China Pix
Heyo~ m'back from China~ and I bring pictures! The pics are not really in chronological order, so bear with me. Although moving these around messed up the clickability of the thumbnails, so if you'd like to see the large pics, which I recommend, you can go here: http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Miyanon/China%20-%20Pix/
These are pics from Guangzhou, China. Mainly in Qingping Market and the Hualin Temple. The wet market was a little... Well, it pretty much confirmed for me that they eat dog here. And scorpions? I'm not sure how they work out the poison bit. Qingping is also reportedly where Bird Flu came from (and theoretically the Spanish Flu). I had a long lecture by a Virginia Tech animal sciences graduate about why it's an extremely bad idea to eat animals that were ever treated as something other than a food item, like pets and horses - so I didn't have dog. (Thanks to her I can no longer eat veal though.) Also that strange stack of balls is actually preserved tea.
Here's Shamien Island where they put all the foreigners in the old days before Britain kind of forced its way in using the Opium Wars. It's composed of the French Quarter and the English Quarter... which rather deceptive because they're actually halves. I'm half-surprised all these buildings are still around, considering, but many locals like doing wedding pictures there. And behold! Christ Church Shamien - still working Anglican Church.
Here's Baiyun Mountain. It overlook Guangzhou and there are all kinds of things on it - like the vowing tree and the love locks.
Here's the Chen Family Hall - basically members of the Chen Clan got together and constructed this six courtyard home using crafts and treasures from all over Guangdong. It was ransacked and ruined a bit in the Cultural Revolution but it's since been restored.
And here's Yang Shou, China in the Guilin area. This is where all the fantastic scenery comes from. One of my pictures looks almost exactly like the back of the 20 Yuan bill. Best thing to do here is take a raft boat up and down the Li River.... even if it frickin' freezing out and you end up getting sick.
On of our favorite things to do was wander around West Street.
Fun stuff around Yangshou. Commie!Santa and a kid and an old man doing Wushu and the kid epically failing to keep up and a shoe store that looks like a blatant Adidas knock off and a poster that kind of sounds like a subtle threat, a very creepy/cute style of drawing (those two pins are now MINE XD) and... taking pictures in front of a fake plane backdrop for a fee???
I also made a game of trying to take pictures of everyone knitting - without them noticing me. It's REALLY hard to do. Especially in the off season.
And here's Hong Kong! Well, Kowloon - which IS Hong Kong, it's just the bit connected to the mainland. The reason why they don't have 4th floors is because 4 is a homynym for 'Death' in Chinese. So nobody wants to be put on "Death Floor" or "10-Death Floor." Didn't stop them from putting us in Room 130-Death though. And the tea was so freaking good~ And so were the egg tarts and the dim sum and the night life and and... Okay, I'm just crazy about Hong Kong. Second time here and I still love it. ^__^ Now on Kowloon, they have all the museums, Nathan road and the famous Temple Street. And all the food~ Gah, I miss it already. T__T Hong Kong still feels like an entirely different country than China. I mean, I had to pass through immigration four times round trip between the two places. ^^; And they have different currency, and pretty much speak no Mandarin - whereas in Guangdong, they at least understand it because it's mandatory in school now, and they drive the British way as opposed to the right side of the street, and they all can speak at least Chinglish if not full English - whereas in China... Nuh-uh. Not a word of it. And it just feels different. I mean, people are just so diverse and metropolitan and fashionable in Hong Kong - which does mean you meet the invariable assholes like I did. (Stupid Brit, it'd be faster to just ASK me to move instead of complaining about the lady blocking your way on your phone to who knows who.) Guangzhou is not unpleasant at all, but for the third largest city in China, it doesn't really feel like it. The Communism thing, it doesn't really affect day to day life, because the people are still merchants and businessmen at heart - always have been and always will be, but it's still kind of just... there silently watching you the whole time. Which is creepy so you don't want to think about it too much.
And here's Lantau Island (still Hong Kong) with the Ngoing Ping 360 and the Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery. I have to say, I have never been that high up off the ground suspended by a single cable before. And it was windy out, it made my parents really, really nervous. ^^; The village turned out to be a little tourist-trappy and Big Buddha was not as big as I thought, but I enjoyed the Po Lin Monastery. Did my donation bit and prayed and listened to the monks chant. Being Thai Buddhist, most of the time I can't take Chinese Buddhism seriously (fat Buddhas? and the heaven and hell and demons? huh??) but this one seemed alright, giant Buddha aside. And then a cow randomly crossed the road in front of me. ...Well, it is a Buddhist monastery after all.
And here is Hong Kong proper! As in the island. I actually think I like Kowloon better, but the island itself certainly has lots to look at. Such as Man Po Temple and Cat Street - it doesn't have cats, just odds and ends. And the trams, the financial district, the odd colonial relics, antiques (although technically, you're not allowed to take antiques out of China) and my ultimate favorite dim sum restaurant ever - Maxim's Palace. ...And scaffolding made entirely of bamboo. I mean, I know it's strong as steel, but damn~
Jet-setting pics. Mountains of China and then... Is that a cloud? *le gasp* No, it's Fuji!
And yay! It's Japan! I spent all of about 21 hours here... and managed to blow twice as much money as I did throughout my entire two weeks in China. Gah, Tokyo~! Why so damn expensive???
