JUNE 1, 2004: GUANGZHOU, CHINA
Greetings from China! As I write this, we are safe and sound in Guangzhou, China, having endured a long but trouble free journey thus far. Our flight was without incident, and the service was astonishing. Our flight attendants were courteous, polite, and very attentive, frequently bowing and checking to see if we required anything further. Our fully reclining seats were in front of a bulkhead, which means I got to extend my six foot two frame to it’s fullest. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt, then wrapped up in a blanket with a little pillow under my head. We were provided with a sleep mask, slippers, and a toiletry kit to freshen up at the end of the trip. Next thing I knew, it was time to get up and eat breakfast. I would try to explain the food we had for dinner and breakfast, however, I’m jut thankful at this point that I kept it down. The unidentifiable elements had an equally unexplainable flavor, texture and color: Nothing I’d want to keep for my culinary journal.
Debbie didn’t sleep in-flight, which is common for her: As I write this, she is sprawled out on one of the beds making up for lost time. She should be up and around in a week or so. For those with our itinerary, we are in room #624 at the White Swan Hotel until June 4th. We landed at the Guangzhou International Airport and Sauna around 5:15am, a full hour ahead of schedule. After being "glared" at for about a minute by the customs agent, we went into the third world baggage claim (the chickens weren’t awake yet) were we lost about 3 pounds from the surreal heat, humidity, and total absence of ventilation. Let’s forget about the luxury of air conditioning: There was no air movement whatsoever! Perhaps they don’t turn the AC on until the temperature reaches the three digit figures in the building, or the tourists falling out from heat exhaustion reach the double digits. As stifling as it was at 5:30am in the morning, I can hardly wait to come back in a couple of weeks when we land at noon: It should resemble Dante’s Inferno by then.
I can’t express the sense of relief you feel when you are half-way around the world and you see your luggage arrive on the carousel: All is well in the world! (Que Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus). We’ve never lost luggage on a trip before, but we know many who have. We also figured out that the baggage handlers here must get paid based upon the amount of damage they inflict upon the luggage. Our guy was well into the bonus money. We understand the airport is due for it’s annual cleaning in October. Hands down the nastiest airport I’ve ever seen (and smelled), yada, yada, yada.
During our travels in the U.S. and abroad, Debbie and I have been on some interesting taxi rides, and this one was definitely in the top ten. We had the "lean" going on pretty well: That’s when you know you’re about to get hit, so you lean the opposite way. Oh yeah- we did a whole lot of leaning while riding with our "Tony Stewart" wanna be! It was also amazing to see the traffic for 6am- kinda reminded me of Houston for a minute. Well, except for the bicycles loaded with vegetables, and the motorcycles loaded with vegetables, and the three wheeled trucks loaded with vegetables . . . you get the idea. We were even behind one truck that had an open air cage in the back with about 2 dozen sides of beef & hogs hanging there, rocking back and forth, being attacked by flies and who knows what else. (I made a note not to eat at that restaurant). The mass of vegetables on each vehicle was at least ten times the mass of the vehicle itself. Beans, cabbage, fruit, and so on: If you go to your favorite produce department and it’s empty, you’ll know where all the vegetables went! I also saw various people out and about beginning their day. Street sweepers with huge brooms dressed in yellow jump suits, shop keepers washing or sweeping the sidewalk in front of their store and so forth. I’m awestruck at how busy this place is so early in the morning.
We arrived at the hotel around 6:15am China time, and after unpacking, I took a wonderful hot shower then wrapped myself in a bath towel the size of a twin bed blanket- literally! Since Deb doesn’t usually sleep well on airplanes, I had pre-arranged an early check-in at the hotel to help her get settled in. While she rests, I’ll be headed down to the business center to send this email off, then I’ll be headed across the street to score some diet Coke at our neighborhood 7-11! By the way, I was a bit off on the time zones- we are 13 hours ahead, so as I write this at 8:30am in China on June 1 it will be 7:30pm on May 31 in Texas and Tennessee. Anyway, after Debbie wakes up around noon, we’ll be off to see a few things near the hotel. We planned to have a fairly quiet day of rest and relaxation to get over the jet lag. I also went down and around the corner to the Bank of China to cash in some traveler’s checks. We left the US with $500 in RMB to get ourselves to the hotel, meals, and a few items to help settle in. And what is it with "the glare?" The dude at the bank, the policeman on the corner, the customs agent: They all look at me with "the glare:" that evil, penetrating look that makes you want to confess to hiding Jimmy Hoffa’s body. I’ll say one thing about the work ethic here - it is very high, and very serious. The young man who took my traveler’s checks examined them against my passport very thoroughly- again, and again, and again (while he glared at me). I assume this was his idea of professionalism. I think the use of both an adding machine and a calculator was a bit overkill, but hey- he wanted to do a good job! For fear of getting shot, I’m trying not to glare back.
