Satani Bat Bi: Guangzhou Part 3 & Baiyun Shan

Sunday was hiking day.  We headed up to Baiyun Shan, aka White Cloud Mountain, on the north end of town.  Thanks to "Travel China Guide," the extent of our directions was: Take Subway Line 3 and get off at Meihuayuan Station. Walk about 1,200 meters to the Plum Garden of White Cloud Mountain.

We walked to the closest subway, hopped on, changed lines from ours to Line 3, switched tracks when there was a mysterious spur, and made it to Meihuayuan Station.  Upon our exit, we had no idea where to go next.  We followed the only other tourist-looking person with a backpack, and when he hit a dead-end and ran into us as he doubled back, he pointed out the right way to go.  We stopped to get some water, and set out.  Soon the busy road became a bustling side street, then a meandering lane, then a quiet, long driveway.  It eventually ended in a government compound, but there were still a few hiker-looking folks coming to and fro, albeit no other tourists.  We found a small side trail to the side of the government compound and viola!  The trail entrance!  We paid our entrance fee (20 Yuan each, a little more than $3/person) and started the hike. 

Some photos from the hike:

Woven bamboo hillside reinforcements (for the rock-wall builders out there)

Start of the trail

My favorite line (kind of hard to read) "Stress the Civilization"with a smiley face next to it.

Amazingly lush

We made it to the (start of) the top!

Most folks were milling about in everyday clothes, taking in the view. We were in our hiking clothes, pretty sweaty, and clearly not accustomed to hiking in 80/80 (80 degrees F and 80% humidity).

Trees with draping vines

Once we got to the higher part of the mountain, the path was pretty wide open and (thankfully!) shaded.

We spotted a lake area below - looks so refreshing and cool!

View from the far side of Baiyun Mountain

Our fellow hikers

Looking down at our side of Guangzhou

More mountain views

A little visitor

More draping vine trees (technical name?)

Such a huge, beautiful park!  It went on forever - this is a few hours in.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - this sign went on to describe the various points of foot reflexology and led to a 'massage path'...

I saw a number of local hikers doing this and thought 'when in Rome...' You take off your shoes and walk sock-footed down this path of intricately-laid stones.  It is supposed to massage your feet (in a sort of aggressive way).

Map of reflexology points

The path leading down from the top

My feet actually did feel better after walking the path!

The view of the city from off the massage path detour - you can see the Canton Tower (barely) in the distance.  We'll call it mist, but I'm afraid it's really just pollution.

A blossoming flower...

When all its buddies were still closed...

We came across a temple with this description - note the last sentence: "When tourists visit and reflect on the past in the light of the present, they should cherish the fruit of reform and open policy."

 Beautiful temple

We walked throughout the temple 

Huge wall with stone carvings depicting the history of the temple and its various builders/benefactors

Carving into the rock walls

And now that we did the hard part hiking up - time to take the gondola down!

Heading out on the gondola

View down the mountain

Passing one heading up the mountain

Crossing over a track/basketball court complex

Almost down, just over this pond..

We went up one side of Baiyun, and came down the other.  Since we didn't know the bus routes on this side of the mountain, we just took a taxi home (for the pricey fare of $4!)  These food carts selling steamed corn and oranges were by the taxi roundabout.

In-taxi entertainment on the ride home.

Topped off the day with dinner by the Pearl River and ordered some odd/delicious dishes: Husband had baked cod with blueberry vinaigrette and ice cream.

And I ordered baked scallops with coffee beans.

Side note: as I'm writing this, I've been watching the news on Hurricane/Super Storm Sandy - take care all East Coasters and we hope you are safe, dry, warm, and with power!  

Satani Bat Bi: Guangzhou Part 2 & Halloween

Halloween was celebrated this past Saturday.  I can't say (and also doubt) that it's widely celebrated in China, but it certainly was here.  Our current residential area includes a number of folks from the US, Australia, Germany, Japan, France, India, and so on.  I think in an effort to make the kids of these families feel like they aren't missing out, the residential area puts on a number of holiday/festival traditions for them.  We saw photos up in the welcoming area of Santa visiting in December last year, of dragon dancing for Chinese New Year, and last year's Halloween costume contest.  All the kids and parents dressed up, some in matching costumes.  

Halloween streamers over the pool.  I thought if someone wanted to win the costume contest for sure, they should dress up as a dolphin and actually jump in the pool.

Earlier in the day, Husband and I had gone out scavenging for costume ideas.  We had no idea what to dress up as, but thought we'd wander around and get inspired (effective, right?)

Just as in the US, if you know where to go, if you find what you want.  But here we obviously don't know where to go, so we ended up finding shops with linens, buckets and bags.

Ended up in a back alley that led in a circle...

And then found our way to a wide open square by a massive shopping mall.  From not-so-well-off area to very-well-off area in one block.  While there are clear socio-economic divides, they are geographically very close.

