Guangzhou, also known as the 'city of goats', was a wonderful and short adventure this past weekend. It is about 2 hours north of Macau in mainland China and the farthest I have ventured into the mainland since purchasing my most recent visa. The city is one of the 3 biggest in China, so there are people and tall buildings everywhere. Many multi-national companies are located in Guangzhou, so there is a surprising presence of English on signs and in public transportation--that does not mean that the people speak English. Contrary to that belief, the locals speak a variety of languages. Interestingly, the official mainland China language is Mandarin (simplified Chinese), but the dialect of Guangdong province (a southern area of China) is Cantonese (what they speak in Macau and Hong Kong). Even though they speak Cantonese, it is a slightly different dialect than the Cantonese of Macau or Hong Kong. The large number of migrant workers from different areas of China and even an apparently large African community also infuse different languages into the arena. In other words--who knows what the stranger you pass on the street actually speaks. Fortunately, because money talks, anything that appeals to tourists generally provides Mandarin, English, or both. Lauren is somewhat fluent in Mandarin and I am well equipped in English...
Guangzhou was the nicest part of mainland China that I have personally travelled to. Although Shanghai is very westernized and pretty clean, I felt that Guangzhou had a better balance. I would compare it to New York City in multiple ways. Here are some quick highlights of what we enjoyed while there:
This was my favorite piece at the Guangzhou Museum of Art, which we stumbled on by accident. This piece is called "Self Perfection" and I find it so true of the identity of women worldwide. We chisel away at our being hoping to become what society demands, and never quite meeting that. For example, Caucasians in America tan to get darker, Chinese whiten their skin to get lighter...
We met someone on couchsurfing that grew up in Guangzhou and showed us this westernized neighborhood/area of buildings. Apparently there were people working abroad who would come back rich or send money back home and have this fancy architecture built as something different and a sign of wealth. It was really interesting to see the infusion of western and eastern architecture--for example, a lot of the buildings would look western but have the Chinese style traditional roof.
Dessert, Chinese style. Pictured here: (top left) sweet dumplings in black sesame paste, (bottom left) red bean milk dessert, (right) black glutinous rice with milk. I'm still not a huge red bean fan, and like I keep saying these desserts are not as sweet as American desserts, but they were good.
This is a neat tea garden that we stumbled upon. Apparently the Chinese traditionally would have gardens like this to drink tea in, and the owner told us this one used to belong to the royal family. It certainly was relaxing for a spot of coffee, and is probably far more welcoming in summertime.
This is a temple we visited. In this picture, you can see the contrast of the traditional temple and modern skyscrapers in the background...with lots of incense burning in the forefront.
This is the Sacred Heart Cathedral of Guangzhou (also known as Shi Shi). We attended an English mass here that was PACKED. We actually sat behind a confessional on the side of the building, so I saw very little. The church was filled almost completely with African migrants, though I'm not sure which country in Africa they were from.
There was a neat modern art district called Redtory that we went to both ends of town to find. It's a bunch of old factory buildings transformed into art galleries and restaurants appealing to the young and affluent. Think Melwood Art Center, only bigger and more restaurants. Interestingly enough, there was a Mexican art display all the way on this side of the world. This graffiti was on a wall outside the area, and the picture above it is of a restaurant to give you an idea what the buildings looked like.
Overall--great time with my gals. Thanks Joe!
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