C & C globetrotting around the world…

Kunming was a stop-over on our way to Guangzhou, but it was nice. It was also our first Couchsurfing experience and we were excited about how it would turn out. Our host – Edgar – welcomed us and cooked dinner for us. He’s a pretty interesting character and a wealthy Chinese travelling overseas twice a year. He also gave us his business card and we saw that he’s the DEAN and associate professor of the Yunnan Business School. Wow! We didn’t expect to CS at the dean’s place, but it was a good start, hehe.

The Stone Forest is the main attraction around Kunming, but after the long train ride we didn’t feel like taking the bus for 6 hours that day, so we explored the city instead. We visited the Yuangtong Temple, the largest Buddhist Temple in Kunming which is over 1200 years old, but many parts have been reconstructed in the Qing period (1644-1912). It’s a very nice and peaceful place, with lots of people lighting incense and many little turtles in the water. To the back, there is also a statue of Sakyamuni, a gift from the Thai king, where we met a retired couple from Longueuil (recognized them by the La Cordee hat) and then had lunch with them at a Vegetarian Restaurant close by recommended by the LP. From there we went to the Green Lake Park to walk around and people-watch. When we left the park, we were looking for Renmin Lu (Main street) and a mature Chinese man stopped to ask us if he could help us. We said Renmin Lu and he pointed us in the right direction (first time someone stops to ask us if we need directions and also in English). People in Kunming are really friendly! We took the bus back to Edgar’s place and were pleasantly surprised that Kunming has reserved lanes for buses. We had read that the city is trying to be the “greenest” in China, but it’s nice to see some concrete steps towards it as well.

And another 24-hour train ride: Kunming to Guangzhou. We are always happy when we get a sleeper since it is infinite times more comfortable. In our “compartment” we had 2 couples, one of which had just gotten married in their hometown near Dali during the “Golden Week”. They shared they cookies and fruits with us, we gave them nuts and seeds. The people were really friendly and we wished we spoke Chinese to be able to better communicate with them. It was probably the most pleasant train ride and the landscape was beautiful with mountains and rice fields. We also had good old boxed soup, an essential part of any long train ride.

We arrived in Guangzhou at noon and were hit by the heat and humidity! We had forgotten how hot it was in some parts of China, especially here with its humid, sub-tropical climate. Since we left Chongqing, we had had pretty chilly weather, so it was a slap in the face. The name of the province of Guangdong means vast East and the language spoken here is Cantonese, like in Hong Kong. Guangdong has about 80 million residents and 35 million more migrant workers, many of whom labour in the factories but are not given the resident status and go home to their families on public holidays. The people of Guangdong have been disdained by northerners as culture-less and barbaric due to their trader ways. Geographic isolation has forced people to rely on their innovation for survival and they have made their homeland one of the wealthiest regions in China. The Cantonese have always looked to the sea for their livelihood, starting with the Ancient Maritime Silk Road and seafood for their diet. Because they have been more exposed to the outside world, they are said to have more liberal ideas. We have witnessed the fact that a lot more people speak English, probably also because of their proximity to Hong Kong.

The city of Guangzhou is said to have been founded by five immortals who descended from the sky to save the city from starvation back in 214 BC. Since then its history has been dominated by trade and revolution, and after 1949 the city’s mission is to make money, we were told.

We walked on Shamian Island, which was acquired as a foreign concession after the 2 Opium Wars and has many beautiful French and British buildings, along with the little Church of our Lady of Lourdes built by the French in 1892. There we saw many couples taking wedding pictures, like in the vicinity of most churches in China. The island is very quiet and you wouldn’t believe you’re in a city of over 10 million people. We then walked along the Pearl River, passed the Sun Yatsen Memorial Hall and up to the Cathedral of the Scared Heart, a huge and beautiful cathedral in neo-Gothic style also built in the 19^th century. It is entirely of granite and its massive towers reach a height of 48m.

We then walked on some narrow lanes in the neighbourhood where we saw dumpling with peanut sauce (called Hunan dumplings in Canada) for 8RMB (20 dumplings for $1.30), so we had to have some. They were delicious and gave us energy to keep on walking. We kept on walking through the streets (some had lots of electronic shops and Christoph looked for some WECO products, but he only found some similar connectors) before reaching the Mosque Dedicated to the Prophet. We couldn’t go in because it was prayer time, but the “smooth minaret” looked interesting. We then took the metro to the meeting point with Ciro, our CS host here, who was an amazing guy and super host. With him we went to a CS event where someone presented a previous trip to Mongolia and Siberia. Afterwards we went to a Light Show. It was nice to see, but the most interesting part started when one of the light screens caught fire. The police on the premises first took pictures and it took about 30 minutes if not more until we heard the fire trucks approach. When the fire trucks arrived, they couldn’t access the building, so it took even longer. All this time the screen thing is burning and burning pieces are falling on the ground. One fire fighter came, took some pictures and finally the truck made its way there as well. It started shooting water, but it was parallel to the building instead of towards it. They finally managed to extinguish the fire, but about an hour had passed. Unbelievable! We called them fire “watchers” not fire fighters!

The next day we hopped on a fast train to Shenzhen. It’s amazing that there’s a train every 10 minutes between Guangzhou and Shenzhen and they are all full! The 165km took 1 hour because of the stops in between, but it’s very comfortable and goes by fast (especially after a 24-hr train ride, 🙂 ). We met up with Barrett (a friend that we had met in Qingdao) who was kind enough to host us at his place during our stay. World travellers are really cool people! There is nothing much to see and do in Shenzhen, but we came here to celebrate Cecilia’s birthday with people we met on our trip so far: Barrett, Brandon & Kerry, as well as Cedrick. Shenzhen was a small fishermen’s village only 30 years ago, but now it has over 15 million inhabitants. Pretty crazy! At midnight, Christoph sang me La Multi Ani and gave me a small walnut cake that we all shared. It was a nice way to start my birthday. One of the best birthday presents ever: got to sleep in. We all had a nice breakfast and walked around the neighbourhood to find a restaurant for the party. In the evening we met up with everyone and went to the resto. It was really good, although not local, but Szechuan dishes. In one dish there was the Szechuan pepper, which is said to make your mouth numb. It did indeed! First the tongue and then the rest of the mouth, spreading slowly. It’s was very strange sensation and lasted 10 minutes or so. You can still eat and talk, but it feels a bit different. We talked a lot, had lots of laughs and a good time. Afterwards we decided it would be fun to go to Karaoke (KTV), a typical Chinese thing to do. Cedrick knew a place, got us a KTV room and we sang the night away. With all the birthday wishes from overseas and the great party in Shenzhen, it was a great birthday far away from home. Thanks everyone!