First of all, here is the hall rug from our hotel……

One problem that I had yesterday on my trip to the museum was that my purse started splitting in two places.   I had bought it right before we left and was enjoying how easily it was working, but alas it was not to continue!!  So, on Wednesday I made a quick trip to a local mall. 

One of Michael’s colleagues instructed me to travel by metro to one particular station and that it exited into the mall.  I got off of the train and was horrified to find out that there were SIX exits out of the station!!!  Fortunately, I had taken a photo on my phone of the name of the mall (in Chinese) so I was able to show this to a station employee and he pointed me in the right direction.

The mall was huge with a basement and six floors of stores…..

Fortunately, the exit that I had taken dumped me out at a Department store with purses the first thing that I saw, AND they were on sale too.   I ended up buying one there but decided to explore the mall a bit as well.

Each type of store was in a separate area of the mall so you had all of the electronics stores together and all of the sports apparel stores in another area, etc. 

I passed a HUGE arcade area and loved watching this group of Dads and Sons enjoying a leisurely game of video fishing…..

On the main floor, the decorations were hosting a circus theme…..

…..with brightly color tents and streamers.

There were cartoon character statues all over  the area and the cell phone cameras were being well used as parents took photos of kids and young women and men took photos of themselves with these colorful creations.

The best part of the scene for me was a little girl (maybe 3 years old) who was posing for her mother.  I watched as she carefully and determinedly set her two fingers to the required “V” formation before smiling for the photo.

I passed a large grocery store and went in to pick up a few needed items.  I loved the checking out process as the checker bowed to me before they started scanning items and again as they handed me my change!!  Maybe Publix should adopt this as well!!

In the evening, we were taken to dinner by two of Michael’s students…..

The food was fairly normal, but I did like this plate of chicken……

…complete with the head AND the feet!!!

On Thursday morning, I headed to the Guangdong Museum of Art.  I had been impressed by the website and was anxious to see the exhibits in person…. I was NOT disappointed.

Once again, a driver’s license was all that was required to enter and I happily began my tour.   The entire second floor was devoted to a Retrospective of work by Choong Kam Kow, a Malaysian Contemporary senior artist.  He was born in 1934 and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961 in Taiwan.  He then moved thru various degree programs, including training in the US as a Fulbright scholar.

I watched an interview with him and appreciated several of his comments.   He said that Contemporary art must reflect traditional value. or at least the traditional value and form must be reinterpreted in contemporary art so that there is continuity in our culture from old to new.  He also felt that traditional Chinese culture needed to be reflected in art and not just follow Western norms.

He prefers to call his retrospective an “Evolving, Creative Journey”, and believe me, it did fit that description…..this man did NOT work himself into a rut!!!

He preferred to work in a series format and the first ones that I saw were watercolors in his Taipei Street Scene series…..

I apologize for the photos not being straight on.   The lighting was such that I had to photograph from an angle to avoid the glare!!

Next were a series of abstract expressionist ink paintings that did not tickle my fancy at all…..

Then came “Creative Interpretative Figure Drawing”…..

I particularly appreciated the few very bold lines that accentuated the shapes and the details that were left to the imagination.  The style was very effective.

These pieces had been displayed in one of the hallway areas and I now entered one of the main galleries……

It was breathtaking!!!

This gallery contained work from 1985 thru 1994 and his art was based on an expedition into the ENdao Rompin rain forest.   The first series was entitled “Rockscape and Earthscape” and the paintings were astounding.

Many of them were painted on thick handmade paper, using Acrylic paint…..

The paper was thick, knobbled and rough and I wondered how he was able to get the paint down into the crevices of the paper.

In some of the paintings, he actually carved into the paper to give yet another dimension to the art……

In this gallery he also had a series of oil paintings of rock formations that were amazing…..

There was a guard in each gallery and the one in this exhibition motioned for me to wait for a minute as he left his post and returned with a booklet describing all of the exhibits in English…..it was a thoughtful gesture!!

The next gallery contained “The Dragon Tradition Series”.  These were all brightly colored pieces with the dragons’ being hard to find…..

I couldn’t even see the dragons in this piece……

…but when Michael returned with me the next day, he immediately pointed out the two “kissing” dragons in the bottom third of the painting.

The exhibition continued with “The Kungfu Series” which explored the classical body positions of the Kungfu fighter….

The things that stood out to me in these paintings were the fact that although the foreground figures and the backgrounds are basically the same color, the figures are very distinct from the background.  I also appreciated the “pointillist” approach to the backgrounds.

