Cultural tour of Guangzhou

It's been a two-day whirlwind of philosophy, politics and spiritualism of China, old and new and the convergence of ages and cultures is nowhere more evident than in Guangzhou.

I'm staying with Guye from my London University course in Acupuncture. Her parents are actually from near Harbin in the North, but business - shoes, then (fake Gucci) bags brought them south. Her mother is part of the new wave of Buddhism spreading across China who follows a master exiled in California. They even have a shrine with the dodgy haircut master in ybeir libing room hidden behind a square veiling-to-floor curtain!

This morning I joined the family for Sunday chanting (church-like) boat filled with nodding/bowing followers and tanks and boxes of fish. For a mere 100 yuan (or more if you are hoping for greater wishes and wealth) you ride out for 20 mins along the Pearl River where the boat turns and with it the battle of baskets and splashing of fish and water as the five thousand fish are fed back into the river.

I was too absorbed with photographing and didn't want to get my hands and trouser legs wet. I was reprimanded by a young woman who said 'don't take photo, it's too dangerous'. I'm not sure if she meant that I might lose my camera overboard in the scaly brawl or whether she feared the Party would seize it as evidence of religious cultism.

By then Guye found me and insisted that I fish for my salvation or my school stats. I managed to find a gap in the crowd to scoop a scared catfish which barely moved before throwing it into the water. I forgot to ask a question or make a wish. In fact I was just hoping that the poor thing would survive.

I requested Dim Sum for last lunch but I was yoyo'd up & down the street once the taxi dropped me off (at the address written on paper for the cabbie). Mandarin is not quite there... yet. As the pinyin (transliteration of Chinese characters) wasn't written on the restaurant, I eventually conceded and rang Ah Tao to come and find me. This meant that I missed out on the ordering and it was all pretty fried and heavy. So Royal China in London is still top of my dim sum list!

The Guangdong Provincial
Museum was in the flashy new financial district - Canary Wharf Canton style. A room was dedicated to Tae Chew (Chow Zhou) woodcarving. Normally I wouldnt be interested but as it was the style of my ancestral home it all took on meaning.

The taxi dropped us off in the textile selling district. What a contrast to the bussle of Sunday trading - materials on all forms of transportation at an impasse!

Then escape to Daoist temple no.3 built 200 yrs ago by an astrologer xd monk. Next To Sun Yat Sen University
Where we practiced and compared taiji forms.

After a takeway dinner I watched Rachel having tuina massage and acupuncture.

Cycling in Canton

...or Guangzhou as it's know called.

A little chaotic but great fun cycling to Shamian island where the French and British had warehouses in 19th century then through a park to the orchid garden.

The day ended with me giving my classmate's mum a massage and she giving me a fake gucci Italian calf leather huge wallet made in her factory.
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I'm staying in their flat and enjoying the kind hospitality and the Asian questioning.

Sightseeing and firework farewell

Last day in Chaoshan - Chaozhou & Shantou or Tae Choo.

Sightseeing with the younger generation - Ah Tao, his cousin Chu Chu, English teacher Toby and translator, Eric, who doubles as driver.

After chang fan - stuffed rice noodle for breakfast we drove along the river and through the countryside in fog or pollution, I still can't work out which, to Chao Zhou. This ancient Tae Choo (my family's region) walled city has an amazing bridge that has recently been overly renovated. The middle half of the bridge comprises about 20 horizontally aligned wooden boats that you walk over. These would rise and sink with the tide. We then walked up the gate tower museum, into Daoist and Confucian temples and then a 1000 year old aristocratic family home - whose hall of ancestors included Shennong - the Divine Farmer, author with the original compendium of Chinese Herbal medicine.

Ah Tao bought me a beautiful book on the city 27kg luggage increasing by the day! Eric the translator bought me a lovely hand made paintbrush from an 86 yr old man. So generous and thoughtful!

