Wednesday 25th July
Was up showered and dressed by 7.30am. This is the only hotel for which breakfast is included, so I'm going to make the most of it. I am pleased to find that the breakfast room is laid out in the style I am used to, so it is not long before I am settled at a table with fruit juice, bacon, sausage and all the trimmings, lovely! It looks like a lovely day outside, so can't wait to go exploring again. But "J" lives 2 hours away from the city centre, so I will just have to be patient. I return to my room and take pictures through the window, then I re-organise my bags so as to make things more convenient later. "J" sends a text at 10.00am to say he is on his way, so I settle down to watch the news for a while.
When he does arrive, he puts something in the fridge, but I take no notice. Nothing is planned for the day, as I want to just acclimatise myself with minimum fuss. We head back to the city centre and find a fast food outlet, Chinese style. I order a pork dish with rice and to my surprise a bowl of soup appears as well. It is all very tasty, even though I'm not sure about some of the ingredients of the soup. We then head for Beijing Road, a tourist area with many shops and an ancient bit of road under toughened glass; it was apparently a former road into the ancient city. There are many people trying to sell me genuine Rolex watches or want to take us for trips around the city, but we just walk by, the fact that they are so persistent suggests some stupid people actually agree to buy things off these guys. From the hustle and bustle of Beijing Road we head for the relative peace and quiet, and shade of a nearby park. People are practicing Tai Chi, Chinese checkers, badminton and a sort of "foot badminton". Photos are taken outside Guangzhou city offices and we proceed further around the park. "J" needs to pee, but he refuses to use the toilets in the park, they have a certain "reputation", so we slowly make our way to the underground station. I am impressed with Guangzhou's underground system. The majority of "tickets" are purchased through machines and the tickets turn out to be plastic discs. The discs are put into a slot on the gate, which then opens, and the disc is return to you by another slot. At the destination, the disc is put into a slot and is retained so it can be recycled, so no paper tickets littering the station foyers. "J" is justifiably proud of the underground system so feels I need lots of pictures of the inside of the trains. So my first trip on the Guangzhou Underground is to head for the Pearl River area. It is lovely by the river, almost like walking along the seafront in Scarborough, but of course no beach. As we stroll along we are approached by people wanting to take our photographs, I guess the age of the digital camera has reduced their trade. We arrive at the boat station, where boat rides on the river start from, we note the times and promise to have a river trip when we return to Guangzhou. On the way to the boat station we had noticed some very young children trying to sell roses to people. They were accompanied by some older boys. A young couple walked past and the young boys tried to sell their roses, but the couple refused. Instantly one of the very young ones wrapped himself around te young ladies leg and would not let go. "J" explained that there were "minders" watching from over the road, if the young couple got violent with the children the minders would be over to "sort them out". In the end the affair was sorted by the young couple agreeing to buy a rose. An interesting insight into another side of China! But for now it is time for something to eat, so we retrace our steps back along the riverside to the Guang Zhou Hong King Seafood Restaurant. I am looking forward to my meal, but unprepared for what was to come. We are shown to a table and order beers, a local brew which tastes very nice. Various bits of paper are written on a laid on the table, not sure why. I am then told by "J" to follow him. Where are we going? I am soon to find out. I am led, with the bits of paper from the table, into a room full of tanks, with prawns, shrimps, various types of fish, snakes, water beetles, chrysalises, are swimming about. It is now that I am asked to decide which of these creatures is to be my dinner. Gulp! I suggest some prawns, these will be fried with garlic etc, "J" suggests some shellfish I agree u not really looking forward to trying them. How about some fish? All of them seem to be looking at me, daring me to choose them. Eventually I settle on a flat fish which has made the mistake of looking away. He is quickly taken out of the tank, placed into a plastic bag, weighed and taken off to the kitchen. All of our purchases are recorded on the bits of paper, which come back to the table with us. Eventually the garlic prawns arrive, The Cantonese way of eating them is to remove the head then all the rest goes into the mouth, hard bits being removed as they become free in the mouth. The British way is to remove the head, the hard shell on the outside of the tail, all the legs from the tail and when all is clean, then place in the mouth. As a consequence, my plate fills with debris quite quickly, while "J"s remains relatively clean. As things arrive at the table they are ticked off on the bits of paper. The next to arrive is the rice and the shellfish. I try one, a little like leather, but ok, although I tell "J" he can have the other three after I have tried one. The fish arrives now, steamed with a spicy sauce over, its opaque eyes are now fixed on me! "J" is adept at using his chopsticks to remove the meat from the bones, so he kindly places pieces of fish meat on my plate for me. The head of the fish is consumed by Cantonese too, well it is placed in the mouth and the flesh sucked off. After creating quite a mess on my side of the table, I feel a little embarrassed at leaving, knowing someone else would have to tidy up after me. With full tummies we head get a taxi back to the hotel. "J" will stay tonight as we need to be up early in the morning to go to the airport. There is one more surprise for the day. When we are in the hotel room, "J" removes the bag he had placed in the fridge on his arrival. There are two pieces of cream cake, a belated birthday celebration for me, along with 2 DVDs. How thoughtful. So my second day in China has come to an end, tomorrow there is more flying, but I feel quite relaxed about it. One thing though, I have so many postcards to send home, but as yet I have not seen any being sold, surely there will be some for sale in Beijing.
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