Finally, I noticed the almost imperceptible borders that were included in the painting…..

So, are you singing “Kungfu Fighting” yet?   I am!!!

In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Dr. Choong was in New York and was exposed to and influenced by the contemporary art movements, especially Geometric Abstraction and Minimalism.

In “The New York Series” he leaned toward abstraction….

…whereas “The Shaped Canvas Series” was a completely different art form…..

Finally, “The See Thru Series” made use of three dimensional pieces with acrylic overlays allowing the viewer to see thru (and sometimes down into) the art……

This is the (paraphrased) introduction to his “Festival Series”….1970’s saw institutions, art historians and artists actively engaged in discussions with an aim to finding ways to develop the Malaysian identity in modern art.   Dr. Choong was very much impacted and inspired by this movement.  Consequently, he departed from dealing with international modernism and retuned to his own land to search for local identity.  The notions of cultural identity were discovered, transformed and expressed in his “Festival Series”….

This artwork was mostly three dimensional and contained a lot of hand made paper and molded paper, embellished with types of embossing .   The colors were vibrant and exciting!!!

My favorites were these three, especially the  two on the right and left side.  They had a very “quilt-y” feel to them…..

I took a panoramic photo in this gallery and love the results……

 

The final series was called “The Rhythm of Growth” where he explored the growth of mushrooms.  That sounds fairly boring, but his paintings were certainly not!!!

This last painting didn’t really seem to fit in any category but it caught my eye.  It was titled “The Fate”

….with fish happily swimming in the middle section, lying dead on the ocean floor at the bottom and on ice at the fish market at the top!!!

The top floor of the museum was devoted to the photographic works of Li Chan.  These were amazing works where the artist was able to show light…..

…and such amazing detail (look at the water droplets  on her eyelashes)…..

I returned to the first floor to find a mixture of galleries from local artists.  There was an entire room of busts but this one stood out to me…..

….probably because of his kind, gentle expression, as opposed to the bold, haughty expressions on the others!!!

There were a series of black and white scroll paintings on paper which were interesting…..

However, I was more interested as to why the pieces all contained one or more red seal marks, often in places that seemed to detract from the picture…..

I put Google to the test and found out that these seals (or “Chops”) can indicate either who executed the painting or who owned it.  The seals are set in Vermillion red and use an ancient script type that was used during the Zhou and Qin dynasties.  Over the years these seals have been used to authenticate paintings, but as they can be readily copied or forged, they may prove to be less than reliable evidence.  The design of the seal has turned into an art form in itself, the challenge being to find ways to fit the relatively predictable characters into an interesting composition.”

I wandered outside to the sculpture gallery and had a fun time(in between rain showers)  with the artwork displayed there.  I loved this metal tree…..

…especially with the green wall and Canton tower in the background!!

I also liked this very TALL and SKINNY woman…..

 

…and this crowd of interesting pillars……

As I exited the building, I found these two sculptures that I liked as well…..

 

There were several concert halls sharing the courtyard and I loved these two additional sculptures.   When I look at the first one, I see a conductor encouraging the orchestra to give it all you’ve got……

….and this stylized pianist is magnificent……

There was another museum on the same property and I showed my license and walked in.  I went thru the entire museum before I ever figured out what it was for!!!!   In passing I saw interesting Chinese dominoes…..

….a fun piece of beaded art…..

….and some really cool chairs that were actually NOT part of the exhibit…..

In the end I discovered the following information……

“Guangdong province has always been China’s gateway to the outside world.  Since antiquity, the people of Guangdong journeyed overseas on land and by sea, transforming themselves into ethnic Chinese outside of China.  They worked to improve the lives and values of their ancestral home towns as well as their new homes”

And that was the purpose of this museum…..to show where and how far the Chinese people had migrated!!!

As I sat in the taxi heading back to the hotel, I realized that I prefer art museums to history museums.  I think that is because in an art museum, you don’t have to know what is going on, you can just enjoy the art!!!!

I also witnessed a sweet interaction from the back of my taxi.   There was a bicycle being pushed by a young man and it had SEVEN automobile tires balanced on it.  He lost control of the bike and it turned over on its side  Although he made several attempts to right the bike, he couldn’t lift it with the added weight.  Two men were eating lunch a short distance away and, when they saw his distress, ran over to help him put the bike aright again!!!

