The Guangdong Episode

Skype Message from a dear friend: "PS. Update your blog! Or else all of your readers will gang up and get you good when you get back! ((punch))"    Cut me some slack please! <3 It's hard to have stable internet AND enough time to update. :P Besides, there is just too much to tell! Anyways, here goes: 

From the 7th to the 13th, I traveled within the province of Guangdong. For those of you not familiar with China's geography, see above. In the center of the map, right below the watermark, in bold, is Guangzhou. From here, I went to Qingyuan (Qingcheng on the map, just above the watermark) to Yangshan (further north) and then back down to Guangzhou. 


This trip was mostly about one thing: visiting as many family members as I could in a matter of 6 days. 

Two of my cousins. This was the first time I met the cousin wearing white. She's not exactly my cousin... but I'm just going to stick to calling her cousin because family titles are complicated, in any language.

My aunt and my grandma. I am VERY grateful for my aunt for travelling through Guangdong with me. I would have been VERY lost without her! 

 This is my great-grand mother. As far as I can remember, this was my first time meeting her. She has Alzheimer's and will mistake you for someone completely different in about 15 minutes. But she's very sweet and hilarious. Also, I love watching her chew, mostly because she doesn't have teeth. So her whole jaw has to move to gum her food, not that most of it needs to be chewed. 

My aunt and my uncle. They are hilarious. :) 

My little cousin and my uncle. She's absolutely adorable and spoiled rotten. 

I was rather sad to leave. These are people that I see once every couple of years. I really wish I saw them more often. Even with their busy lives and busy schedules, most of them took the time to be family AND show me around. I am really glad that I will have the opportunity to come back in a few years and visit with them again. 

My train ride from Shenzhen to Guangzhou was less than pleasant... If possible, I plan on avoiding it in the future. Aside from the fear of losing my luggage, I haven't had any trouble with it. Until the train ride. On the positive note, it acted as my shield, protecting me from the hoards of people pushing through to try and get to the same place, but faster. In the midst of being rushed (by the family friend whom I am VERY thankful for), I am certain that my suitcase ran over countless feet. In case their feelings were hurt, I am sending a message out to the universe to sincerely apologize!


It has been almost three years since my last visit to Guangzhou. Either I didn't notice the development then, or there has been crazy development in that short time, because the buildings and cars have doubled, if not tripled. 


On another note, I miss Arizona. The city bustle is too much for me, though the convenient transportation is LOVE. Hong Kong and Guangzhou, though different in very many ways, are alike in the bustling. It is a rush to get everywhere, all the time. I detest it. 


Asian drivers. Please tell me if those words don't automatically bring a negative stereotype to mind. My bad driving skills led me to be cautious behind the wheel. Here, bad driving skills give them the boldness to take even more risks. I thought Hong Kong was bad. But yet, I still have yet to see an accident. 


The humidity takes time to get use to. It is places like these that make me appreciate the dryness of the desert. However, I love the greenery. 


With greenery and humidity comes the mosquitoes that I absolutely detest. I am usually the only one in the room that is affected. This has led me to befriend bright yellow mosquito stickers (it gives off a scent that repels mosquitoes), mosquito netting (over beds) and mosquito zappers (the thing that looks like a weird tennis racket). Did I mention how much I detest mosquitoes? 

This is Qingyuan (from my aunt's flat). I spent a day and a half here. Unfortunately, the rain kept us indoors. Aside from hanging out with my cousins, I spent most of the night watching episodes of The Big Bang Theory. My cousin downloaded an entire folder to learn English. Apparently, it's well known out here. 

Yangshan is a very rural place. Travel outside the borders for a bit and you will see rural farms and shacks. My great grandmother lives in one of them (you can actually see her if you look closely). But they seem to be very content with their life. There were a total of 8 wild dogs and 16 chickens running amuck. But the development I saw in Guangzhou is also in Yangshan. One of my aunts just moved into a new place. Fifth floor. It's NICE. It's also a lot bigger than a lot of the Hong Kong flats that I've seen. 

The "San-mo" that act as taxis here. Translated literally: Three wheel motorcycles. I actually really like them. They are convenient and cheap.

I rode a ferry when I was back in Guangzhou. Apparently, the river is a must-see tourist spot. This was one of my favorite views.


This will have to suffice for now. I will update again soon. For those of you who are curious, I've been in the Fujian province for a week. This is the closest I will be to Taiwan this summer! I fly to Beijing tomorrow morning and will remain there for the remaining of the summer. My flight home is on Aug 20th. I am alive and well and drinking too much milk tea for my own good. :)


<3

Hong Kong Happenings

Day two. By far, my most touristy day in Hong Kong. I spent the entire day with an amazingly sweet girl! Jessie studied abroad at ASU a few semesters ago when I first met her. Thank you Marcus for introducing us! I spent about 14 hours with her that day and am very VERY grateful for her company and time. 

First stop. Ocean Park. :) 
This is basically a smaller version of Sea World. I haven't been here since I was a little girl. My favorite parts about Ocean Park:

 Hanging out with Jessie and learning even more about Hong Kong

 The animals and how lazy they seemed! The pandas had their own ac, in a temperature-controlled habitat. A lot of them pooped on command, especially the birds. :P

 The giant balloon ride that lets you see all of the lower half of the park. It was about an hour wait, but I think it was worth it. I only wish that we were up in the air longer.

 The sea lion show, and discovering that sea lions have belly buttons!

The Sea Dreams show when the "scared volunteer" fell into the water and was rescued out of it by a dolphin and "resuscitated" by a sea lion. 

We attempted to go to Victoria Peak... but the line for the tram (or rather, the mass of people) was three hours long. We passed. But I will go! Eventually, with a better camera. Anyways, our next stops were 1881 Heritage (I'm actually not sure if this is the name of the place), Victoria Harbor and Avenue of Stars:

 Day Three. It was spent at the Hong Kong Wetland Park. It is exactly like it sounds:

You don't hear the bustle of city life. 

The further you head in, the less evidence of the city. 

I thought that this place was like a hidden gem. It really was a shame that it was so hot out! I think all the animals went to cool off in their respective shades, so we didn't see as much as we could have. 

I have some interesting details to add, but later. I am headed to Guangzhou, Guangdong, China tomorrow! <3

Day One

... I am in Hong Kong. HONG KONG. My hometown. It didn't actually hit me that I was leaving the states until ~3 hours before I was supposed to leave for the airport. Go figure. Then, I was too nervous and excited to do anything. However, after I went through security... everything seems like a really really really long DREAM. Actually, it still does. I expect to wake up any moment now.


My 14 hour flight was not uncomfortable. I spent the majority of it attempting to sleep and finding ways to make the time pass by faster, (i.e. playing games on the seat screen, reading, watching Rango). I made a new friend that was headed to Nepal. :) 


The weather. Hot and humid. HUMID. I sweat by just standing in the shade! The heat is definitely not comparable to my Grand Canyon state, but the humidity makes the weather very uncomfortable and evens out the scale.


Traffic, and just driving in general, is a very very scary thing (course, I'm not the one driving, thank goodness). Pedestrians have complete disregard for oncoming traffic. Drivers have complete disregard for oncoming traffic as well. But their risky behavior is applauded, I have yet to actually see an accident. On another note, the traffic enforcement cameras here are bright orange! At least, the ones I have seen are anyways.

Visiting family in Hong Kong was at the top of my list. Including my flight meals, the picture above was taken at my fourth meal, with my fifth meal awaiting me for (second?) dinner. Both family and friends insist that I eat until I am ready to burst, and then proceed to feed me more simply because I am skinny AND young. Good thing I like Chinese food. :)


More to come! <3