Standing Room Only

Oh why thank you, a hundred dollar bonus to enjoy the holiday with, why you shouldn’t have. May 1st to the 7th is China’s National Labor Day Holiday and a way of expressing the schools gratitude toward the teachers they have them each a hundred RMB. It took a bit of work to arrange our travel plans and to buy tickets but we finally have a destination. Just like we have business class and economy class the Chinese have their own way to distinguish between the different compartments on the train. There are 4 main sections the hard seat, soft seat, hard bed, and soft bed with each compartment increasing with comfort and with price. Oh, and there is a standing section, which was the only section that still had room by the time we decided where we wanted to go but that was definitely out of the question because I couldn’t imagine standing on a train for 25 hours to go on vacation. So, Deanna and I will be flying on Saturday to Yunnan Province, 2 ½ hours away, and will be visiting Lijiang, a world heritage site know as the Venice of the East. We plan to visit many of there national parks, pagodas, and museums. We may even join a two day hiking and camping trip in the mountains. I hope this time we will have fewer encounters with cockroaches, all bugs for that matter.

His name is Renaldo

I met him on the Avenue of Stars. He is somewhat of the silent type. He is very photogenic and always seems to maintain the same facial expression in the photos I have of him. He works in the film industry but is trying to make his way into acting. We had a good conversation, although he is more of the listening type, a man of few words.
We couldn’t resist taking our picture with this handsome fellow. He just looked so lonely. We did get a few strange looks and some laughs from the other tourists. Don’t worry dad he wouldn’t fit in my suitcase besides I am positive he would set off every metal detectors in the airport, being made from bronze and all. Plus, I would probably have to pay quite a bit for my luggage being overweight and I am not sure if I could keep a straight face as I am explaing why my luggage is so heavy to the flight attendant.

Chinese Cusine

Unfortunately, there isn’t a photo to document my latest encounter with unique Chinese food but I can describe in full detail what I have tried. This food is about the size of your baby finger and take some skill to eat, for you have to nibble around the cartilage. The texture is rather strange, much like a rubbery chicken, and it is pretty much tasteless. If you haven’t figured out what this delicatessen is already, (you would have to really use your imagination) it is duck tongue. The next food involves tubular organs, again having a rubbery texture but this time there is actually some flavor. This dish is the small intestines of a pig and quite an expensive food I am told. I am sure that they could come to Vancouver and the butcher would gladly just give them these organs so he did not have to discard them himself. They certainly don’t let any part of the animal go to waste.

Hong Kong - The City of Lights

It’s a 24 hour city. No matter the time, no matter the day, there’s always something going on.
Deanna and I left Friday evening on the bus from Foshan to Hong Kong. It was a bout a 4 hour ride with 3 borders and customs crossings. We arrived at our hostel and checked in our luggage. The room was extremely small with two beds, no windows and the tiniest bathroom ever, but we weren’t planning on spending our time enjoying the accommodations anyways. After getting settled we headed out to see the ‘city of lights’. Hong Kong has many night markets. The whole street is typically barricaded off to traffic and vendors et up their stalls in the middle of the street. The market as many thing to buy, selling mostly souvenirs, watches, purses, hats, jewelry, clothes, and electronics. On Saturday morning we headed to the tourist bureau to pick up maps and brochures of Hong Kong. We also signed up for the Cantonese Opera Appreciation class. To promote tourism in Hong Kong they offer many free cultural activities for tourists. We wanted to sign up for some more classes but they were all full. After leaving the Tourism Bureau we headed to Pacific Café for bagels with cream cheese, mmmmmmmm they were delicious and a good start to our day.

The Cantonese Opera Appreciation Class was held at the Heritage Museum and for $10(HK) we were able to see a short performance and view the exhibitions in the museum. We learned lots about the history and traditions included in the Opera. There are only 6 performers in the Cantonese Opera with one head female lead and one head male lead. There are 4 parts to the opera song, reciting, movement, and fighting. The singing is very high pitched and nothing like your typical western Opera but only has 2 two pitches high and extremely high,one for the males and one for the females. The museum had many interactive displays, one that would take a picture of your face and then digitally transform it so you would look like a Cantonese Opera actress.
In the afternoon and evening we went shopping and bargained at the Temple Street Market. I ended up buying some clothes and souvenirs. We returned to our hostel quite late and exhausted from a full day. At our bedroom door we were greeted by a nice note saying they had switched rooms on us. It was a very frustrating ordeal because they packed up our stuff (good thing we locked our suitcases) and moved it to an even smaller room that had so many bugs. We complained so they gave us a can of Raid for killing cockroaches. On the whole, it was not a great night sleep. In the morning we complained again and they moved us to a much nicer room.