On Friday, Michael had the day off so we decided to spend a bit of time sight seeing and a bit of time resting.  The sight seeing took us back to the art museum because I knew that he would enjoy the Retrospective work. 

We also headed to a small museum that we had visited briefly on our last trip, the  Museum of the Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum of the Nanyue King.  This tomb is 2,000 years old and was discovered in downtown  Guangzhou in 1988.  The museum showcases the tomb and its trove of artifacts.  The tomb yielded more than 1,000 burial artifacts, along with the bones of fifteen courtiers  who were buried alive with him to serve him in death..

This silk-jade garment made up of 2,291 pieces of jade is the spotlight of the mausoleum……

The museum hosts some interesting items, but the lighting is poor and the extreme humidity was causing many of the exhibit cases to fog up.  consequently, we didn’t spend too long there.

A typhoon had moved thru the day before and today was extremely hot, muggy and sticky, but at least there was no smog!!

We were free for our last night’s meal so we journeyed again to So & Co for a very enjoyable meal.  Michael ordered a double espresso at the start of the meal and then ordered a second one at the end.   Our waitress was hilarious as she couldn’t believe that he wanted more caffeine.  Later, he ordered a glass of wine and she said  “as long as it isn’t more espresso” Obviously he had been cut off!!!!

So tomorrow we head for India!!!

 

Finally, as we leave Guangzhou, I have to talk about the hotel and the bathrooms.  There was no actual bath ROOM, but a series of 2 rooms (toilet and shower) and an alcove with the sink.   The only problem with this arrangement is that there were full length mirrors in front of the glass shower AND in front of the glass door for the toilet area so you could watch yourself as you did your business.

I kept hanging towels on the door bars to provide a modicum of privacy but the maids kept moving them!! 

Ahhhh the fun of hotel life!!!!

On Monday I had work to do so stayed at the hotel for most of the day although I did make a quick foray down the street to find a few snacks for the room.

However, on Tuesday I hopped back on the train and made my way to the Guangdong Provincial Museum.  We had briefly visited this museum when we were here in 2012 but had two students with us so hadn’t been able to linger and enjoy the exhibits. 

As I approached the museum, I was tickled by this lady carefully scrubbing the
OUTDOOR courtyard floor….

I had seen her out yesterday working in another part of the walkway so I guess that she does a little section each day!!!

I got in line to purchase my ticket but realized that most people were showing their Chinese Government ID and getting a free ticket.  When I approached the window, the woman asked if I had a passport or other ID.   I showed her my Georgia drivers license and she handed me a ticket!!

As I remembered, the museum is beautiful with magnificent exhibits and lots of English subtitles.   I purchased an English guide but could have easily done the museum without it!!  At each exhibit there is an Introduction board and at the end of the exhibit, there is a Conclusion board.   It really made the exhibits feel complete.

The first exhibit was a Religious Diversity temporary exhibit.  In the conclusion board it states that Guangdong is an open and  inclusive province for religious coexistence and growth and plays a significant role in China’s religious development.   I liked the entry mural….

…but in all honesty there wasn’t much else to the exhibit.

I did enjoy looking up into the ceiling of the building….

The next exhibit was the one that I remembered well from our first trip…..the Duan Inkstones. 

In China, the inks used in the calligraphy process come in sticks (like a paint stick)   Water has to be added to them to produce the ink. Per Wikipedia, the process is this…..”The water is added first and then  the bottom end of the inkstick is placed on the grinding surface and then gradually ground to produce the ink. More water is gradually added during the grinding process to increase the amount of ink produced, the excess flowing down into the reservoir of the inkstone where it will not evaporate as quickly as on the flat grinding surface, until enough ink has been produced for the purpose in question. The Chinese grind their ink in a circular motion with the end flat on the surface whilst the Japanese push one edge of the end of the inkstick back and forth.”

The Inkstones that are produced in the Duanzhou area are famous because they are made from a deep purple (almost black) stone that is famous for its smooth texture.  They are known as Duan Inkstones.

The first one that I saw was a modern one that was made in the shape of the Olympic stadium in Beijing……a birds nest…..

I laughed at this one as it was labeled as an Inkstone in the form of a brick….

It reminded me of a favorite scene from the MASH series where Frank and Margaret are talking to a Korean wood carver about making a statue for them.   He holds up a board to show them the quality of his work.   Frank says “It looks like a 2 by 4”.  The carver replies “Thank you…..used to be round”.