Too tired to walk back we took cycle rickshaws back to the car. Next stop Dr Lu, the herbal doctor of Eric the translator. After tea and corn baozi (dumplings) the Dr waxed lyrical with the air of medical authority which I'm already getting to know well. He took my pulse and wrote out a beautiful herbal prescription for my poor appetite and side headache I didn't know I had. Prescriptions in Chinese characters are practical works of art!

Unfortunately this left us insufficient time to visit the only Chinese Cultural Revolution museum based in Shantou which is a real shame.

Over lunch my 2nd cousin Ah Tao, an anti-Maoist, had quite a heated discussion with Eric the party faithful. The others were a little embarrassed and thought it was not good to discuss politics and the past. Funny how my friends and family happen to be anti-royalists in Bangkok and anti-Maoist in China.

Tonight I ate at least half a buffalo in a hotpot dinner! It was saved by the sate, chilli and fried garlic mix. The food until them had been a relatively tasteless and oily. I am definitely more Thai in terms of culture. Must be nurture over nature.

Then just round the corner from my hotel and restaurant a festival to another Shen or god was cracking off. Health and safety is definitely more relaxed or non-existent I'm this huge country. Firecrackers and fireworks were let off on every street corner of an area bamboo sticked off from traffic which didn't stop motos, bikes, pedestrian and even cars passing within 2 metres of explosions! We made it just in time for my favorite, the lion dance.

The evening was rounded (or spiralled) off with a social visit to Ah Tao's Chen Taiji master. Several demonstrations ensued, including my unimpressive LaoJia, punctuating a tea ceremony with a spark - the water was boiled on a clay charcoal buning clay stove.

On the drive back to the hotel we had to dodge the firecrackers! A bit scary!

Ancestral home: Shantou, China

At the gate in Bangkok airport a few cultural/decibel differences became apparent between Thai and Chinese - the louder voices and the highly audible and gut wrenching guttural croak of airway emptying! I was the only non-(fully)Thai-Chinese and among the 10% of women on the flight.

I may not have got the invitation from the CCP government but I am being received with such warmth and generosity. I'm to call my cousin 'Ah Hia' or big brother. A little tea ceremony at Big Sister's house where they packed me off with 3 huge boxes of
expensive oolong tea and her husband painted a Lao Tsu quote in calligraphy and presented it to me along with a painting of bamboo and orchid:

'To make friends with other person you don't mind which class they are from, rich or poor. What is important is a person's character and their attitude to other people'

FAMILY & FAME IN ZHANGLIN
Day 2 in China and I'm being interviewed by local Shantou TV station at Zhanglin's Huo Shen parade to honour the fire protection lord/god.

My cousin took me to meet my uncle (Su Pak) and aunt that never left China and had to endure the Cultural Revolution. Around 1941-4 his 1st mother (my grandmother) was persecuted by the party and peasants - her thumbs tied with string and lifted by them up a tree and beaten.

During criticising meeting Su Pak had to speak against his mother as she was exploiter of peasants as son of a land owner.

At the time father and brother Su Chin (in Penang) sent money to help. Later in the ancestral home which was bombed by Japanese and taken over by the communists was returned to them because the government wanted to renew foreign relations and they knew my father and rich uncle were overseas.

The 2nd day ended with my first needles in China during a visit to Ah Tao (my cousin's best friend, an acupuncturist in Shantou.

Finally, don't worry about me. I've moved to the 7days inn and have state of the 2 state of the art gas mask in case Huo Shen (fire protection lord) doesn't bless 'waiguo ren' or foreigners!

Smog of civilisation

Back in Bangkok again, home away from home. It's a relief after Cambodia, which was interesting but a little frustrating and not like Thailand - or maybe pre-industrialised and touristed Thailand. The people who were not jaded were smiling and friendly. However I found that not speaking the local language was almost debilitating. I really hope my 'putonghua' (common language) or Mandarin comes together if/when I get to China.

