No Starving in Canton (3/2/09 -3/4/09)

Guangzhou, aka Canton, is the largest city in Guangdong province and they are known for there Cantonese food. Among other things this place has a lot of history as one of the oldest trading hubs of China dating back to 200 BC. It is full of fantastically beautiful parks, my favorite being the Orchid Garden, claiming to have over 10,000 potted orchids of over 200 species - I would believe it. However, my start here was a little rough, as the immediate train station area, where I arrived on monday morning, was anything but 'fantastically beautiful' and was everything chaotic and ugly. There was absolutely no english anywhere and I have yet to see another backpacker. I spent my first hour walking in circles trying to find a certain hostel only to find that it exists no more. After finding a place to sleep, I spent another hour trying to find a place to get money. After that, I was ready to light out town the first thing the next morning.

However, 2 days later, I am still here. Once I got away from the train station area, this city really opened up. The 3+ mile (that is all I walked) Pearl river promenade is full of moving lights on the ferries, both sides of the promenade and on the buildings and includes the largest TV I have ever seen - an entire face of a 20 story building. There are also good museums here with cheap english audio guides. Despite getting lost countless times, the back streets have been a real joy. I basically can walk all day never emerging from the alleyway shops and throngs of people. The Qingping market was a sight to see filled with large clear bags of dried flowers, mushrooms, ginseng, sea horses, lizards, frogs and all sorts of things I couldn't identify. And then there were the 'fresh' things - bins of scorpions, water snakes, eels, cobras, turtles, mallards, and yes, kittens - all for consumption purposes. But my personal favorite was the exotic wine store using the likes of whole cobras, black ants and frogs to make near 39% ABV wine. Did I mention the snake penis wine... you first.

Best of all - the food, coupled with the price of the food! Bakeries abound too. For less than a total of $4.50 I got a tall boy with my beef (probably not beef) noodle soup and hit up the local bakeries - twice. My guide book mentions something about the Cantonese never letting you leave hungry ... After force feeding myself, I still could not finish my orange-chicken-like dish last night. The down side, of course, is I don't speak a lick of the language, I have yet to find anyone who speaks english (except the local kids who say 'hello' to me and then run away giggling) and nothing (helpful) is written in english. Needless to say, I do a lot of pointing and gesturing. I am going to rock at scherades when I get back.