Long day in Guangzhou

09.05.2014

I arrived in Guangzhou at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning and I hadn't heard back from Lukasz or Fabiola yet. I assumed they were still sleeping, so I went to Shamian island by myself. This was a small British enclave in the 19th century and now all the buildings have been restored and there is a nice quiet park there. Cars are restricted so it's very peaceful, especially so early in the morning.

Then, I tried to get out of the area back to the metro but I became ensnared in the most disgusting fish market I have ever witnessed. There was wet garbage all over the place, I had sandals on so I tried to avoid the mess but it ended up being impossible. People were walking around in rubber boots to avoid it themselves. The smell was horrendous. Since moving here, I have become kind of indifferent to awful smells, but this was terrible. I tried to get out, but everywhere I turned there was more garbage and more disgustingness. It seemed to go on forever and I was retching the entire time. Blech.

Finally I found my way to the metro, somehow. I had dropped my lonely planet on the subway over to Shamian so I had no idea where I was. I found a coffee shop that wasn't open yet, but they let me use their wifi. From wikitravel, I picked the top dim sum restaurant and headed over there. When I got there, oops! it's a little upscale. I had to change from my disgusting fish-smelling jeans and top into a skirt in the washroom. You could tell everyone in Guangzhou had brought their mother there today. But I was alone with my dim sum. The waitresses were nice, I just told them to bring me something for breakfast and they brought a nice tea set, which they kept refilling with hot water that was boiling continuously on the table, some real cantonese egg rolls, shrimp and pork dumplings. So delicious.

From there, I went to meet Fabiola and Lukasz on their lunch break, which is two hours long. We took a nap and then I headed out to the orchid garden. There were not many orchids, I guess it was the wrong time of year, but it was still a tropical paradise. I went over to Yuexiu Park where I had to take a picture in front of the five rams. The story is these magical rams founded the city a bazillion years ago. Then there is a monument and a memorial to Sun Yat Sen, who is the equivalent of George Washington, I guess, in China.

I went back to meet Lukasz and Fabiola for dinner (which was Sichuan, but I didn't say I really wanted Cantonese...). They brought another couchsurfer with them, Martin from the Czech Republic. After dinner I took a shower and went out wandering around with him. We missed the last subway back and had a ridiculous time getting back to Fabiola's house. Ai yi yi.

Shamian island