Day 9: Guangzhou

Got into Guangzhou today. This is where my grandma and mom are from originally and tomorrow we're going to the actual village that they lived in. The city is a lot warmer than Chengdu which is a nice change. The sun was shining and I didn't even really need my jacket.

The first place we visited was the Memorial of Sun Yet-san and 'something-another' monument that's on top of a hill above it. They're both on a patch of public land in the middle of Guangzhou which was crawling with people. It totally weirded me out cus I couldn't think of one place that even compared to this in America. When we first pulled in, there were these old people playing the chinese equivalent of Hacky-sack with a stack of washers that would clink when they kicked it and had feathers sticking out of one side of it so it kind of looked like a weighted metal shuttlecock(I totally love that word). There were people playing with a real shuttlecock as well(badminton(sp?)), a group of people singing chinese opera, people playing chinese chess, people doing taichi and calisthenics, and I think there were even people doing ballroom dancing somewhere according to my dad. The real kicker were these people that were doing what looked like jazzercise to Boom Boom Boom Boom!!(I want you in my room) and to Billie Jean.

Even when we toured around the city, the city life was so vibrant. Street vendors pushed carts around selling roasted chestnuts and fresh fruit. People were milling around and just being outdoors. It's as if the internet and cable television never existed for these people. I feel like when it's a nice day outside, people in America will say 'Wow, it's a nice day', but not actually go out to enjoy it. In Chengdu, Mr. Wang said that "Any day that the sun comes out is a Sunday". Since it is so rare for sunshine in that city, any time the sun comes out, everyone takes the day off and goes out to enjoy it. In Guangzhou, the sun shines a lot more apparently.

This was taken at the "Macao Street Restaurant". Delicious. The food, I mean.