Calm Spirit/Ying Yu Jade China 2008
Children playing
on stone chicken in Yue Xiu Park
I spent more than I anticipated on jade because it costs so much more and the dollar doesn't go as far, so we ran out of money yesterday and needed to do something "cheap" today, Sunday. I love Chinese parks, and we needed a sightseeing day, so it worked out all right. YueXiu park in central Guangzhou is huge. A little 5 RMB admission is a small price to pay for a huge park to explore. We never saw full sunshine in Guangzhou because of the pollution, but saw small peeks of the sun today. And a glorious day, the park was full of people. There were people doing the traditional tai chi, qigong, kungfu, but also moving their qi with modern dance, a form of tai chi with rackets and a velcro ball, and other exercises. But no American style aerobics. While walking, many people moved their arms to get their qi working, and "break into spontaneous qigong". There's a "mountain" in the middle of the park, and many people ascending were walking backwards.
I noticed that in Guangzhou, there are more younger people who play tai chi than in Beijing. During the week, most of the people are older, but on the weekend the younger people have the time for qi practices
The park was full of people, but there was still space for peace and tranquility, and people can find time to themselves in China's parks, a break from the dense population of the city.
There were musical performances, some classical instruments, and a band playing national music and pops. A many playing a "saw" and people playing other unique things not intended to make music were entertaining.
I had resolved to NOT write about toilets in this travelog, as I have written a lot about toilets in China in other travelogs. But, toilets are required for our basic human needs. And in China, they range from holes in the ground to automatically sanitized modern toilets in the World Lounges at the airports. We expected nasty holes in the park, but these were very clean porcelain squat toilets, no bad odors, AND handrails. Squat toilets are actually more sanitary than western toilets, but getting up from a squat often means slipping around, touching dirty walls, so having a handrail to give leverage for getting up is very modern! And much appreciated. So only one paragraph about toilets.
The Ancient Guangzhou museum price is 10 RMB additional, and very interesting. Each level of the fort that was Ancient Guangzhou contains displays for an era or dynasty, and as you ascent, the floors move to more modern Guangzhou. And there are English captions on most of the displays. At the top of the fort is a beautiful view of polluted Guangzhou.
I learned about famous Guangzhou lychee tea, and how it was a favorite of one of the four Ancient Beauties of China, and bought a couple of cans. I'll drink it when I use a jade roller wrinkle reducer! There is also a museum to Sun Yat Sen, the "Grandfather of China", which was a steep climb
Parks in China have really great rockery. The sign in front of this rockery display says to please not climb on the rockery:
Families and couples enjoy the parks. It's a time to relax and be in nature. I wanted to take a photo of the sign for YueXiu park, but a mom was helping her child learn the calligraphy for "don't hurt the park" , and I thought this photo was more interesting than one with me and my "bad hair", which I had every day!
Outside the park a short walk is Yuan Xuan Daoist Temple. However, it looked like a Buddhist temple, with the dieties and offerings, but the priests did wear the Daoist traditional clothing and hair in a top knot. It would have been too rude to take a photo, and I restrained myself. I still wasn't sure I was at the correct temple, but then I saw the living spaces, and Daoist clothes were hanging to dry outside.
After leaving the temple, we saw a restaurant advertising pizza. Yeah, right, Chinese pizza, so we had to try it. Also on the menu was baba ganoush, which seemed so oddly out of place, that I ordered it, also. The pizza was delicious, perfectly baked, thin crust. And the baba ganoush was authentic. We were amazed! I went upstairs to use the toilet, and knew it wasn't a Chinese restaurant. The floor and walls were decorative eastern tiles, and the plumbing was modern. Turns out it was a Muslim restaurant, and we were in the international trade fair district. We talked with the Syrian owner who invited us back for a dinner buffet later that evening.
But, we spent the rest of the day sorting through the purchases and marking the prices so I could decide what to sell them for when we got home.Jade might have no price, but Ying Yu Jade must have a price! We thought about if we should go to another jade market that is being built into a jade city, but quite a distance, or back to the Guangzhou jade market, and decided to go to the Guangzhou market again. I still hadn't spent my budget or purchased the amount of jade I intended, so one last day of shopping tomorrow.
Guangzhou is very international, partly because of the big international trade fair. It's also the last stop for families who adopt Chinese children after they tour China, and get their child so they can adjust before going home. There's also a big German presence and a Heineken brewery. Food choices are abundant. We ate dinner at Thai Zheng, noodle soup, thai vegetables, steel plate beef, and Thai iced tea with an orchid on the glass. Somewhat expensive, but very good.
Then my last dose of Chinese medicine, and get ready for our last day in Guangzhou.
Next:Final
Day of Jade Shopping in China
Jade Bangle Bracelets web site
