Real players

Guangzhou may be a bustling city but real players always make time to relax with their buddies. Haizhu Square market area, May 2007, photo Dave.

I miss GZ

I've been back in Canada for two years now, and I still miss the cacophony of GZ. The reverse culture shock has been much more difficult to handle than the initial shock of arriving in China. I live in Duncan on Vancouver Island, which is pretty small, but I travel a fair amount for work. To this day, I still find Vancouver, Seattle, Chicago and other major cities to feel somewhat abandoned. The only exception I can think of is New York City - it feels like Hong Kong with more English.

If any of you have any photos of the area to share, this is a good place to put them.

This photo was shot at the Big Hippo (Da He Ma) Water Park in Nanhu, which was just across the street from my school. These women usually did their early-morning tai chi in the parking lot. I was at the bus stop on this particular morning and decided to take a few shots of the ladies. Just as I snapped, one of the many moto-taxi dudes came ripping through the lot.

In light of the city-wide motorcycle ban that came into effect last year, have any of you noticed a decrease in the number of the motorcycle taxies? I'm not sure if the outlying areas such as Nanhu are affected by the ban.

Satellite TV systems

I came very close to buying a satellite system in GZ three years ago. It would have cost me 3500 RMB which included a rather large package of English channels.

I found out about the satellite dealer from the owner of an Indian restaurant a couple blocks south of Teem Plaza. I was in there for dinner one night an asked him about the satellite system he had playing in the restaurant, and he introduced me to a Chinese fellow who sold and installed the systems. I ended up not buying because at the time I didn't know how much longer I was going to be in China and I really wasn't clear on whether the system I was looking at would work in North America.

I also used to get a lot of satellite system advertising in my mailbox and under my door when I lived at Clifford Estates in Panyu.

Neither of these anecdotes addresses the legality of the systems, but there is no shortage of satellite systems in the pubs, restaurants and hotels that cater to foriegners, so there must be a certain degree of flexibility in whatever law there is.

Len

James Tien supporting Donald

“Who was that guy who single handedly sunk Article 23, James Tang? Article 23 was going to strip away freedoms from the people and it was sure to pass and then he changed his support and the whole thing collapsed. Regina Ip, the chief of security resigned, etc. Now dear old James was on TV a few days ago with his arm around Donald and giving him a bit endorsement. So is he just a realist or what? Dave”

James Tien didn't do it single handedly. He withdrew support because of the shock induced when 500,000 people marched to protest against article 23. Many others who had gone along with Tung backed off when it became clear that the public support was not there. half a million (and there are strong grounds for thinking it was many more - I wasn't counted but the place was so crowded that we were held for 3 hours before we could start the march by which time the police had stopped counting) out of a population of 7 million prepared to publicly display their opinion by marching must have given the government and its supporters a tremendous shock. Shopworkers who could not march had put up notices of support in their windows. Workers were leaning out of windows to yell support. Businesses were employing air blowing machines to cool us down in the heat..
No, it wasn't Tien. He's just another Vicar of Bray.

In good King Charles's golden days,
When Loyalty no harm meant;
A Furious High-Church man I was, 1
And so I gain'd Preferment 2.
Unto my Flock I daily Preach'd,
Kings are by God appointed,
And Damn'd are those who dare resist,
Or touch the Lord's Anointed 3.
And this is law 4,
I will maintain Unto my Dying Day, Sir.
That whatsoever King may reign,
I will be the Vicar of Bray, Sir!

Dick

Travel - Not far from Guangzhou

At the moment I am just down here visiting my folks but I was back in GZ before Christmas for Time Out, and I am now heading back to cover nine provinces for the American publisher, Frommers'.

The castles around Kaiping are interesting, especially if you stay at Li Yuan Garden and I would like to explore around Qingyuan.

Otherwise, I would hop on an overnight train to Guilin and blow them away with the Yangshuo scenery ;-)

Let me know if you need some more details.

What else did you have in mind?

Chris

Welcome to Exiles in Guangzhou!

This is a spin off of the Guangzhou Living list. Members can post their stories here as well as photos, something we couldn't do with the Guangzhou Living list.

Have you found a great restaurant? Post your review here, with photos. Have you found a rotten restaurant? Post your warning here. Did you get some great shots of the fireworks or a crazy party while out club hopping? Show us. Found a good hotel in Macau? A strange site in the market? A celebrity sighting? Show and tell!

Recommendations are welcome. Spamming is not. Let's keep it nice.

Welcome to Exiles in Guangzhou!