For lunch today, we headed to a local favorite of American tourists in the park near the hotel, "Lucy’s." We had a hamburger (no veggies) and fries, with a diet coke, or should I say "Coke Light." We also did a little shopping and sight seeing around the hotel. The 7-11 is across the street, and a 20oz diet Coke with lemon is about $.36 cents compared to the $1.00 at any U.S. gas station. It’s a cheesy thing to say, but "Oh thank Heaven for Seven Eleven!" We purchased some diet coke and bottled water there, (and no one glared at me). Next to our hotel is the Shamian Park. At 1pm in the afternoon, there were people practicing a choreographed dance routine (we have video), ball room dancing, Tai Chi, and playing a variety of games. The Chinese people here are very active, friendly, courteous, and from what we’ve seen in the first hour, tend to fill their time with meeting people, being active, and socializing when not at work. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon wherever you live. It is a splendid culture mixed with deep tradition as well as contemporary things. The park and surrounding area are also filled with bronze and stone sculptures. One such contemporary sculpture in bronze depicts three women: One from 1800, one from 1900, and one from 2000 (shorts and a cell phone against her ear). What a statement about how times and culture change.
By the way, and as you may have noticed, (or maybe not depending on when and how we get this problem resolved), my initial trip to the business center was less than productive, thus no emails to anyone on June 1st. I managed to bring everything except my phone cord and LAN cable to connect to the Internet- duh. This is also not an item I can find here for some reason, so I tried copying emails as files to send from the business center. I was unable to communicate my intent to the young lady in the facility, so I’ll try again tomorrow. (She glared at me too).
After lunch and our first outward venture, we took a 3-4 hour nap (who’s counting). After dinner, we even got in a little shopping, and picked up a couple of small gifts. Everything is very inexpensive, unless you buy it at the hotel. Dinner was in the hotel at a restaurant that features northern China dishes (Shanghi, Beijing, etc.) as opposed to the local Cantonese fare. The menus here in town are very interesting: If it moves, flies, swims, or stands still long enough, it is on the menu, and we have photos to prove it. Try "boiled snake with orange zest," or "oil fried pigeon with sea cucumbers." Come to think of it, no wonder we didn’t see any pigeons in the park today! I ordered a diced chicken and noodle dish for Debbie, and I had Peking Duck (of course). Since Peking is now Beijing, I wonder if it should be called Beijing Duck? Throughout the first floor is a collection of jade carvings worth thousands of dollars; such as a Chinese junk made of jade phocidae, and very a very intricate pagoda more than 10 feet tall. There were many beautiful items to see in the stores on the first floor, including hand carved elephant trunks (which are illegal to import back into the US).
Our room and the White Swan is wonderful, as a 5 star hotel should be. There is a hostess on each floor around the clock. If you need anything, she will get it for you. Even if you don’t know you need it, she will still get it for you. For example, when we returned from dinner there was a crib in our room. I guess if they see an American couple here not in business attire, they assume we are adopting; (this hotel handles more than 5,000 adoptive families a year). We politely explained the crib was a couple of weeks premature, and they politely removed it. Our beds were turned down for the night, chocolates and fresh bottles of water were left behind, and we were indeed ready to turn in. We were told the beds were fairly hard by the GWCA travel team, but we didn’t find that to be the case, just properly firm. Certainly didn’t deter us from our earlier nap, and I doubt we will have any trouble sleeping. I’ll need my rest: Tomorrow I’m attending a seminar on "The Art of Glaring Back."
