Curse my immune system!
Curse it to Hades!!
Yep, day 2 saw me come down with a cold. And it's stuck with me ever since. Pisses me off as I felt yucky the weeks prior to leaving, but I pumped myself full of vitamins to make sure that this didn't happen... but no, the universe had other ideas. >_<
And now teh interwebz is broked. China doesn't like teh interwebz much.
The past few days have consisted of trying not to feel like crap, and also a bit of touristy stuff. 'Cept for Xmas day. Which reminds me:-
Merry Christmas, and a Happy (late) Chanukah.
Anyhoo. SMOG!
A view from the apartment window, looking towards the river.
This is what I've been going out into the past couple of days. It's fairly yuck to look at, and being outside all of 5 mins gives you a really disgusting taste in your mouth. Kinda like the taste you get when you've got a cold, and can't breathe through your nose, so you breathe through your mouth instead. Yeah. Ew.
Right, and now a proper summary of the rest of Saturday as it's getting late, and I don't have time to do a summary of everything thus far:
The remainder of Saturday involved heading to the Chen Clan Academy, or Chen Ancestral Hall, which is a beautiful turn of the century estate built at the ending of the Qing dynasty and once housed artisans, but now turned a sort of gallery for decorative Chinese arts and sculpture.
The roof had these amazing carvings, that no doubt told a story, but to understand it all would probably take hours of looking at it, as well as having to find where it all starts and then following it around the estate. I think though, that much of the grounds were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution under Mao, but I'm not entirely sure. It's not really something that they'd mention in the information boards, I don't think.
Anyhoo, there was some really amazing artwork - painted porcelain and stuff like that. Plus some quite funny sculptures detailing the story of Ah Q. There's really too many photos to post in this one short blurb, so I shall direct your attention to the bottom of this post to see more photos if you wish - along with all the other photos that don't fit in the blurbs too, so if you don't want to bother with all this pesky text, I suggest you scroll now :)
On Sunday we drove down to Chime-Long Xiang Jiang Safari Park near Panyu, right across the river from Guangzhou, which seems to pride itself on their koalas as they were plastered everywhere (and according to the park map, Giraffe's were grouped in the "Australia Zone" - must've missed that memo)! We started with the "drive-through" area, which I guess is what makes it a "safari" park. It was cool seeing all the animals, but... sheesh... the poor things looked so miserable. And to be honest, I can't blame them. There were far too many animals for the space that they had. Animals that are naturally solitary in the wild were grouped together in packs. They weren't mistreated, by any means... just... cramped. It was kinda distressing really.
It wasn't much different in the "walking" area - too many animals for the enclosures they were kept in. Cute animals. But sad :(
While also in the park, I had a Chinese girl come up to me and ask if she could take a photo with me. Well... I was amused. It doesn't really register with me that being white, I'm a minority here, and seen as unusual. I think we saw one other Caucasian person while we were in the park. So when she came up going "Photo!", I internally giggled.
I also got to pet/hold/feed milk to a 2 month old tiger cub. He was adorable and had the hugest belly because he'd been fed milk every time someone came in to have their photo taken. He also took to tackling the keepers ankles as entertainment, which was also cute. Until he started using his teeth, and then he got told off by the keeper. But still cute! They did that alot in the zoo - having "hands on" with the animals. You could also have your photo taken with a fully grown Siberian tiger (he was tied up, of course) but he also looked rather depressed/bored out of his furry little mind.
We made our way back to GZ mid-afternoon, and headed towards an older part of the city (called Huangsha, I think) that was built by the colonial settlers, most likely left overs from the settlement in Hong Kong :)
There was some pretty funky architecture, very traditional English - stark contrast to the very sad looking government-built apartment blocks, and the small turn of the century homes you find elsewhere in GZ (though I think they give the city character). It's also a part of town where there are a lot more Westerners. This is because the nearby Swan Hotel is a sort of hub for couples coming here to adopt children.
We wandered around a bit, and one thing I've noticed about GZ is that it's clean. Like, ridiculously so. And there's even some greenery still chugging along. How anything survives with the pollution, I have no idea, but I guess plants adapt. There were some cool little street stalls selling all sorts of things from toys, to bookmarks, to artwork painted entirely using the side of your hand (you can create a surprising amount of detail). Steph found a stall that was selling some watches and found one that had Mao on the face. His hand waves in time with the seconds, which is so far beyond kitsch, she just had to buy one.
That night we went to the local Irish pub for some food, which is actually run by an Irishman and his fiancee (she grew up in GZ, but studied in Melbourne before returning ~2 years ago). I only point this out because the name of the pub was called The Paddy Field. Tee hee!
Chen Academy:
The carving on door in the entrance way. Each panel told
a story, though I can't remember what this one says :)
Close-ups of the carvings on both the roof of the Academy, and on the outside wall. Again, telling a story
but I have NFI what that might be. :)
Me sitting under one of the sculptures in the
story of Ah Q.
Safari Park:
A full-grown giraffe standing next to a baby antelope.
Everyone go "Awwwwwwwwwww".
When I see this photo, I just think Woody from
Toy Story - "Hellooooooooo."
It can't be an overseas trip without
amusing mis-translations.
Huangsha:
The Pearl River, and sidewalk. Notice the lack of smog. This was a good day.
The Mao watch with waving arm.
Kitsch to heck and back.
More Engrish!
Right. We're heading down to Hong Kong tomorrow AM, so I'm really looking forward to that. Even MORE money to spend, but I should be okay to cover rent and food when I get back. Well... just ;)
Things can be so insanely cheap here, it's hard not to take advantage of that fact.
Anyways, I need to head to bed. Rest of the photos will come after I get back as there will be no free interwebz in HK.
