Guangzhou and Great Signs

On Friday night, after a wonderfully unproductive day, Jen, Lisa and I went to see a modern dance performance called "Seasonal Syndromes." Fancy, shmancy (well, maybe a little). Like the title suggests, the first act was full of performances that were meant to recreate the moods associated with each season. The costumes and colors changed, as did the feel of the music, tempo, movements, etc. Some were really creative and others just made my mind wander... too much thinking, "Now what season is this? I think they're trying to say... I don't get it." In other words, they didn't always capture my attention. Nonetheless, it was wonderful. Jen, the obvious dance enthusiast, just wanted to dance through the streets of Central. I think she was put off by the 30 mph gusts of wind that night (remember that typhoon thing?). Despite the weather, we walked to LKF and had an equally satisfying dinner at Good Luck Thai.

That night we solidified plans to take a quick trip to Guangzhou leaving the next morning and returning Sunday evening. Guangzhou, a city of about 3.5 million, is about 3 hours northwest of Hong Kong. Just for reference, it's pronounced gwahng'JOE. Or something like that. Luckily it's pretty easy to get there-- catch the metro out of Hong Kong into Shenzhen and a 1-hour train from there to Guangzhou.

Thanks to Lonely Planet, we decided we'd spend our first day and only night on Shamian Island, a former British and French concession and the only legal foreign trading area in China in the late 19th century. Don't start imagining some local paradise or commuter hot spot like Galveston Island. It's litterally a runway-strip of land separated from the city by a narrow waterway. Despite its size, it had a lot of old buildings, parks, statues, gardens and international history-- which I seem to be quite fond of these days. Because it was a foreign area for so long, it still looks and feels nothing like China.

An oooollllld building in need of repair. I made them pose in between the rotting support columns.

Unforuntately, it poured on us the first day. We wandered from building to building in an attempt to stay dry. We stopped in an art gallery, sat at a Starbucks and ended the day getting foot massages in a Chinese medicine shop. We had dinner at a "Western" restaurant called Lucy's that served everything from hamburgers to bolognese to chicken curry. George, you would have loved it-- they still served pull-top cans. Outside, they had more statues. We of course had to pose. Notice Jen practicing her squatter-toilet skills over the tiny dog.



After it finally stopped raining, we wandered around the island and found a park sponsored by the "China Sports Lottery" that was full of colorful adult "workout" equipment that looked more like a Discovery Zone playground than a 24-Hour Fitness. The pictures below are a) us trying to figure out how to use the things and b) the locals using them the next morning.

Frances on the "Pseudo Stairmaster" and Kristin on the "Half Spinny Ab Machine"

Look! It's a Chinese "Health Rider."

I couldn't figure this one out, so I just assumed it had to be for local DJs working on their record-spinning skills. At least I thought it was funny...

Look at her go! Riding her way to health!

Hahahahaha! Look at that form. And those socks!

So after our day in the rain and evening in the park, we went back to our hotel. The next morning we overslept with just minutes to spare before they closed the free breakfast buffet. You should have seen how fast we were up and out the door. Before going back to Hong Kong we wandered around Guangzhou, but spent most of our time in an orchid garden and looking for good dim sum.

There were more stories from Sunday, but we laughed the most thanks to a few random and poorly translated signs. These were the kind you read and hear about at home. They were everywhere, and we loved them! Below are my top 5 favorites-- ending with the best one!

NUMBER FIVE: ... Please keep the danger away.

NUMBER FOUR: Nice Tourist Signs

NUMBER THREE: Kristin, spitting everywhere... No littering up.

NUMBER TWO (on the Guangzhou metro): No hullabaloo or scratchitti.

NUMBER ONE! (of course, involving toilets)

1. Be particular about social moralities and pay attention to public health.

2. No ruining every kind of facilities in the toilet.

3. No relieving nature everywhere and placing toilet paper in the garbage.

4. No spitting nature everywhere and leaving cigarette butts, fruit peel, slices of paper and other garbage everywhere.

5. Please do not make the wall dirty.

6. Please save water and fasten the faucets after washing your hands.

And you thought Europe was interesting!!