The train ride to Guangzhou was uneventful. I finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning, but still didn’t sleep well which is odd because I can always sleep on the train. I had been worried about arriving in Guangzhou at 4:30 in the morning in the dark but didn’t really have much choice in my train tickets. As it turned out, my train was actually early, and we arrived just after 4. Just before four the carriage attendant came and banged on the door to make sure we were awake, and exchange our plastic chits back for our tickets.
Walking out of the train station I arrived in a big, open square. There were tons of people around, so no need to worry about being in the dark by myself. That made me feel a lot better. And of course the suddenly warm weather was awesome. I immediately felt better than I had in days, despite the lack of sleep, just due to not having to freeze my ass off whenever I went outside.
I walked over to the taxi stand with all of my stuff and some guy tried to scam me. He quoted some ridiculous price and wouldn’t move below 40 yuan. I knew from reading the guide book that it would only cost about 15 yuan to my hotel, so I just walked away. I figured I would just take the subway, so walked over in that direction.
The subway, it turned out, didn’t open until 6am. I was debating just standing around, but didn’t really want to do that. I found a place to sit down and read my guidebook to figure out what to do, and also see just how far the walk was from my hotel to the nearest subway station (and what station that was). Eventually I just sat on the ledge I was on and got my bearings. People were staring and pointing at me (Foreigner!) but I didn’t mind too much. That is, until someone walked by and hit me in the arm. I was too shocked to say anything. At that point I figured getting a taxi, even if it did cost 40 yuan was probably a good idea.
I walked over to the other side of the plaza where there was a different taxi line. One guy made eye contact with me, so I chose him and he piled my bags in the trunk. Then I discovered that he was basically in the middle of a sea of taxis. He did some crazy Chinese driving though and made his way through them all. We made it to the hotel in no time, and it only cost 15 yuan as the guidebook said. So that was cool.
The hotel was awesome too, and let me check in, even though it was 5 am. The hotel cost 180 yuan for the night and was simple, but clean. The bathroom in particular was spotless, and included a normal shower (instead of a hose on the wall and no tub), so I was happy. Of course the first thing I did was go to bed! I ended up sleeping until 2 in the afternoon, when I woke up rested and ready to explore.
The first stop of the day was at the bank to exchange some money. Despite the fifty million banks in China (I swear there is one on every corner) there was a long line. After waiting about 30 minutes it was finally my turn. The teller was not too sure about my Japanese yen though and was doing the super inspection. I didn’t even think when I got cash that the new Japanese bills might pose a problem. With all the security features in them though, the guy eventually took it and gave me Chinese yuan in exchange.
The only thing on my list for the day was to go to the market. Seeing as it was close to 3 at this point, there really wasn’t a heck of a lot more that I could do. Qingping market is a famous market in Guangzhou that is several main streets square. I just walked around with the purpose of getting lost and trying to find as many interesting things as possible. I didn't’ see any really weird animals as the guidebook had promised; however, I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact that I was actually hitting it late in the day.
I did see lots of interesting things though: dried foods including starfish and seahorses; deer antlers; scorpions: turtles: chickens in cages, often beside rabbits or ducks; ducks in cages and attached to motorcycles being brought to the butcher; snake skin; whole dead goats; lots of vegetables and fruits; chicken feet: people de-feathering chickens on the street (it wasn’t exactly plucking); a make-shift barber shop; and more. There was even a big pet area, with lots of puppies, fish and aquarium accessories, and a few birds, bunnies and kittens.
I really enjoyed walking though the back streets because there were homes and people there. It felt like I was walking through a real community rather than a downtown core, and it was a nice change. While some of the houses were old and a bit dilapidated, overall the area was clean and seemed safe. There were tons of houses all crammed together and there was an interesting mix of Chinese and Colonial style, so it was an enjoyable walk for looking around.
Eventually, I ended up at the jade market. The jade market is nowhere near Qingping, so I pulled out my map to see where I was. Turned out I had walked a long way! In the jade market there were tons of vendors selling everything from bracelets, to pendants to figurines. Not knowing a thing about jade I bought a bracelet and a pendant, paying what I felt were fair prices. I’m sure the price was hugely inflated, but I was pleased, so I guess that is all that matters. Of course I don’t even know if it is real jade, but it looks nice. (Side note: When I got home I did the hair test, and it really is jade. To do the hair test, you wrap one hair around the jade and take a lighter to it. If it is real jade, the hair won’t burn (because Jade is an excellent heat conductor)).
I decided to hoof it back to the hotel and started off in that general direction. I eventually came to a big square with tons of modern stores. I decided to take a break at KFC. I know, I’m in China! I just wanted something to drink and a place where I could sit down and look at my guide book in peace so I could figure out where I was going. After re-orienting myself on my break, I was good to go and finally made it back to the hotel, sore feet and all.
Back at the hotel, I had to deal with the internet fiasco. I was reading the hotel binder (you know, the one they have in the middle drawer of the desk – I love reading that), and discovered that some rooms actually have internet! So off I went to see if I could change rooms. It was an extra 20 yuan a night for the room, but well worth it because it would have cost a lot more of that to go to an internet café… and I wanted to call Hiroshi (we set up Skype which is an internet telephone – free calls! (works great and I recommend it)).
Well, the first room that they moved me to had a problem with the connection, so they moved me to another one. Only that one also had a problem, so they moved me back to the first and said they would get someone to fix it in the morning. I’m like, then put me back in my old room, cuz I’m not going to pay for internet I don’t have. Eventually they said they would get a repairman to come that day. The new room was bigger than the other one, but had a smaller bathtub unfortunately. I had wanted to lay out in the tub, but this one was too short and squatty. Since the hotel didn’t have heat (just a/c) and it was a bit chilly, I decided to forego the bath. Oh well.
So I spent the night relaxing, surfing the net and organizing pictures. I also decided that I wanted to stay one more day in Guangzhou because I had enjoyed wandering around, and wanted to see a bit more of the city. It is so much nicer walking around in 10-15 degree temperatures!
To see all of my pictures from this day, check out my photoblog!
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