Many of the stones have intricate carvings on the back, like this fish……

The stamp on the right shows the carving.

I particularly enjoyed the ones that had recognizable designs in them, especially this happy crab……

One sign indicated that, in order to attain effective art, the shape and decoration of the inkstone should be determined according to the special characteristics of the stone such as color, and vein marks.   Isn’t that the truth with any kind of art….it must take the materials into account.

When we were here in 2012, we purchased a beautiful inkstone (supposedly old but who knows if that means 2 years or 50 years)……

…and seeing this exhibit reminded me just how much I like it!!

Next was a wood carving gallery which had some beautiful pieces, but most of them were covered with a gold lacquer which  ruins my enjoyment of them (I would much rather see the beautiful wood grain)…. 

….although I did enjoy the geometric design of this one.

I took a photo of this “Happy Crab” piece last time and, as I looked at it today, I was even more amazed at the carving……

It is carved out of a single piece of Camphor wood and I cant figure out exactly how the crab was carved INSIDE of the cage!!

The notes around the room told me that Camphor is the most prized of the carving woods but Rose Wood and China Berry are used as well.

The museum has several displays that use statues to show the details of life in Gunagdong with this one showing the carving and gilding process…..

….starting with tracing the design on the wood, doing a rough out of the design, putting the details in place and finally gilding the wood.

The displays in the museum were very professionally done and made for an enjoyable viewing experience….

Signs are posted in each gallery calling for silence and the guards were hard on screaming kids and others that were ducking under the barriers, but, for the most part, the  parents didn’t seem to care.   I saw one Mom smiling broadly as she and her son were being escorted out of the gallery!!

Speaking of kids, it is fun to watch their reaction to seeing me….a round eye….  in their midst.  Some look shyly at me, but some openly gawk.  I just try to smile at them and go on.

There were lots of photo ops happening and I managed to catch a couple…..

This girl’s pose was my favorite…..

The next gallery contained pottery and porcelain.  I particularly like this gourd shaped pitcher……

….and was fascinated by these Porcelain Pillows…..

Personally, I think that they look supremely uncomfortable, but they certainly make interesting pieces of art!!!  

Michael’s comment about them was that “James Bond noted that they were very comfortable (“You Only Live Twice”)”, so who am I to argue with the great 007.

I enjoyed the thoughtful look on this gentleman’s face…..

….and the thought “Happy as a Clam” came to mind when I saw this one……

I really liked this skewed house and was reminded of some of my favorite Picasso paintings…..

There was information about one glaze that is used on much of the pottery….because it is “white as sugar” it is called a “Sweet White Glaze”.

As I listened to the audio guide in this section it moved from dynasty to dynasty (Qin, Han, Sui, Tang) and I finally lost track of which was which.   As I left the gallery I was bombarded with a large shopping area where you could buy your own Chinese treasures and I wondered what dynasty these came from…..

I followed the crowds around the corner and came to the Dragon Boat display…

This boat is 48 meters (157 feet) long and only 6 feet wide, and it can hold EIGHTY people.  I would imagine that it would be fairly unstable from side to side so would have to be well balanced!!!

I particularly enjoyed these two vignettes of daily life…..

 

There was a large glass case that held small ceramic figures which portrayed all of the various ceremonies in everyday life.

These included weddings, births, birthdays, etc.  But, my all-time favorite one was “The ceremony of resuming a meat diet”!!!

There was a gallery that was touted as a kids gallery with animal art.  There were a few Lego animals shown, but most items were fairly serious art, but art about animals.  I particularly liked this “Save Can”…..

…ie…piggy bank, and this sulky metal frog…..

At the end of this exhibit, they had a bulletin board of art work done by kids.  I first appreciated the artwork itself but then was intrigued by the use of clip boards to allow the display to change…..

I hurried thru the Natural History area as I have seen SO many of these types of exhibits before.   The taxidermy was rough and some of the presentation was weird, but the attention to detail in the ambiance of the exhibit hall was amazing.  All of the paths were either made of rough rock or wooden boards and the lighting was perfect for the exhibitions.  One of the exhibits was about caves and the walls were very cave-like.

The animal exhibit moved into the plant exhibit and I remembered the beautiful silhouette displays of the leaf patterns…..

….sigh…..SO many quilting designs, SO little time!!!

The ocean and fossil display was interesting, but I was pooping out by now.  I did really like the use of paper tiles in the ceilings and as separators between the exhibits…..

