Joe and Lou's Travel Blog

Pasted from an email from Lou:

I hate the internet in China!

I’ve written this blog entry 2 times already and not succeeded in uploading it. The other 2 where masterpieces but I’m fast running out of steam and patience hence fear that this version will not be so good. Please bear with me…

Rae’s birthday

It was Rae’s birthday on the 30th so we organised a nice cake and dinner for her. The cake was a fruit sponge, was decorated nicely and had the words ‘Happy Birthday’ in Chinese, and ‘bachel’ in English. Whoops! I‘m sure I wrote it out clearly! We had a good laugh. Now Brian calls Rae 'Bachel’ and Rae calls Brian ‘Git well hung’….Don’t ask! Rae picked some yummy dim sum dishes for dinner.

Our villages

On Saturday we visited the Young’s relatives in a village called Pan De. This was a great experience that not many tourists have. It made me very grateful that my ancestors made the epic journey to the other side of the world in search of a better life and opportunities. Uncle Alick has a sister in law and nephew, Mar Gee there. We drove along a modern highway for most of the way and finished the journey along a dirt road surrounded by fields of rice, bananas, paw paws, melon and corn. There was a juxtaposition of old and new as the motorway goes over the village fields. There is also a man made lake for fishing and swimming in.

Mar Gee works very hard growing rice for the local restaurants and has built a spacious 4 story house for his family which has all the mod cons including TV, stereo and washing machine (the latter is only used for special things or occasions). This is a stark contrast to their last home which has only two rooms. He and his family pulled out all the stops for us. We enjoyed fresh lychees (much nicer than the canned versions) and a home made lunch (nothing beats it). Other family members where Mar Gee’s mother (Uncle Alick’s sister in law) and his three children. The one/two child policy doesn’t seem to extend to the villages. In fact the South of China was the last region to be unified and hence the maybe the firm hand of Beijing is lighter. Later we learnt to play Mah Jong, and wandered around the village, followed by the cute village children fascinated by Brian and Tracy (the two whiteys). The children also loved being photographed by the digital camera as it enables them to see their own images instantly on the screen. 500 people live in the village.

Rae and I struck good fortune as our Great Grandfather’s village, Gwa Liang, was close by. Mar Jee and his son took us there by motorbike, which was fun and only slightly hair raising as I was riding with the young lad. The village was, like Pan De, a mix of old and new housing. The old housing was more interesting as it had the old decorative features on the roof tops. The main source of income seemed to be the clothing market as many of the villagers were sitting around sewing/adjusting denim jeans. We smiled and nodded a lot. Unfortunately we couldn’t find out if we had any distant rellies still there as we didn’t know our Great Grandfather’s name. I guess Rae and I imagined what it would have been like to grow up there. We wouldn’t have had the opportunities for growth, development and travel we’ve been afforded but I’d like to think we’d have been happy.

That night we went to a nearby town, Sar Bau, for meal. The food was delicious and there were a couple of dishes I’d not had before, e.g. prawns in a yummy sweet sauce and a patty/pancake concoction with prawns and turnip. Both Brian and I have been well catered for (Brian is a vege) in fact we’ve eaten very well! Hence the blossoming tummies.

Exploring Guangzhou

On Sunday, Pam, Pauline and Moira went back to Pan De to spend more time with their rellies. Brian, Tracy, Rae and I had plans for a mini Olympics as we read that there was a tennis court and bowling alley in the hotel to accompany the gym and pool. Our plans were thwarted as the tennis courts were under repair and the staff pleaded ignorance to the existence of the bowling alley. Instead we ventured out into the heat of the day.

The heat really drains your energy and I’m particularly pathetic! The first stop was one of the markets. This was full of junk you’d find in the $2 or Poundland shops. We decided to try the Hard Rock Café for an English lunch however it had closed one year ago due to SARS. Pity the tourist maps weren’t updated. We ended up having burgers and fries in a 5 star hotel. We then went to some Gardens nearby which where pretty but a bit boring. We tried in vain to find the 5 goat statue. I don’t think we missed out on much (o: After that we went back to the hotel to relax in the pool. Bliss! That evening we went on a river cruise which was very pleasant and relaxing.

Chilling out

Guangzhou is a thriving business town not a tourist town. This suits me fine as I’ve been able to catch up on washing, postcard writing etc. The last few days have been very full on but great. I’d like to get rid of my air conditioning cold before we hit Hong Kong.