And that's it, that was pretty much my trip. It was fun, despite a little drama and a little getting sick. ^__^
These are pics from Guangzhou, China. Mainly in Qingping Market and the Hualin Temple. The wet market was a little... Well, it pretty much confirmed for me that they eat dog here. And scorpions? I'm not sure how they work out the poison bit. Qingping is also reportedly where Bird Flu came from (and theoretically the Spanish Flu). I had a long lecture by a Virginia Tech animal sciences graduate about why it's an extremely bad idea to eat animals that were ever treated as something other than a food item, like pets and horses - so I didn't have dog. (Thanks to her I can no longer eat veal though.) Also that strange stack of balls is actually preserved tea.
Here's Shamien Island where they put all the foreigners in the old days before Britain kind of forced its way in using the Opium Wars. It's composed of the French Quarter and the English Quarter... which rather deceptive because they're actually halves. I'm half-surprised all these buildings are still around, considering, but many locals like doing wedding pictures there. And behold! Christ Church Shamien - still working Anglican Church.
Here's Baiyun Mountain. It overlook Guangzhou and there are all kinds of things on it - like the vowing tree and the love locks.
Here's the Chen Family Hall - basically members of the Chen Clan got together and constructed this six courtyard home using crafts and treasures from all over Guangdong. It was ransacked and ruined a bit in the Cultural Revolution but it's since been restored.
And here's Yang Shou, China in the Guilin area. This is where all the fantastic scenery comes from. One of my pictures looks almost exactly like the back of the 20 Yuan bill. Best thing to do here is take a raft boat up and down the Li River.... even if it frickin' freezing out and you end up getting sick.
On of our favorite things to do was wander around West Street.
Fun stuff around Yangshou. Commie!Santa and a kid and an old man doing Wushu and the kid epically failing to keep up and a shoe store that looks like a blatant Adidas knock off and a poster that kind of sounds like a subtle threat, a very creepy/cute style of drawing (those two pins are now MINE XD) and... taking pictures in front of a fake plane backdrop for a fee???
I also made a game of trying to take pictures of everyone knitting - without them noticing me. It's REALLY hard to do. Especially in the off season.
And here's Hong Kong! Well, Kowloon - which IS Hong Kong, it's just the bit connected to the mainland. The reason why they don't have 4th floors is because 4 is a homynym for 'Death' in Chinese. So nobody wants to be put on "Death Floor" or "10-Death Floor." Didn't stop them from putting us in Room 130-Death though. And the tea was so freaking good~ And so were the egg tarts and the dim sum and the night life and and... Okay, I'm just crazy about Hong Kong. Second time here and I still love it. ^__^ Now on Kowloon, they have all the museums, Nathan road and the famous Temple Street. And all the food~ Gah, I miss it already. T__T Hong Kong still feels like an entirely different country than China. I mean, I had to pass through immigration four times round trip between the two places. ^^; And they have different currency, and pretty much speak no Mandarin - whereas in Guangdong, they at least understand it because it's mandatory in school now, and they drive the British way as opposed to the right side of the street, and they all can speak at least Chinglish if not full English - whereas in China... Nuh-uh. Not a word of it. And it just feels different. I mean, people are just so diverse and metropolitan and fashionable in Hong Kong - which does mean you meet the invariable assholes like I did. (Stupid Brit, it'd be faster to just ASK me to move instead of complaining about the lady blocking your way on your phone to who knows who.) Guangzhou is not unpleasant at all, but for the third largest city in China, it doesn't really feel like it. The Communism thing, it doesn't really affect day to day life, because the people are still merchants and businessmen at heart - always have been and always will be, but it's still kind of just... there silently watching you the whole time. Which is creepy so you don't want to think about it too much.
And here's Lantau Island (still Hong Kong) with the Ngoing Ping 360 and the Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery. I have to say, I have never been that high up off the ground suspended by a single cable before. And it was windy out, it made my parents really, really nervous. ^^; The village turned out to be a little tourist-trappy and Big Buddha was not as big as I thought, but I enjoyed the Po Lin Monastery. Did my donation bit and prayed and listened to the monks chant. Being Thai Buddhist, most of the time I can't take Chinese Buddhism seriously (fat Buddhas? and the heaven and hell and demons? huh??) but this one seemed alright, giant Buddha aside. And then a cow randomly crossed the road in front of me. ...Well, it is a Buddhist monastery after all.
And here is Hong Kong proper! As in the island. I actually think I like Kowloon better, but the island itself certainly has lots to look at. Such as Man Po Temple and Cat Street - it doesn't have cats, just odds and ends. And the trams, the financial district, the odd colonial relics, antiques (although technically, you're not allowed to take antiques out of China) and my ultimate favorite dim sum restaurant ever - Maxim's Palace. ...And scaffolding made entirely of bamboo. I mean, I know it's strong as steel, but damn~
Jet-setting pics. Mountains of China and then... Is that a cloud? *le gasp* No, it's Fuji!
And yay! It's Japan! I spent all of about 21 hours here... and managed to blow twice as much money as I did throughout my entire two weeks in China. Gah, Tokyo~! Why so damn expensive???
And that's it, that was pretty much my trip. It was fun, despite a little drama and a little getting sick. ^__^