One Year Away

Joseph

As we traveled through China I was often struck by things that to me seemed strange, interesting, amazing, disgusting or wonderful.  For me, more interesting than just site seeing, is observing how people are different and how they are the same in different parts of the world.  I’ve compiled a list of personal observations from my time in China.  These are based only on what I saw in the small part of the country I visited during the short time I was there.  In no particular order:

• People setup card playing circles anywhere, at any time of the day or night.
• Fried egg is considered an excellent side dish for almost any meal.
• If there is a national restaurant chain in China it is KFC.
• Spitting – loudly and often.
• Squeaky brakes almost cause deafness at intersections.
• China has awesome instant noodles.
• I never once felt unsafe, even when walking in poor areas at night.
• Infants and young children wear trousers with a large split down the backside.  You can figure out why.
• Exercise is done outdoors, primarily by older people.  Public “playgrounds” resemble a collection of peculiar exercise equipment more than a place for amusement.
• In a public toilet, finding toilet paper is rare.  Finding hand soap at the sink is as likely as  finding gold.
• Whenever a policeman stops someone a crowd instantly gathers around.
• Plates ordered in a restaurant are brought out as soon as they are ready.  There is no concept of bringing out appetizers before mains.
• Despite heavy littering by people the streets are remarkably clean.  This is because of the near constant presence of street sweepers picking up the trash.
• Children are often encouraged to say “hello” to foreigners.  Parents find it funny when we answer back.
• Outside of the tourism industry very few people speak English.  However, I found that those who do speak English are happy to help and will go out of their way to do so.
• Children play with adults more often than they do with other children. 
• The Chinese love their small dogs; especially Pomeranians, Pekinese and Shih Tzu’s.  They also enjoy larger dogs but that’s more for culinary reasons.
• People take water bottles filled with green tea with them everywhere.
• Elderly people are much more visible than in Canada and are often accompanied by their adult children.
• Eating out is a family affair that happens at large round tables.  Most restaurants have few 2 person tables.
• And most overwhelmingly – life happens in the street.  From eating to washing to personal grooming it all happens out on the sidewalks and streets.

Joseph

Every region of China has its local food specialties and Guilin/Yangshuo is no exception. We try to  eat the local specialties as much as possible, although so far we have avoided rodents, insects and dog.

The subtropical climate here makes ideal conditions for growing citrus fruits and we made sure to always have some refreshing oranges in our pack when we went biking or hiking.

This region is particularly known for its local pomelo variety and there are street-side vendors all over the place selling them.  On the way back to town one day we bought one from an elderly farmer. Penny has a thing for buying fruit from old people, and the older they are the less she bargains the price.  So we took the huge pomelo with us, parked by the side of the Li river and tried to peel it.  I had left my Swiss Army knife at the hostel so we had to use our hands.  The peel and pith is over one inch thick and very strong; it took our combined efforts and over 10 minutes to finally get it peeled.  I wish I could say that it was worth the effort but I found the taste quite bland, something like a watered down grapefruit.

The other local fruit specialty is the persimmon.  These are sold both fresh and dried.  I bought the dried variety from the ever present street vendors.  It wasn’t overly dried, the flesh was plump and tender with the seeds arranged around the center.  The taste was delicious and reminded me a little of apricot.

Being on the Li river, Yangshuo’s other specialty is river fish cooked in beer.  For lunch on Sunday we ate at a local restaurant and had the Beer Fish with a side of stir fried vegetables.  The fish is cooked in  a beer based sauce with tomatoes and chilies.  At about $15 it was pricier than our usual lunches, but the fish was tasty and we left happy.

In the center of town is an open air night market where at least a dozen mini restaurants setup shop.  They have a large table where they spread out all of their fresh ingredients, including live fish, chickens, frogs and snakes.  You tell the cook what you want to eat and he does the butchering and cooking for you on the spot. Everything is cooked in a wok over a powerful gas burner that sounds like a rocket engine.  Having just recovered from food poisoning in Shanghai I didn’t think it was wise to eat at the night market…but I was tempted. 

Joseph and Penny

See the new China/Yangshuo photo album.

Yangshuo is described in guidebooks as "travelers mecca" and as the "legendary backpacker hangout".   The town of approximately 300,000 people has become a really popular tourist destination in southern China, in part because of its famous pointy green mountains, know as karst.  Thankfully, you can easily escape the tourist crowds and get into the backcountry rice fields and small villages that make this place special.   It’s sometimes difficult to like Chinese cities; they’re polluted, busy and noisy.  We liked Yangshou and the surrounding area instantly, because it offered an escape from all that. 

We spent our favorite day in China so far riding bicycles around the Yangshuo countryside. Being on two wheels gave us a good perspective into the daily lives of the villagers.  We were able to go along the small dirt paths that connect the villages and rice fields. 

Life hasn’t changed much in the small villages around here in centuries.  We arrived during the rice harvest  and watched as the farmers cut the rice stalks with small sickles and used foot powered threshing machines to remove the grains.  After watching a family of farmers from the path, Joe was invited to help them.