The visa debacle continued - I now need a fax from the Foreign Affairs office of th Chinese Government to get a 3 month visa - I'm not sure I'm that important. I did try and express to the officious official that I was part of China's soft foreign policy as my studies are under the first Confucius Institute for Chinese Medicine, but she was so unimpressed! My classmates managed to get 3 months visas in London - that we'll have to renew in China in order to stay 6 months. After returning 3 times to the embassy and imploring the intransigent official I got a 2 month visa - that was the extent of her leeway as originally I was only given 30 days! If I can only renew for another 2 months I'll be back for the olympics!

Winter is coming to a close - ie it's no longer 25•C. It's hotting up in BKK and Tang and Latifa's pool at Harmony Living condo is a welcome relief after visa, lunching with family and friends and finalising funeral business in Bangkok (a year and 4 months later!).

In 2 days I make a pilgrimage to my father's birth place. It was finally revealed at his funeral that he was not born in Thailand (as he had told my mother and most Thai people) but in Swatow (in Tae Choo local dialect, Shantou in Mandarin).

Lovely email from Ah Tao, my second cousin who calls me 'Aunty Laura'.

'i will go back SHANTOU this Sat to arrange a translator and your itinerary in advance.My father and i will pick you up at the airport.'

His father is my cousin who I've yet to meet and my uncle, Dad's younger brother is called Su Pak - Pak means south but also in the womb as his father died before he was born. My dad's name was Su Nam - for north and all 3 brothers have wood character in their name which refers to the element they need to work on in Chinese 5 element theory. Wood characteristics are bending and straightening and emotion is anger!

I feel like the queen on an official state visit!

Pics are bus ride to backpacker Khao San to swap books.

Sadly didn't have my iPhone with me on my late night noodle stop. A woman came and sat opposite me with a bag of 'ahan len' or playfood whilst waiting for her order and proceeded to suck and pull out various locust body parts - wing, leg etc - from between her teeth and delicately place them on a tissue she'd laid out on our table.

Good preparation for China as mum said when we skyped this eve!

Tea, cake & Woman's Hour

Home away from home!

Enjoying the tranquility of Harmony Living - Tang & Latifa's condo.

Bangkok has been hot & hectic so today is pamper day - 4 hr sauna and massage (feel like I've had my blocked gall bladder meridian resectioned!). Bit of online banking and washing and now tea & cake listening to Woman's Hour online - on the demise of the teapot!!

Sihanouk starfish

At starfish bakery, shop & massage place in lovely colonial building in Sihanoukville - an oasis of cool tranquility to escape the heat of the beach. We had a massage and a mint and lime shake. Wonderful!

A few days before Cornelia hired a small catermaran yesterday and we had a fun afternoon sailing. She was the most experienced having watched a friend sail a boat one aftermoon in Germany! We all had a go at the helm, even an 8 year old English boy was skipper for a while. A few times we jumped in and held onto a rope and once we got some wind in the sail we got pulled along behind the boat. Very refreshing!

Interesting bike ride in search of fishing village - saw the shanty corrugated shacks with smiling kids waving and an inquisitive granny came up and patted me on the shoulder.

This was after running into a police roadblock. They'd already got $2 off Cornelia so this time with an cocky air of confidence I produced a UK licence with motorbike permit to which the police officer retorted 'Yes but you need international licence in Cambodia'. He kindly let us off the fine saying we could give him something for helping us!!!

Meanwhile a parallel conversation was taking place between the other officer and Cornelia who being Swiss informed the policeman that a Swiss driving licence is all she needs throughout 'die ganz welt!' with that we both pulled away.

My penultimate day ended with a return to the city beach for Cambodians enjoying their Saturday by the sea. Even saw a monk smoking, drinking ice coffee with family and friends, then shed his robes to go in for a dip! Had some great barracuda with ginger and morning glory at Sea Dragon then back to our beach for sunset swim.

For the first time we had a Saturday night out at the bar run by our lesbian friends (while our basketball friends were having a winter Cruisers - team - night in...
... at 51 Roslyn Rd - our house!!')

The Secret Garden bar staff were mixing up some experimental 'Kalula' cocktails!! We ended up in their new pool under the stars having piggy back fights!

Sad to say goodbye to Simone for 4 months til she makes it up to Harbin, but happy to leave the sandflies behind.