More of Guangzhou and on to Shanghai
I have not been as diligent in updating our blog the last few days because we have really been getting sick of China and I did not know if I could be very objective when writing about our time here anymore. At any rate, last Tuesday we did the street food thing in Guangzhou. I tried the following:
Chicken Kidneys – very tough.
Octopus Balls – this is a Japanese food, was very good. Since it was nearly 100 degrees out, we opted to not have them drizzle mayonnaise on them.
Fish Balls – I think they were made with some kind of a pressure cooked carp before they were battered, rolled into balls, and fried. They were ok, but very fishy tasting.
Scorpions – These are actually pretty good, they taste kind of like fried soft shell crabs.
Beetle Larvae – These were edible as wilderness survival food only.
One of the vendors tried to get me to try some kind of roast cockroaches on a stick but I could not bring myself to do so.
Scorpions and Beetle Worms.
The next day our guide took us to the 6 Banyan Tree Buddhist temple (over a thousand years old) where we got the traditional Buddhist blessing for our new daughter. The temple was very peaceful and full of worshipers. I thought it was kind of funny seeing many of the younger monks walking around with cell phones.
Getting a blessing from the monk.
The next morning I had just about all I could stand of the city so Zhen Zhen and I hopped a cab to White Cloud Mountain. White Cloud Mountain rises a couple of thousand feet above Guangzhou. There are miles of trails on it and a cable car that will take you to and from the top as well. Despite the heat, we hiked to the top and took the cable car back down. The trails up the mountain are paved and take you through a sub-tropical forest. Its not wilderness by any means, but its a welcome change from the concrete jungle below.
Zhen Zhen in the cable car on the way down from the top.
Thursday night we left Guangzhou and flew to Shanghai. Shanghai is the financial center of mainland China. Its a city of around 25 million or so and is very competitive with Hong Kong. We stayed in the Pudong district in a funky hotel that seems to cater to western europeans.
Pudong Skyline from The Bund.
Shanghai is a true world class city. Our problem was that we really were homesick at this point and it was very hot there (102 when we landed). So it was not as enjoyable for us as it probably would have been under other circumstances. Just the same, we spent the weekend exploring the city. On saturday we went to the Shanghai Museum which houses a large collection of Chinese antiquities. You could easily spend the better part of a day in the museum as China has a very long history.
3000 year old bronze basin at the museum.
Shanghai is the intellectual birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party, but you would not know it by looking at it now, its essentially the epicenter of commercialism in China. 30 years ago Nanjing Road would have been filled with Chinese citizens in blue Mao suits on bikes, this is it today:
Nanjing Road
Our flight back to the states left on Sunday and the highlight of the day other than knowing we were finally going home was riding the 268 MPH Maglev Train to Pudong International Airport.