We stopped several times to ask for directions, take pictures or make balloon animals for children.  The local people were always so friendly.  They came out of their homes to offer us oranges or pomelo on more than one occasion.  We gladly accepted their gifts and tried our best to communicate to them how tasty their fruits were.  Hopefully, "mmmm’s" and stomach rubbing are universally understood.

On our second day in Yangshuo we rented an electric scooter and headed for the popular "water cave"  The cave is huge and follows an underground river.  There are immense caverns, stalactites and stalagmites.  We were in a small group of Chinese tourists and had a tour guide to lead us through the caves.  He stopped every few minutes to point out a rock formation that looked like a monkey, an old man fishing or a jellyfish. 

The highlight of the water cave was definitely the "mud bath"  A pool of mud where people can take a dunk.  We got thoroughly muddy and enjoyed wallowing in the muck. 

We are staying at the Yangshuo Culture House hostel, run by the friendly Mr. Wei.  Staying here is more like a home-stay than staying in a hostel.  His family runs the place and provides three delicious meals a day to their guests.  We have gained back the weight we lost while we were sick!  The always plentiful food is traditional Chinese and is some of the best we’ve had in China.  Highly recommended if you are in the area.   

Penny

How would you feel about having a foot
massage for a full 50 minutes?  It seems that it is now the rage (or
even the norm) in Hong Kong for the yuppie crowd to do!  So, based on
our friend Samuel’s very (very) strong recommendation, we agreed to
all go have our feet rubbed on Sunday night.

Not being a big fan of massages in
general, I was somewhat uncomfortable with the idea.  But, I say
“when in Rome, do as the Romans”…  Samuel made the appointment
for 9:15pm that night.  I was surprise to find out that many of these
legitimate massage places are opened until 1 or 2am.  The massage
parlor is like a high-end spa with plush leather chairs and flat
screen TVs to watch your favorite show as you get your treatment. 

Samuel had warned Joe and I that at
times the massage can be ‘a little’ uncomfortable.  The therapists
use foot reflexology techniques by putting pressure on different
parts of your feet and calves.

The session started off with us soaking
our feet in a medicated bath and then having our feet and calves
rubbed with essential oils by the male masseuse.  Then, about 2
minutes into the session, I realized that it was going to be a long
48 minutes… The pain was almost  unbearable.  As the masseuse
pressed against the soles of my feet or squeezed my calves, I held my
breath and clenched every muscle in my body!

When the session was finally finished,
I did feel relaxed but as I let our friend Samuel know the benefits
did not outweigh the pain. I think that that is the first and last
Chinese foot massage for me!

P.S. Joe’s experience was very
different.  He loved his massage and may now be hooked.  If you are
ever in China and want a foot massage, I urge you to avoid any
masseuse with funny growths on their hands and fingers as these are
sure signs of pain to come.  Joe’s masseuse had hands like a banker,
pretty and smooth!

Joseph

On the train ride to Hong Kong Penny
updated our expense tracking spreadsheet and we were pleased to find
that to date we were significantly below budget.  Since arriving in
HK we’ve been living the high life and have eaten up a large part of
that surplus. 

Here’s one of the many ways to blow
your budget in Hong Kong:

• First, arrive on a long weekend
  when most of the guesthouses are booked solid. 

• Have the hostel where you do have
  reservations put you into the bedroom of one of their employees. 

• Leave the next morning and check
  into a nice hotel in the Sheung Wan area.  The Central Park Hotel
  has newly renovated rooms, hot showers with decent pressure and high
  speed Internet access in the room. 

• For lunch, have dim sum, the
  traditional and delicious Cantonese lunch, every day.  Dim sum in HK
  is the best we’ve had anywhere but can be surprisingly expensive.
  There are two types; 1) the mid-range places which are about the
  same size as the average dim sum restaurant in Canadian Chinatowns.
  They serve up good food about on par with what I’m used to back
  home.  2) Then there are the high-end places usually located in
  shopping malls. These huge restaurants attract a mix of customers
  including a large number of business people.  Food at the high-end
  dim sum places we went to was fantastic.  It was definitely a notch
  above what I get back home.

• For dinner, go out to the trendy
  Soho area where the hip expat community hangs out.  There, eat at
  one of the dozens of nice restaurants.  We ate at a Thai restaurant
  that served a delicious green curry.  The prices were definitely
  expat prices though.  To really blow a budget stay in Soho and go
  out for drinks, like we did with my friend Samuel!

• Go shopping at the night markets
  in Kowloon.  Although the prices can be good by HK standards they
  are generally much higher than in mainland China. 

One of the highlights for me of Hong
Kong has been visiting my friend and ex-coworker Samuel.  We
hung out
several times during our stay here and had a great time catching up
on what we’ve each been doing.  Although he’s been here less than a
year he knows the city well and has been a great source of local info
for us.

Penny and I had a great time blowing our budget in Hong Kong.  There’s a million ways to do it and I would like to come back some time to try a few more.