I had said earlier that kids were asked to be quiet in the main galleries, but there was no such requirement in these last few animal galleries.  Consequently, the noise level grew greatly as I moved thru these areas but it was just because the kids were having so much fun!!

I reluctantly returned left the museum and took another walk around the beautiful square.   I spent some time looking at this stadium…..

…which was built for the 2010 Pan Asian games.  It is a stunning structure but I can’t figure out exactly what would have been played here.  The “field” is not very big and is concrete, however that may have been changed after the games.   Whatever the case, it was a cool looking structure set on the banks of the Pearl River.

I walked over to the Opera House, enjoying the interesting architecture of the building…..

As I walked around the complex I enjoyed the art displayed there, including this casting of Rodin’s “The Thinker”…..

I also enjoyed the face on this rather strange winged man…..

But my all time favorite was this sculpture that looked like it was falling from above…..

I was hungry so decided to find Starbucks for a quick bite to eat, opting for a ham and cheese croissant and a bottle of orange juice.   The first bite and swig of orange juice immediately put me back in High School, sitting with Michael in his car and eating the lunch that his Mama had packed for us.  It was always Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Nacho Doritos and a big container of orange juice.    I just needed Nacho Doritos…..and Michael!!!

One final comment about eating in China.  The tables in restaurants are not considered to be clean (even when covered with spotless cloths) and nothing should ever be laid on them or picked up and eaten once it hits the table.  So, while I was waiting for my food in the Starbucks, I accidently dropped my knife and it landed on one of the tables.  One of the servers hurried over to take the dirty utensil from me and replace it with a clean one.

I found the metro and contentedly made my way back to the hotel.

Michael returned “home” shortly after and we were picked up by Xue-Jun and his wife and taken out for dinner.   The restaurant was located on the outside edge of a mall type area and, just outside the window, there were a group of women in their aerobic exercise class.  My attention, however, was stolen by a small girl (maybe 3 years old) who was following along with the class and executing the moves perfectly along with her Grandmother.   It was SO cute!!!

Pulling my attention back to the task at hand….the table was unique in that there were drawers under each section and the table was “furnished” from these drawers.   If you needed a glass, you just opened the drawer and pulled one out!!!

There was a hot pot with boiling water at each table and this was used to fill the teapot which contained a flower tea of some sort….

I (mistakenly) thought that this was for drinking, but it was actually for washing out the dishes before we ate!!  This, apparently, is a local custom and Xue-Jun’s wife took her duty very seriously…..

…who knew that you had to pre-wash your dishes!!!

Once the dishes were clean the food started to arrive.  Once again we had very simple, fresh dishes, including these delicious dry rice noodles…..

…and this very tasty chicken….

Dessert were these buns that had a coconut cream filling in them…..

A very yummy way to finish off a busy day!!!

XueJun had suggested that Michael take Sunday off and we were both excited to have the day free.  As we had breakfast at the hotel, we debated about what to do.  There was a metro station just a few feet from the hotel entrance, and since I had such a good experience in Chengdu, we decided to try it out.

We were headed to the downtown area that we had enjoyed so much when we visited briefly in 2012.  We were happy that there was an “English” button at the ticket machine and were able to figure out how to get our ticket (actually a token).  When you enter the metro turnstile, you scan the token and then when you exit at your destination, you deposit the token.

We figured out  that we should take the main line to the Tilu Xilu (pronouned Ti-loo-See-Loo) station and then changed to the APM line.   This is a “tourist” line that runs into the downtown area.   There are only 8 stops on the line and there is always a guard on each train. 

We got off at our station and then proceeded to try to figure out how to exit from it  There were numerous exits and of course, we chose the one that went into a HUGE, many “armed” mall.  We wandered for about 20 minutes and at last saw a Starbucks.  We had a quick bite to eat  (and a few Espressos for Michael) and found our way out into the sunshine.

This area of Guangzhou is gorgeous.  The skyline is magnificent  (just ignore me)…..

….with beautiful buildings one one end…..

And the Canton Tower rising from the other end (although it is actually across the river)……

We spent over an hour just walking around in this area, arriving at a very cool restaurant area, complete with a river cruise….

The only problem is that none of the restaurants were ever open!!  We went back another time, at a different time of day and everything was closed up.  We wondered if they just opened for dinner!!

Even though they weren’t open, this sign was compelling…..

We loved these “crowned” apartment buildings just across the river….

After walking around for a while and enjoying the nice weather, we decided to head to the top of the Canton tower.   We found the metro again (a closer station) and rode to the tower area. 

