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TRAVELS IN CHINA 2002

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Guangzhou/Canton

Well, China’s still here. Canton (the old name) was one of the special ports designated by China centuries ago as being open to foreigners for trade. It’s still open and trade is good. There are more Westerners here than I have seen elsewhere in the middle country, except maybe Shanghai.

When we got off the plane, the humidity hit like a sauna, and it was only 82 degrees there. I was really glad I wore a wool sport coat and packed a fleece vest so I wouldn’t freeze like last trip. Seems like I can't ever get it right here

Between us and our friends, it was apparent that we would need 2 taxis to get to the hotel. Finding them was a snap, but I hadn’t’ had time to think of the consequences of telling a driver to “follow that taxi” in China. Yuening and Liang Xi jumped in the lead car, which flashed away at light speed, so I told our driver just that -- a big mistake.

The driving here, as I have said before, is like some kind of death race anyway. Add in the fact that the lead driver knew where we were going and my driver did not, and you have increased the fear factor by a multiple of 5 or so. Figure in that I had had about 2 hours sleep in 2 days and it made jogging unnecessary to get my pulse rate up to aerobic levels.

The hotel arranged for us was clean, had all the amenities of a Marriot, in a dilapidated sort of way, and cost $9 per night for each of us. The air conditioning worked and the toilet was Western style, which makes it, for me, a 4-star accommodation; anything else is just frosting on the lu do gao (mung bean cake). Of course, the frosting was there, as in most Chinese hotels; little bottles of soap and shampoo, toothbrush and paste, comb and cute little moist towelettes. The bathroom, on the other hand, was very Chinese, despite the Western toilet. The sink had some type of flexible tubing linked to the floor drain, and sometimes the used water went through it to, most likely, the sidewalk gutter outside. Usually it just poured from under the sink directly onto the floor which was sloped so as to let the shower water drain into a hole in the corner behind the toilet. The whole room was marble, so you were actually in a fall-on-your-butt-slick wall-to-wall shower. If you needed to sit while showering, you just dropped the toilet lid -- very efficient -- very Chinese.

Wandering near the hotel, we found one of the ever-present rows of street vendors that hawk wares to tourists for incredibly high prices. Most of these markets sell handcrafts made in small towns, but this one had a twist, many of the goods were made right there, and you could watch. There were small glass bottles and globes that had been blown hollow with a ½-inch hole in the bottom. Either through this hole, or through the mouth of the bottles, a fellow was painting scenes from Chinese history, landscapes, animal tableaus and even the purchaser’s portrait from a quick Polaroid. The detail was incredible and they had to be viewed with a magnifying glass to be appreciated. The artist worked with a tiny bent wire Brush held upright through the hole and painting in mirror images from the inside out. If I hadn’t seen it in process, I would have thought some laser machine had done it. These were so cool, I had to have about 10 of the 3” diameter models and 2 of the 6” ones. The glass is almost ¾-inch thick and they added about 20 lbs to my luggage. A guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do. Christ, I’m here for 2 days and had already exceeded my trinket allowance by half.

Canton is a huge place. I don’t know how huge, but flying overhead and taking a taxi to a few places, it seems to stretch from 20--30 miles. I guess there are several million here on the Pearl River not far from Hong Kong. It is hard to believe HK is any more densely packed than Guangzhou.

As we walked to and from places, we saw a great number of Westerners that are carrying Or rolling Chinese infants along the streets. Apparently, exporting adopted children is big business here.

I listened to China TV channel 9, which is international news in English. In fact, it appeared to be the China promotion channel, and every story is about how great things are here. The People’s Party Congress is over and Zhiang is in for a few more years, etc. One notable feature indicated that China plans to increase its GDP by a factor of five in the next few years, and the average annual income from $763 to $1000 in the same time frame. Should this happen, this will be the Century of Asia. Of course, the growth of China is largely dependent on the spending power of the West, and things aren't so hot there right now.

Our last night in Canton I had to pack things away for the flight to Nanning. I had very carefully calculated my luggage arrangements, packing 2 large duffels with the compactness and precision of a Swiss watch. I probably couldn’t have fit a knitting needle in before I pulled the zippers. One duffel was for clothes and the necessities of life for Americans in China, like coffee, over-the-counter medication, etc. The other duffle was for the myriad of small presents for my hosts and friends, like American foods, folding camp stools, liquor, etc. The plan was than after the gifts, which are customary here, were distributed, I could fill #2 duffle with goodies I acquired along the way in Asia for transport back to the states. Unfortunately, I had blown about ½ of my souvenir allowance before handing out the gifts leaving a tight squeeze until I got to Nanning; live and learn.

We settled our bill with the Chinese Overseas Hotel and headed for breakfast and the flight to Nanning. This craft was a much cleaner and newer one than on my last trip to Nanning. The flight crew was pleasant and the trip smooth, except for the drenching of my pack with someone’s spilled rice whiskey while it was stowed in the overhead compartment. After this, it smelled like hell, and I hoped that it would get enough air in my travels to, at least, become non-offensive

CHINA TRIP 2001 TAIWAN TRIP 1999

(1) U.S. TO CANTON (2) CANTON (3) NANNING, REPRISE (4) WEDDING TALK (5) REALLY DIFFERENT (6) ONLY ONE!

(7) CUSTOM CLOTHES (8) HIGH GROUND (9) MUGGED (10) TO GUILIN (11) LI RIVER (12) WEI'S CLASS

(13) THE BIG DAY (14) WEDDING ALBUM (15) HEADING HOME

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