Jusco - the grocery store we frequent.  Some Jusco's also have a clothing/appliance section, but most are just grocery stores.

Cutie kids running around, being photographed by their adoring parents.

Success!  After lunch at The Spaghetti House (where all the waitstaff were wearing devil horns or witch hats, and we convinced them to give us an extra pair of devil horns), the Jusco came through for us with a pitchfork for Husband's costume, and green fairy wings and a wand for mine.

Building on the way home. I like the gold advertising (I assume it's advertising...any Cantonese/Mandarin readers?)

Happy Halloween!

Satani Bat Bi: Guangzhou

We were getting into the swing of things in Bangkok when news came we'd be spending the next month in Guangzhou, China.  Our air shipment still hadn't arrived, but that made packing that much easier!  Just the same clothes from the last month to choose from...for another month.

Which leads me to a sidebar on laundry.  Obviously a good deal of laundry has been done, but the first load was a good lesson in paying attention to signs.  The washer and dryer in our apartment in Bangkok look more or less like every other washer and dryer I've seen.  No problem, I got this.  I loaded up the washer, found the pull-slot for detergent, set the water temp, let it run.  Done.  Switching loads to the dryer - again, no problem. Found the temp I wanted, added dryer sheet, go.  This continued for another cycle, when the dryer unexpectedly stopped mid-spin.  The machine was beeping - three beeps, silence, then three beeps, repeat.  Hmm.  I opened the door, re-set the time, and closed the door.  No more beeping, so I continued the cycle.  Not five minutes later, the beeping starts again. I check and THIS time I see the flashing light beside the words "empty water."  Empty water? I thought - I've never emptied water from a dryer...and that's when I notice the drip drip drip down the side of the machine.  Apparently there's a long, tray like container that soaks up water from the clothes as it dries, and that needs to be emptied pretty much after every load.  Not rocket science once you know what to do, but confusing when you've never seen it. Anyway, I had a good laugh at myself.

Back to Guangzhou.  We arrived about a week ago, and have explored a little.  I say only a little because unfortunately I came down with a cold pretty much the hour we touched down.  Sneezing, sneezing, sneezing - maybe I'm allergic to China?  Just a common cold (sinus issues, cough), and as my friend Emily said when we Skyped last week "well it's about time!"  She's right - we've been planning and executing a wedding, packing, leaving our home, flying across the world, and haven't stopped going in a few months.  With time zone changes, in and out of hot, humid weather to extreme AC, it makes sense.  I should note I haven't been sick in at least a year and half, if not longer - my immune system is usually pretty good to me. The day after we arrived I was determined to explore (or at least go to a pharmacy, get Sudafed and Nyquil, and go home).  I soon learn pharmacies here are quite different.  There is an amazing amount of Chinese herbs and medicinal powders.  Unfortunately I didn't have a guide or interpreter - maybe another time.

Husband found an appointment for me at a international medical clinic near his office, as this is apparently the only way to get Western medicine.  I was a little unsure - until he told me he spoke with the doctor, who was wonderful and understanding - and her name was Dr. Alice!  Just like my Grandma! It was a sign I'd be in good hands.  Dr. Alice took great care of me, and agreed it was just a cold, and I got the needed meds - excellent!  If we were staying here longer, I'd try and figure out a more simple way to just get the meds, but here's fingers crossed we both stay healthy the next few weeks!

Satani Bat Bi: Chao Phraya River Boat

We took the Chao Phraya river boat for a trip the other day.  If you take the Chao Phraya TOURIST boat, you're looking at a "pricey" 80 baht per person (approximately $2.60).  But if you take the Chao Phraya express boat, it's only 15 baht per person ($0.48) for the entire length from stop 1 to stop 15 (approximately 40 minutes).  We headed up to Khao San Road, mainly to take in a longer tour of the river, but also to see what the backpacker-ish, tourist-y part of Bangkok is like.

Looking up the boat at our fellow passengers:

Fellow river traffic.  The rings of flowers hanging from the bow of the boat are generally for luck, to bring good spirits, safe travels, etc.  Some are more elaborate than others.

At a river boat stop.  It's not only me that's into energy drinks (witness the bottles of blue Thai red bull on the ground by the ticket taker - Red Bull got its start in Thailand.  The current US-based formula isn't available here, but rather a non-carbonated, much sweeter version.

River traffic.

View from our aisle to the other side and out to the river.

On both buses and boats, there is a ticket taker/checker.  This woman in the orange either makes sure you bought a ticket at the pier, or charges you for the boat fare.  Since these boats can hold up to 150 people with 20-30 people getting on/off at each stop, my hat is off to her in how she keeps track of everyone!

Wat Arun in the distance.

In the US you find American flags everywhere (car dealerships, crossing state lines, baseball stadiums, etc.) - here you find portraits of the King, Queen, and Royal Family. I believe this was at the Naval Academy.

Passing a river boat cruise in the evening.

Almost home!