We got into a long ticket line (although one of the attendants tried to tell us that the other ticket office was faster)….we should have listened!!!  When we got to the front of the line, the ticket agent took one look at us and flipped the ticket information board over so that it was in English.   He had obviously dealt with us “round eyes” before!!

The tickets were expensive with several different packages that you could buy.   For one price, you could ride the elevator to the top but with some additional Yuan you could go up higher and walk outside.   Then you could pay even more to do the “rides” at the top.   We chose to be able to go outside but gave the rides  a miss.

The escalator ride was honestly the most enjoyable part of the entire experience as it was not only fun to watch the ground grow further and further away, but also to listen to the gasps of the occupants as we ascended.   Michael was NOT as enamored with the elevator trip as he didn’t particularly enjoy being crowded into a small room with about 20 other people!!

The views from the top were not all that magnificent, mainly due to the smog that morning…..

One of the rides was a free fall that went up even higher on the tower and the other was the “Bubble Train”…..

….which slowly drove around the perimeter of the tower.  The thing that I noticed about this is that almost all of the occupants were looking at their phones or looking down and not enjoying the view that they had paid so much for!!!

We took the required selfie…..

….and headed back down again.

When we have been China, we have marveled at the English signs and Tee-shirts.   We saw this sign on a store….

We have no idea!!!!

But, my all time favorite Tee-shirt is one that read “I want to be a unique”….well, I can almost guarantee her that she is!!!

We got back on the APM train to return to the hotel and reached a terminal where we needed to switch trains.   Our train stopped in the middle of the terminal, both doors opened revealing another train on either side…..which do we go to???  We chose one, quickly realized that it was incorrect and then darted back thru the train car and to the other side, always hoping that the doors didn’t close before we got thru. 

Incidentally, Michael and I have a rule when we ride trains.   IF we ever get separated, the first person gets off a the NEXT stop (even if it is not where we need to stop) and waits for the next train carrying the missing loved one!!!  Fortunately we have never had to do this but it is good to have a plan.

We giggled at this sign on the terminal door saying “Please don’t touch me” and another on the other door saying “Civil Ride”….

Also, the “which side of the train” story reminded us of our trip to Rome in 1997 with the kids.  We were taking the EuroRail that morning and had found the platform and were waiting patiently for the train to arrive.   As it pulled into the station we realized that the doors were going to open on the OTHER side of the platform.  You can imagine the mad dash that ensued as we carried luggage and  backpacks and all four RAN to the other side!!  After that we learned how to tell which side and never had to make a mad dash again.

We made it back to the hotel but just weren’t ready to call it a day yet so we both got onto our computers and started searching for “western” restaurants in the area.   Naturally the one we chose was back downtown!!!   Instead of taking the train, we caught a taxi at the hotel and he found his way to “Social & Co”  (also called SO & CO).  We met the owner (from New Zealand) and enjoyed sitting outside and having a delicious meal. 

Our first course were these delicious Cauliflower patties…..

They were a bit spicy and served with a dill sauce….EXCELLENT!!!  They were followed by bread and cheese, sausage with roast potatoes and Thai chicken, dessert and tea.   We were full!!!

We enjoyed watching the people walking around and were interested to find that this was an embassy district with the US consulate being housed in the next block over.  

This little girl made our day as she “drove” past with her Mom…..

Out waitress told us how to get to the nearest Metro station (she actually offered to walk us there if we waited until she got off of work) so we headed out around the US embassy and straight into the Metro.  A quick stop  at the Lenhexi (Lynn- hoo-si) station to change trains and we were home again.  

It was a perfect day!!!!

 

Our time in Chengdu has been fun and we have REALLY enjoyed all of the spicy food however it wont be bad to have some “not-so-spicy” food for a few days!!

As we said, the hotel that we were in was very nice, but SUPER expensive.  We sent one load of laundry out (about 3 days worth) and it came back costing $150!!!  We had planned to pay for it ourselves but Professor Liu said that it couldn’t be done that way.  He suggested that we give our clothes to the graduate students and that they would hand wash everything for us.  We knew that was NOT going to happen, so I bought some detergent and washed clothes in the fancy bathtub each morning.  As I washed I hummed the theme to the Beverly Hillbillies as I remembered their “cement pond”!!!!

Fortunately the room was equipped with a retractable clothes line so I felt sure that we were not the only hillbilly guests!!

