So as I mentioned last time, I spent last weekend in Guangzhou, and it was a lot of fun. I think the following pictures encapsulate my trip very nicely:
At the Beijing airport, I saw this sign informing passengers how long they'd have to walk to get to the furthest gate (C20). Guess what gate I boarded at? Yup, C20.
In addition to his restaurant in the Seoul airport (see my Facebook pictures), Jackie Chan owns a cafe in the Beijing airport:
I think ALL waiting room seats in ALL airports should be like these!
Dinner on Friday night was at one of my favorite restaurants in Guangzhou, at which you eat hotpot, but with porridge as the base instead of broth!
Group picture with my GZ friends, all current/past students at SYSU. From L->R, Athena, Tina, Gary, me, Wayne, Liang Feng, Yang Daizhi, and Dandan:
One of the foods I was craving was 莲子双皮奶 (literally, lotus seed double-skin milk), which is lotus seeds on top of a custardy-type dessert made from the milk of a water buffalo (purportedly):
The Liang Family Garden in Foshan (my dad's family's hometown). Wouldn't you like to have a garden like this to relax in?
Huang Fei-hong and my dad's family are from the same hometown (as is Yip Man, kungfu teacher of Bruce Lee):
In front of the Ancestral Temple of Foshan. I am too awkward when asked to pose for a picture by myself...
This picture does not begin to capture the strength of the storm that suddenly appeared as we took the bus back to GZ from Foshan...the roads flooded in less than an hour. For my Chinese-reading readers, it really was 倾盆大雨:
The other foods I was really looking forward to in GZ were 鱼片粥 (fish porridge) and 手拉肠粉 (literally, hand-pulled noodles) (in this case, of the 叉烧 (BBQ pork) variety). The 肠粉 here is so much better than in the US (although Tai Son in Westminster comes close). Observe the thinness of the noodles, as well as the addition of vegetables and mushrooms in the filling, instead of just meat:
Shenzhen, China on the left, Hong Kong on the right. I had to cross the border into Hong Kong, because my visa allows a 60-day stay, while if I didn't leave and come back, it would have been 64 days. I didn't want to risk a huge fine and delay at the airport when coming back to the US.
Chris (Chinese 10 BX buddy currently teaching in Shenzhen), me, Wayne, and Wayne's cousin at the tallest building in Shenzhen:
All in all, a fun trip, and I didn't get sick. I like GZ and Hong Kong, because every time I go, I feel like it's a very familiar place. When I stepped off the airplane in GZ, I immediately recognized the smell and the (humid) atmosphere, and it gave me a very...nostalgic and comfortable (mentally, not necessarily physically) feeling. I guess it's because it's my family's 祖籍 (ancestral home). I wonder if I'll have the same feeling when I go to Shandong province? Or to Cambodia in the future?
mm you are right - the hot pot porridge looks sooo good!!
ReplyDelete