Up, up on the roof.
CHINA: PART 2
The adventures continued in Taisan which many of us considered the most run-down and dirtiest city we visited in China. Thankfully we only had to stay two nights there and our hotel was pretty flash. Still, it allowed us to experience a different side of China - the uncut and unrated edition. I was in a clothes shop just browsing when the manager came up to me puffing on a cigarette, telling me to try things on while blowing smoke in my face. Hmmm...I think not, buddy.
On the first night my roomate and I had a very long massage at the hotel (much better than the one we got in Foshan). We got back to our room about midnight and all was silent, so we figured everyone had decided to have an early night. I found out the next morning that they had found 'the coolest club ever' (Freedom City) and partied well into the night. Damn them. The next night we booked a karaoke room at the same place. I left after an hour, thinking that everyone would get tired of it and leave soon because we had an early start the next day. Turns out they finished up with the room after midnight then stayed on and danced on their moving dancefloor til about 4. Seems I missed out on two great nights out. Everyone is still talking about that club.
Anyway, our next stop was the city of Xintang. Similar to Taisan only bigger. We were told not to go out at night because there were a lot of gangs around from the neighbouring villages, so we made good use of the hotel's rec rooms. This is where I bought my famous dress pant-shorts. So hot.
After two nights we moved back to Guangzhou. I quite liked this city, the subway system was easy to use and we managed to get around to the malls and shopping centers. The first mall we went to was over eight storeys tall - a shopaholic's dream. There was an arcade at this mall too, including a bumper car rink. About 20 or so of us piled into the cars and had a few bumps. In the last game I got injured - my cousin Shan hit me pretty hard and my knee hit the stirring wheel really hard then bounced off it into the side of the car. It hurt like a motherfucker - Leight carried me off and I was hobbling around for the rest of the night. Lucky it didn't swell up, but the pain would come back to haunt me again very soon...
So since Taisan we had been visiting our ancestral villages. Mine was quite late in the trip while we were based in Guangzhou. It was something I'd been looking forward to the most having spent a good part of the year researching and writing about it for the thesis. I was a little nervous at first too, really hoping that it wouldn't be a disappointment.
When we got to our village we met who I think is a Great-Great Aunt (I still need to work it out, but she is a relative) who showed us around the new family house where she and some other relatives live. It was four storeys and not too shabby. It had an awesome balcony on the top floor - perfect for a party! Then she took us to the old family house. When we got there I was just overcome with mixed feelings of sadness, delight and pride. I'd made it over land and sea to where my Great-Grandfather had lived. There were photographs of our family in New Zealand that had been sent or taken over years ago, including this one:
It was a pretty emotional experience. I finally had something concrete to connect my family history to, not just stories and photographs. Now I had my own memories of the house. We had a quick look around the house and the rest of the village. Leight was stoked to discover that the factory in the village made shoe moulds (he really likes his shoes). I wish we could've stayed a little longer, but there were other people's villages to visit in the afternoon. That half hour means so much to me. I'll never forget it.
The rest of our time in Guangzhou was spent doing touristy things like visiting temples, the Nine Rams statue (Guangzhou is also known as the city of Nine Rams), a local history museum and of course a little shopping. Penelope celebrated her birthday while we were in Guangzhou. We found a litte bar called R&B which we promptly converted into a disco for our own pleasure. We took over this little podium they had for their own dancers and a few of us got on top of the speakers. Good times, good times. Afterwards we had late night yum char. A couple of drunk guys at the table next to us were getting pissed off because they weren't getting served, so they threw a cup at the road (we were seated outside) to get the waiter's attention. When they were told to leave, their girlfriends came out and started making a scene. One in particular was a real bitch and wouldn't back down or shut up. We started to mock her in English pretty loudly - it's a wonder we didn't get beat up! The police came and the trouble makers left in a taxi. A crazy end to a crazy night.
