Jesse’s been writing the blog all along because I type with the speed of a ground sloth. It takes hours and typically I hit some button a lose the post. But I wanted to add some of my thoughts on this trip so far.
Wow to be in China, wonderful. I type this on Tuesday morning. Yesterday our trip into Foshan was memorial on so many levels. It was a sharp contrast to what we have seen so far in our little tourist centered section of Guangzhou.
Foshan lies about 45 min by car west of Guangzhou. Foshan has a population of 3 million and Guangzhou 75.9 million. It all translates the same, densly populated and closely packed high rise buildings all over the place. The sides and median of the roadways are planted in well trimmed hedges of Hibiscous and other tropical plants. Blooming tree species and manicured lawn. The trees are all propped up with bamboo scaffolding, which makes me think that this is in preparation for the Beijing Games. (The Olympic Torch comes through Guangzhou on Wednesday)
Our first stop was the Ancestral Temple Complex called Zu Maio. The Huang Fei Hong Memorial Hall is attached to its side. We walked through the beautiful gate and around the grounds. Senior citizens over age 65 and over are given free pass to the grounds and sit clustered in groups, talking, eating, playing chess or other games and in general passing the time with friends and family. The smells of incense burning drew us towards the Temple Complex where crowds of Chinese (mostly elderly) gathered to burn incense, and hang gold and red colored prayer flags. Ok the guide called them “wishes” and that they were requests for good harvest, good catch at sea or healthy children and the like. The temple was gorgous, the roof tiled and edged in intricate carvings. The craftsmanship and detail was overwelming.
We walked on towards the Wong Fei Hong Memorial Hall. It was fun to read through the exhibit and recognize actor’s faces we had seen in Chinese Kung Fu movies… from the well-known Bruce Lee to lesser known but equally recognizable faces from some Stephan Chow films. As Jesse mentioned our guide coaxed a few members to perform for us (as the rain earlier had cancelled the normal daily performance) We saw 2 young boys a teen and a man perform individually lightening fast martial arts maneuvers. They are really really fit, fast, disciplined and good. It was a special treat.
Next we walked over to the Foshan Folk Art Institute, which sat next to the Buddhist Renshou Temple. We had the Folk art Institute to ourselves. An institute guide took us on a tour of the building and the artwork. We viewed room after room of paper cut arts, paintings, jade chops and figurines, rocks, furniture etc. It was exhausting and overwhelming and caught us off guard as we had expected a tiny little shop of folk art souvenirs, not a vast complex. The temple next door pulsed with the chanting of hundreds of souls and the incense was thick in the air. I longed to be over with them, caught up in some ritual proceedings and immersed in a cultural strangeness and not stuck in this shopper’s purgatory. But the art was lovely and we did buy a lot of things.
Next stop was the Liang House and Garden. A wealthy families house and grounds turned over to the public in the 1980’s (I think) was an incredible sight. Beautiful traditional Chinese architecture. Lovely grounds and gardens. Again, this was the China I had come to see. The carp in the ponds literally bolted for us when we made our appearance at poolside. Hundreds of fish looking for a treat tossed their way. Birds in cages squawked and mimic the guide saying Hello in Chinese.
Then onto LUNCH. There is a Chinese saying that a perfect life is “to be born in Suzhou, live in Hangzhou, eat in Guangshou, and die in Liuzhou.” The food here is very very good. We had asked that our guide and driver eat with us as our guests and that they take us to a Chinese restaurant. The guide was a bit surprised. She said that normally families ate at the MacDonald’s or KFC. The restaurant was in a 4star hotel in Foshan. The guide ordered for us, and we shared 4 main dishes. Chicken, a dish of 5 or 6 different types of mushrooms and fungi that I didn’t recognize but thoroughly enjoyed, a dish of beef and greens, and a dish best described as a chunk of pork bone simmering in a clear broth with leafy veggies. All Absolutely delicious.
Then next was the Ancient Nanfeng Kilns in the nearby town of Shiwan. The difference between Foshan and Shiwan was unrecognizable. You drive down the same busy, congested road lined with shops at the base of tall buildings to arrive at a kiln site and village surrounded and swallowed by the city.
Note on the driving in China……it’s not really the white knuckled ride everyone makes it out to be. Sure it is different than the us, but they have a system that works for them. The reason the Chinese can drive the way that they do (darting about with apparent abandon on super crowded highways…remember 75.9 million…) is only because the Chinese look where they are going and they are POLITE within reason AND they accept personal responsibility. The other drivers begrudgingly allow you to push your way in; the pedestrians pat attention to their surroundings and get out of the way of a car or bike as it pulls onto the sidewalk to park. If anyone drove like that in the US people would be screaming lawsuit.
Nanfeng was again an exceptional treat. 2 huge ancient dragon kilns climbing their way up the hillside, a rabbit warren of a historical village clustered at the kilns side. The buildings no longer lived in but now filled with pottery shops, demonstration areas and work sites. Echoing through the village was the haunting sounds of Cantonese opera. The sound of a woman singing a Chinese opera is something that just pulls my heart out. It’s absolutely beautiful. We followed the sounds and found its source. A large courtyard led to a room, in the center of which sat a large table around which 8 men and women sat, smoking, talking, meeting, eating, whatever…I’m not sure what they were doing. I felt like I had just stumbled into someone’s living room. But they all looked up at our intrusion and smiled and waved at us. Just past them in an encove was a man and a woman, each with a microphone in had, singing. They were following the words and images on a TV of a famous Cantonese Opera…. A lot like Karaoke. But hauntingly beautiful. We stood transfixed, turned on our tiny digital cameras, set them to video and enjoyed the music.
WOW from there we drove back to our hotel, said goodbye to ort wonderful guide and driver. Went to our rooms, showered and changed. Jesse slept all afternoon…he’s sleeping now Tues am as I type this. He’s still stuck on US time, sleeping during the day, up all night…..But today is his birthday…eh can sleep in.
So last nights dinner was in close, Jesse had napped all afternoon and wanted to sleep more….I needed food and I needed to calm my digestive system down. I had spent the entire week previous to our trip to China with a stomach bug and had eaten only oatmeal, white rice and toasted bread in attempts to calm my stomach down. So in China I was popping pepto bismal to stave off the final throes of the stomach bug….NOT b/c the food or water here disagreed with me. So for dinner I headed for Lucy’s and American style restaurant. Think bad greasy spoon coupled with really bad American style Chinese food and you get the picture. I can see the value of such a place if you were traveling with a finicky teenaged or middle school aged child from the west as the menu has things like grilled cheese sandwiches, French fries and PB&J on it.
Live and learn.
Tuesday we have nothing planned, Jesse will sleep all day. I’ll find a reasonably priced laundry service and sit and fret and stew in anticipation of tomorrow. Gotcha Day. That was the main reason yesterday in Foshan was so wonderful, it captured my mind and kept it from wandering to Leia, and my New Mom worries…..
Later, Nina B