Later in the week, when we arrived in Guangzhou, we found that the cost was still fairly expensive but MUCH less than this hotel.  I did, however laugh at the sign in the bathroom that offered free clothes de-hydration services!!   I guess that I could have washed them myself and then handed them over for de-hydration!!

On our last night in Chengdu there was a conference starting with hundreds of people attending.  We could never figure out what type of conference it was however the billboard proclaimed that  “this is a magical event, this is a beautiful transformation, let us witness the most beautiful and brilliant moment time to serve you”…..now why couldn’t we figure that out??

It must have been something fairly important as there was a huge light display being set up in the hotel courtyard, including a 60 panel video display and hundreds of roses with a single LED bulb in the center..….

We had one final meal with Professor Liu and other researchers but this one wasn’t as spicy.  Most of the foods were pretty normal but I did find these steamed dumpling cups interesting…..

And, we watched with much trepidation as they poured the left over soup into a doggie bag that was just a simple plastic bag like we put our veggies in….

There was a fish skeleton that had been picked clean and we were surprised to see that one of the other diners wanted to take it home.  When we asked he told us that it was for his cat, and that yes, his cat did like spicy food!!!

On Friday we left Chengdu and headed back to Kunming for an overnight stay before we traveled to Guangzhou.  We hadn’t organized our schedule exactly right or we would have flown straight there rather than having this extra jaunt.  We had originally booked a hotel close to the airport but decided that we would MUCH prefer to stay at the Grand Park and maybe have the opportunity to eat at Salvador’s again and take a stroll around the lake.

Our night in Kunming was relaxing and everything  we had hoped for.   I took one last trip around Green Lake, stopping to enjoy all of the usual sights, including this little girl intently watching one of the street vendors…..

….and this gentleman playing harmonica while his wife sang along…..

This group had a bluegrass sound to their music…..

This violinist was sitting on the edge of a group and I got the feeling that he was just there to play along…..

He gave me a big smile just after I took the photo.

All of the groups, even the small ones, are amazingly high-tech.  They bring generators, microphones, amplifiers and everything that they need to out-sing or out-play the group next to them!!!  Here is an ancient, traditional Chinese instrument with a modern microphone ….

This little lady twirled and danced between the groups, apparently having the time of her life…..

…and this gentleman also sashayed his way around the park…..

I noticed that a large gate which had never been open before was now allowing people to enter.  Naturally, I had to check it out!!!   I walked into a museum area called the “Chinese Expeditionary Force”.  Basically it was a fort area, surrounded by buildings with nothing to see inside!!!   I did enjoy watching these two girls play with their ribbons, probably imagining themselves as future gymnasts!!!

I was also drawn to this woman proudly having her photo taken in front of the doors…..

….it makes me wonder if this place was something special for her.

The next morning we took a taxi to the airport.  Because it is so far to the airport and so hard for taxi’s to get rides back into the city, they are reluctant to make the trip.  Consequently, you always have to “sweeten” the deal, although one person will do it for 120Y while another requires 160Y!!

We have been surprised by additional security that is required before entering any airport.  At the very least, they have done a bomb-detection test on our luggage, but at Chengdu, we had to put our bags thru a scanner and then go thru a body scanner as well.   This was fun as you stood sideways on a moving conveyor belt and it sandwiched you between the scanners!!!

We have always known that many Chinese will cut in line at any time and this is very apparent at airports.  Michael just read a book that talked about this phenomenon and said that many of them are taught that, if they are not first in line, they will be left behind!!  I am sure that mindset makes for many worries about their future.

We have also found that many people do not do well on Escalators.  On one of our downward journeys, two ladies stopped at the very bottom to raise the handles on their suitcases and we all piled up behind them, with Michael basically vaulting over one of them!!  We have seen this several times and now leave at least 2 steps between us and our nearest traveler. 

I have also been interested in the carry-on bags that people travel with.  Many people have 4 or more large shopping bags that contain boxes of some item.  I am assuming that they are gifts of tea or other goodies.  The sheer size of the bags often makes it difficult to find space in the overhead bins!!!

In other airport news, some have carry-on luggage carts that have a video monitor attached between the handles.  I have seen kids playing games on these and also people looking for gate and airport information on them.  This seems VERY high-tech!!!

Our flight to Guangzhou was enjoyable and not terribly late.  We were met at the airport by Xiu-Jun (Jhu-Jhune) and taken to the Yangling hotel which we had visited previously.