Ni hao!
Yep, day 2 saw me come down with a cold. And it's stuck with me ever since. Pisses me off as I felt yucky the weeks prior to leaving, but I pumped myself full of vitamins to make sure that this didn't happen... but no, the universe had other ideas. >_<
And now teh interwebz is broked. China doesn't like teh interwebz much.
The past few days have consisted of trying not to feel like crap, and also a bit of touristy stuff. 'Cept for Xmas day. Which reminds me:-
Merry Christmas, and a Happy (late) Chanukah.
Anyhoo. SMOG!
A view from the apartment window, looking towards the river.
This is what I've been going out into the past couple of days. It's fairly yuck to look at, and being outside all of 5 mins gives you a really disgusting taste in your mouth. Kinda like the taste you get when you've got a cold, and can't breathe through your nose, so you breathe through your mouth instead. Yeah. Ew.
Right, and now a proper summary of the rest of Saturday as it's getting late, and I don't have time to do a summary of everything thus far:
The remainder of Saturday involved heading to the Chen Clan Academy, or Chen Ancestral Hall, which is a beautiful turn of the century estate built at the ending of the Qing dynasty and once housed artisans, but now turned a sort of gallery for decorative Chinese arts and sculpture.
The roof had these amazing carvings, that no doubt told a story, but to understand it all would probably take hours of looking at it, as well as having to find where it all starts and then following it around the estate. I think though, that much of the grounds were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution under Mao, but I'm not entirely sure. It's not really something that they'd mention in the information boards, I don't think.
Anyhoo, there was some really amazing artwork - painted porcelain and stuff like that. Plus some quite funny sculptures detailing the story of Ah Q. There's really too many photos to post in this one short blurb, so I shall direct your attention to the bottom of this post to see more photos if you wish - along with all the other photos that don't fit in the blurbs too, so if you don't want to bother with all this pesky text, I suggest you scroll now :)
On Sunday we drove down to Chime-Long Xiang Jiang Safari Park near Panyu, right across the river from Guangzhou, which seems to pride itself on their koalas as they were plastered everywhere (and according to the park map, Giraffe's were grouped in the "Australia Zone" - must've missed that memo)! We started with the "drive-through" area, which I guess is what makes it a "safari" park. It was cool seeing all the animals, but... sheesh... the poor things looked so miserable. And to be honest, I can't blame them. There were far too many animals for the space that they had. Animals that are naturally solitary in the wild were grouped together in packs. They weren't mistreated, by any means... just... cramped. It was kinda distressing really.
It wasn't much different in the "walking" area - too many animals for the enclosures they were kept in. Cute animals. But sad :(
While also in the park, I had a Chinese girl come up to me and ask if she could take a photo with me. Well... I was amused. It doesn't really register with me that being white, I'm a minority here, and seen as unusual. I think we saw one other Caucasian person while we were in the park. So when she came up going "Photo!", I internally giggled.
I also got to pet/hold/feed milk to a 2 month old tiger cub. He was adorable and had the hugest belly because he'd been fed milk every time someone came in to have their photo taken. He also took to tackling the keepers ankles as entertainment, which was also cute. Until he started using his teeth, and then he got told off by the keeper. But still cute! They did that alot in the zoo - having "hands on" with the animals. You could also have your photo taken with a fully grown Siberian tiger (he was tied up, of course) but he also looked rather depressed/bored out of his furry little mind.
We made our way back to GZ mid-afternoon, and headed towards an older part of the city (called Huangsha, I think) that was built by the colonial settlers, most likely left overs from the settlement in Hong Kong :)
There was some pretty funky architecture, very traditional English - stark contrast to the very sad looking government-built apartment blocks, and the small turn of the century homes you find elsewhere in GZ (though I think they give the city character). It's also a part of town where there are a lot more Westerners. This is because the nearby Swan Hotel is a sort of hub for couples coming here to adopt children.
We wandered around a bit, and one thing I've noticed about GZ is that it's clean. Like, ridiculously so. And there's even some greenery still chugging along. How anything survives with the pollution, I have no idea, but I guess plants adapt. There were some cool little street stalls selling all sorts of things from toys, to bookmarks, to artwork painted entirely using the side of your hand (you can create a surprising amount of detail). Steph found a stall that was selling some watches and found one that had Mao on the face. His hand waves in time with the seconds, which is so far beyond kitsch, she just had to buy one.
That night we went to the local Irish pub for some food, which is actually run by an Irishman and his fiancee (she grew up in GZ, but studied in Melbourne before returning ~2 years ago). I only point this out because the name of the pub was called The Paddy Field. Tee hee!
Chen Academy:
The carving on door in the entrance way. Each panel told
a story, though I can't remember what this one says :)
Close-ups of the carvings on both the roof of the Academy, and on the outside wall. Again, telling a story
but I have NFI what that might be. :)
Me sitting under one of the sculptures in the
story of Ah Q.
Safari Park:
A full-grown giraffe standing next to a baby antelope.
Everyone go "Awwwwwwwwwww".
When I see this photo, I just think Woody from
Toy Story - "Hellooooooooo."
It can't be an overseas trip without
amusing mis-translations.
Huangsha:
The Pearl River, and sidewalk. Notice the lack of smog. This was a good day.
The Mao watch with waving arm.
Kitsch to heck and back.
More Engrish!
Right. We're heading down to Hong Kong tomorrow AM, so I'm really looking forward to that. Even MORE money to spend, but I should be okay to cover rent and food when I get back. Well... just ;)
Things can be so insanely cheap here, it's hard not to take advantage of that fact.
Anyways, I need to head to bed. Rest of the photos will come after I get back as there will be no free interwebz in HK.
Ni hao!