On Sunday we had Dim Sum with some of Deanna’s relatives who live in Hong Kong. We spent the entire afternoon on the Avenue of Stars, not Holly wood but the Hong Kong movie scene starring Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee (well those were the only actors I recognized). The boardwalk allows you a great view of the skyscrapers in Hong Kong. The buildings tower of the shops and streets at an average of 50 floors per building. After several pictures and a fun time walking down the Avenue of Stars we searched for a place to eat.
The weather was not cooperating during our stay other wise we would have headed to Victoria Peak were you can ride the tram up the mountain for one of the best vies of Hong Kong City. Maybe next time the weather will be better and we can see more sightseeing.

The Richness of Life is found in Adventure ~ William Orville Douglas

Heading off to the former British dependency on the southeastern coast of China, also known as Hong Kong, for the weekend. It is a business trip, to say the least because I must leave China every 60 days according to my travel Visa and then I can reenter the country. Technically Hong Kong is not part of China but is considered a SAR, a Special Administration Region. Will be spending 4 days sightseeing, eating, sleeping, and of course shopping in Hong Kong. What a pity! (You have to say this with a British accent. I adopted this phrase from the students here, many of the phrases they pick up are British phrases and it makes me laugh when I here these unusual statements. Another one they like to say is “Oh, come of it!). Anyways, I should have tons of pictures and an update when I get back, in the mean time, if you have a spare moment, write me a comment.

An apple a day...

...keeps the doctor away. Breakfast and lunch are served at the canteen and the food is pretty predictable. Breakfast usually consists of plain noodles with a broth, sweet bun, sesame bun, and sponge cake. Rice is guarantee for lunch along with different vegetable and mixed meat dishes. They like to cook the food all together with a broth base, therefore everything has a watery substance. Sometimes I feel like I am on a liquid diet. One can always count on fruit for desert or to save for a snake later on in the day. The fruit rotates between apples, bananas, oranges, and pears.
Well I can cross off some more interesting foods off my list, not that I have a list because who know what I will be eating next. The latest thing was a black herbal jello dish called Guilingao. It doesn’t have much flavor but it does have an interesting smell. The jello is made for herbs and gwei which is cantonese for tortoise. I was told that it is good for your health. Who knew that tortoises can be used for medicinal purposes. Next time you are feeling ill find that package of tortoise shell gelatine in the back of your pantry, because I know it is a staple in everyones kitchen, and make some jello and add some herbal tea, but don’t blame me if you feel worse. It is suppose to taste better when honey or milk is added. Let’s just say that it is not on the top of my list as a must try again. Another food that has become my least favorite is the Balsam gourd. This extremely bitter vegetable is hollowed out and stuffed with ground pork before it is boiled. I can also cross of eel and pig stomach too.

Pottery Capital of South China

On the weekend Deanna and I visited Nanfeng Ancient kiln in Shiwan District, actually Deanna’s school is located in Shiwan District, and the kiln is a 5 minute walk from her place. The 500 year old kiln has been making and manufacturing ceramics for all types of purposes such as building materials like bricks and roof tiles, utensils, household items like sinks and toilets, murals, art works and handicrafts. There are two identical kilns located on this site and are said to be shaped like dragons that are climbing up a small hill. Both kilns have been repaired several times over the past hundred years in order to keep them in working condition. They say that the fire in the kiln has never gone out and they are still producing ceramics on a daily basis. The kiln is 34.5 meters long and has 29 lines of fire holes. A fire is built at the lower end of the kiln in the firing box and the heat and smoke travels up the tunnel to the top of the kiln and then out the chimney. Inside the tunnel the pottery is free standing and often stacked upon itself. I was able to peak inside the unused kiln. It was quite interesting to walk through the pottery workshops, studio village, dry storage area, and inside the kilns. The kiln workers wear woven grass slippers to protect their feet from the heat of the kiln and to help them from slipping on the slanted kiln surface. The pottery business has made Shiwan area famous attracting many artisans and visitors. If you take away the ticket booth, gift shop, the modern stairway with manicured bushes, and tourists direction signs, I really felt like I was walking through an ancient Chinese pottery village from many years ago.

Deanna and I decided to try our hand at the pottery wheel. We spent about an hour shaping our clay into vases. The only difficult part was trying to ask the attendant, who knew very little English, to take our cameras out of our camera bags and take a picture of us and our drying crusty clay hands.