ‘Venice of Guangzhou’. I have never been to Venice but am sure it is more than this.
We stopped for a lunch at a local restaurant that was next to the farms and fields of the very rural part of the island. Unfortunately metro lines are being added here so hard to decide what will be the future. There will be green spaces to bring visitors but this will most certainly change.
This is a photo of someone’s home taken from the second floor of the restaurant.
Ling family ancestral hall
We continued cycling through fields, greenways and more urban villages to visit the first foreign graveyard of China.
Here is the final resting place of many foreign diplomats, traders and sailors, including the first US Minister to China, who has been buried here since the late 1700’s. Many took multiple voyages back and forth, and it was noted that some died on the passages.
We also climbed a very large number of steps up a big hill to get a good view of the river.
This historically pivotal location was instrumental in trade and during war. We ended the tour on the banks of the Pearl River, overlooking a view of central Guangzhou, and drinking a beer at the local village. An epic tour, exploring the rural fringes of the city that is still greatly rural, at least for now.
For a day trip Jack and I went to Yinde to a little village that has a park nearby with a tea plantation. Of course I love to eat….so trying different foods was a highlight.
The first thing we did was go to lunch and this eggplant dish was amazing. It was slightly acidic and not sweet. So very yummy. We also had greens with bamboo!
After lunch we went to view the park. The first one was just a series of paths and was not very excited about it, except for the beautiful scenery. And then we saw….
But then we saw the pond with the bamboo boats. I have been on a bamboo boat raft but never had the chance to pilot my own. It was actually very difficult and took a lot of arm strength until you realized you could lean into the pole and use your body weight which was still quite the workout. I also tried not to knock Jack off the boat swinging the pole around. I must say it was a great arm workout.
We walked the rest of the park and saw a settlement who on land next to the park. (The entrance fee to the park does help the village as it is community owned). Here is the persons dwelling.
We followed the cows as they walked adjacent to the paths.
Just the man and his dog…
The village temple….
The little temple that pays homage to the mountain
We then headed to the Tea plantation park. Walking through it was very beautiful. We also tasted the red tea which was very good. i bought some of the red tea. I also wanted to buy a tea plant but was very sure I would kill it (actually my cat as he loves to tear plants apart and drag them through the apartment.)
The tea plantation plants their tea plants on terraces along the mountainsides.
We stopped at another spot to look at the scenery. There was another temple erected by the village.
The formations are many of the same as seen in other areas.
This cave had bats which were fun to watch darting in and out of the stalactites.
Dinner was at a different restaurant with steamed eggs, tofu skins, and greens. The drink is apple vinegar. It is a fermented apple juice drink that is vinegar tasting but still slightly sweet from the apple juice.
It was nice to get away for a day close to the city but be able to walk in some wilderness and see new sights and eat different food. On the way back to Guangzhou we see many crazy things, including a Pikachu car!
Cycle Canton also had another tour last weekend. Fei Gallery was created when a land developer had to put in a parking space but resented it. So he used half of the space for an art gallery and also a permanent installation. Outside the building a three sided surround was built with windows taken from old Hutong houses torn down from up north. He also collected artifacts to put in the windows. The locals pointed out that in the South they use different household items so he asked them to donate representative items.
I made a quick video walking around. I thought you could see through to the other side but there is indeed a mirror inside the windows.
Looking down from the second floor you can see PVC tubes that allowed you to see to the other side of the window wall where a wet market used to be.
Inside the building is art displays and a cafe.
A diorama made inside of an old TV.
We then cycled through the streets of Dongshankou. This is a very old part of the city with many beautiful buildings of mostly colonial style as foreigners chose to live here and build missionaries and schools.
The Triple Rooster is an art gallery and a cafe. I chose to drink coconut coffee which had large blocks and shavings of fresh coconut in the coffee.
Mao Tse-tung lived up here in the second floor of this building.
The Baptist church is also found here and which is unchanged from when it was built. It also has a balcony inside facing the pulpit for members or a choir. It is still currently in use today.
More images of riding around Dongshankou.
We ended at Kui Yuan gallery that is next door to wherethe Communist party headquarters was founded. There was some great art by Guangzhou artists. The floors are original and show the tile work of the day.
I took a tour with Cycle Canton on Saturday. This area used to be called Canton before it was named Guangzhou. The old part of the city was enclosed in an ancient wall and the area to the west was called Xigua. Xi means west in Mandarin. The city wall is in blue around the Canton area in yellow. The red area to the left is Xigua.