That's it for now. Until next time, have a look at my Flickr page. I've updated it with lots more China pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/asiaticleague/
The adventures continued in Taisan which many of us considered the most run-down and dirtiest city we visited in China. Thankfully we only had to stay two nights there and our hotel was pretty flash. Still, it allowed us to experience a different side of China - the uncut and unrated edition. I was in a clothes shop just browsing when the manager came up to me puffing on a cigarette, telling me to try things on while blowing smoke in my face. Hmmm...I think not, buddy.
On the first night my roomate and I had a very long massage at the hotel (much better than the one we got in Foshan). We got back to our room about midnight and all was silent, so we figured everyone had decided to have an early night. I found out the next morning that they had found 'the coolest club ever' (Freedom City) and partied well into the night. Damn them. The next night we booked a karaoke room at the same place. I left after an hour, thinking that everyone would get tired of it and leave soon because we had an early start the next day. Turns out they finished up with the room after midnight then stayed on and danced on their moving dancefloor til about 4. Seems I missed out on two great nights out. Everyone is still talking about that club.
Anyway, our next stop was the city of Xintang. Similar to Taisan only bigger. We were told not to go out at night because there were a lot of gangs around from the neighbouring villages, so we made good use of the hotel's rec rooms. This is where I bought my famous dress pant-shorts. So hot.
After two nights we moved back to Guangzhou. I quite liked this city, the subway system was easy to use and we managed to get around to the malls and shopping centers. The first mall we went to was over eight storeys tall - a shopaholic's dream. There was an arcade at this mall too, including a bumper car rink. About 20 or so of us piled into the cars and had a few bumps. In the last game I got injured - my cousin Shan hit me pretty hard and my knee hit the stirring wheel really hard then bounced off it into the side of the car. It hurt like a motherfucker - Leight carried me off and I was hobbling around for the rest of the night. Lucky it didn't swell up, but the pain would come back to haunt me again very soon...
So since Taisan we had been visiting our ancestral villages. Mine was quite late in the trip while we were based in Guangzhou. It was something I'd been looking forward to the most having spent a good part of the year researching and writing about it for the thesis. I was a little nervous at first too, really hoping that it wouldn't be a disappointment.
When we got to our village we met who I think is a Great-Great Aunt (I still need to work it out, but she is a relative) who showed us around the new family house where she and some other relatives live. It was four storeys and not too shabby. It had an awesome balcony on the top floor - perfect for a party! Then she took us to the old family house. When we got there I was just overcome with mixed feelings of sadness, delight and pride. I'd made it over land and sea to where my Great-Grandfather had lived. There were photographs of our family in New Zealand that had been sent or taken over years ago, including this one:
It was a pretty emotional experience. I finally had something concrete to connect my family history to, not just stories and photographs. Now I had my own memories of the house. We had a quick look around the house and the rest of the village. Leight was stoked to discover that the factory in the village made shoe moulds (he really likes his shoes). I wish we could've stayed a little longer, but there were other people's villages to visit in the afternoon. That half hour means so much to me. I'll never forget it.
The rest of our time in Guangzhou was spent doing touristy things like visiting temples, the Nine Rams statue (Guangzhou is also known as the city of Nine Rams), a local history museum and of course a little shopping. Penelope celebrated her birthday while we were in Guangzhou. We found a litte bar called R&B which we promptly converted into a disco for our own pleasure. We took over this little podium they had for their own dancers and a few of us got on top of the speakers. Good times, good times. Afterwards we had late night yum char. A couple of drunk guys at the table next to us were getting pissed off because they weren't getting served, so they threw a cup at the road (we were seated outside) to get the waiter's attention. When they were told to leave, their girlfriends came out and started making a scene. One in particular was a real bitch and wouldn't back down or shut up. We started to mock her in English pretty loudly - it's a wonder we didn't get beat up! The police came and the trouble makers left in a taxi. A crazy end to a crazy night.
That's it for now. Until next time, have a look at my Flickr page. I've updated it with lots more China pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/asiaticleague/