It was noted that affluent families in the enclosed city would want their young men to marry a woman from Xigua for the best match possible. Xigua was where the merchants lived and where trading would happen. It was one of the first ports that allowed international trading in Guangzhou.
Opera house.
Xigua is also where Bruce Lee’s family ancestral home is located. Though he was born elsewhere and lived elsewhere, his father is from here and therefore where the family is officially registered.
A main street in Xiguan area.
There is also a Lion Dance museum. The Lion dance is traditional during the Chinese New Year. I have posted it before and will most likely post another next week as well!
The Lion costume is worn by two people: one at the front and one in the back. They do some really incredible acrobatics sometimes running around like a lion or standing tall with one person on another’s shoulders in the costume.
We toured some back streets of Xiguan that is where merchants use to be. Now there are sections for every market you can find here: Dried goods market, fruit and vegetable market…..pretty much a market for anything that you need…..
This is an example of hair threading. They use criss crossed pieces of thread to take the fine hair and literally yank them out of the follicle.
From here we continued along the back streets to Shamian Island. After the British won the second opium war (fought over trade issues), they laid claim to this part as a port for trade. The British controlled 80% of the island while France controlled 20%. You can see the difference on the architecture here. This was the first International port.
Many of these buildings show colonial architecture.
This church is on the French side of the island.
From here we left to go to the riverside to take the ferry across to the other side in Haizhu. The side of the rivers is called the bund.
This is the British custom house and the first clock tower in the area.
In Haizhu we visited the Haizhuang Buddhist temple that i did not know existed. As with all temples it was very serene and beautiful. At the entrance of the temple, there is what looks like a swastika. It’s arms are pointed a different direction. The symbol in Buddhism denotes plurality, abundance, prosperity, and long life. The Nazi’s took the symbol and turned the arms clockwise as their national symbol.
In the old part of Haizhu we wandered the streets, weaving through the alleys. This building was a place built for a young man who was to marry someone chosen by his family, but he was in love with another. he took some of the family money with him and built a beautiful house with a courtyard where they married and lived.
The woodwork is amazing.
The top of the mansion from a distance. The building in front is the entrance to the courtyard.
In many of the old buildings, there are three layers of doors. The inner one is shown closed in this picture. The second door looks like a gate with bars. It is pulled across to let air flow in but keep people out (cats of course would love to sleep on the bars). Unfortunately, everyone could see in and what was going on in the house. The last set of doors was like saloon doors where people could not see what was going on inside but the second doors could still be used for ventilation.
Biking back along the south side of the river.
Cycling through the Nanhuaxi village where there are many former opium dens, outdoor markets, and ancient villas and ancestral halls..
Friends who joined on the tour stayed at my place at night to celebrate one of their birthday’s. We ate Indian and cupcakes in my apartment before going out to Hooley’s to watch some members of school who are in the band Gigantic.
Mike and Amber!Morgana, myself, Jack, and Amber in the background.
Jack and I at the celebration.
It was a glow party, so plenty of glow in the dark items.
I rarely go out like that and usually only one big night a year. It was fun to be with friends on a night out.
The last few weeks were spent going to various Japanese restaurants. Here are just a couple of places.
I went out with Jack and friends Elaine, Killian, and Maiko to a Japanese restaurant that specializes in eel. It was amazing.
Fried soba noodles were delicious.
I also noted a new restaurant near me that specializes in hot pot where you dip the cooked food in a raw egg. Jack and I managed to get a table one night. I was not sure of the raw egg in terms of safety but it was yummy. It turns out the eggs are from vaccinated chickens and flown in from Japan.
This week Bernie Sanders image at the inauguration resulted in many memes. I grabbed this one of Bernie at hot pot.
They also specialize in Omurice. It is a fried rice on a plate where an omelet is cooked with the inside still runny and then when it is cut it flows over the rice. A curry sauce is spooned over top. Here is a video: https://youtu.be/PyOsGWpGk2I
I also went bowling this week with Jack. It has been over a decade since I bowled and it was fun. I won once but at least scored a little more each game we played.
This week was also a surprise at the faculty meeting. Besides the usual snacks was cheese, crackers, and caviar with wine and beer. Not sure why, but nice to have something unexpected.
Running on Sunday morning at Favorview. I like to people watch so always fun somewhere new.