Xiu-Jun and his wife returned to take us to dinner and we enjoyed a very simple meal with just four dishes.  This was very refreshing as so many of the banquets have 15+ dishes and sometimes that is just too many flavors to get at one time.   My favorite were these simple vegetables and mushrooms…..

  After a leisurely dinner and chat…..

…we returned to our room to find our bed turned down and our slippers awaiting our feet……

Tomorrow is another day!!!

On Tuesday, Professor Liu had originally organized for us to travel to a large Panda Breeding facility that was about 4 hours away.  We were to spend the night on the road and then return the next day.  Michael and I were concerned about this for several reasons…..first of all, Ping was going to accompany us and she gets horribly car sick.  I simply couldn’t imagine spending 2 days in a car worrying about her the whole time.   Also, the thought of having to pack up the suitcases again for just one night was almost unbearable.  Finally, Michael was needing to have some “no-science” time and was desiring a day of just sitting and not having to interact.  Consequently, we asked the professor if we could change those plans and instead spend half a day at a local Panda Facility and then have Wednesday free.  He graciously agreed so on Tuesday we headed out for an adventure that we had looked forward to ever since we started coming to China.

Ping picked us up at the hotel and we drove about 20 minutes to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base.   She stood in line and bought our tickets at this “Panda” themed ticket office….

When we entered, there were lots of people standing in line to ride in one of the small electric vehicles, including this little girl who already looked like she had seen enough…..

We looked at the length of the line and opted to walk instead, heading first to one of the Giant Panda Enclosures.  The first one that we came to was a “Sub-Adult” male….ie teenager!!!   We were excited to see him out and about and enjoyed a nice long viewing.  He started entertaining us by doing some scratching, reminding me VERY much of my Dad…..I had seen him make those same moves many times before.   And, as a matter of fact, he had the same basic physique!!

Have a look…..

Giant Panda in Action

We were all disappointed when he climbed down from his perch but shouldn’t have worried.  He proceeded to walk behind his play area and take a stroll around his enclosure…. ……stopping to gawk at all of the tourists…..

Panda Gawking

There were people everywhere, especially when there was a Panda on the move……

I laughed as one lady took a selfie with her pointing to the panda behind her!!

Ping had told us that she had never seen Giant Panda’s before and that she was excited to be able to go with us.  I love this photo of her showing her enjoyment…..

Unfortunately this was the only Giant Panda that we saw outside.  It was starting to get pretty hot and, as the sign noted, Giant Panda’s are Heat Intolerant!!!

We moved to the Inside enclosures and enjoyed seeing the Moms and Cubs.  This little guy was playing around while Mom slept…..

….and this one was making good use of snack time…..

Eating lying down

Looking at this video ALSO reminds me of my Dad when he used to sit back in his recliner and have a snack!!!

As we walked into the enclosure we had to step on carpet strips that had been soaked in a bleach solution.   I know that the idea was to keep germs out but it was a bit disconcerting!!!

The enclosure area had glass walls which were fairly steamy and had lots of finger prints on them.  It was good that we were tall because we could photography over everyone’s head and avoid BOTH of those problems….

We all enjoyed seeing these glorious animals!!

There were smaller babies in another enclosure but the line was really long and was not moving at ALL.   After standing there for about 5 minutes, we decided to leave it, although I think that Ping really wanted to visit the babies….

In between seeing the Giant Pandas, we visited the Red Panda Enclosure and had a wonderful time watching these cute, furry little guys.   They are no relation to a Giant Panda and are much closer to a Raccoon or Skunk.  But the best thing about Red Pandas is that THEY ARE CUTE…..

I mean, how can you not smile when you look at him!!!!

One lucky zoo volunteer got to go inside the enclosure and feed the little guys.  This one was very insistent that he was hungry…..

We moved down a bit further in the enclosure and came to an area where they were actively roaming around the compound.   I pictured them as a model walking on a Fashion Runway, circling the crowd, stopping to smile and let people ooh and ahh and then resuming their rounds.

This little guy came right up to the edge of the moat as if he was taunting us….

They are amazing climbers and we all loved watching one of them shimmy down a tree.  It is fun to listen to the sounds that the crowd makes…..

Climbing Red Panda

As we were walking to another enclosure I commented to Michael that, since they were such good climbers, couldn’t they easily get out of one enclosure and into another one.  As we were discussing this, I pointed to one that was just by the fence on the left side of the path.  As we watched open mouthed, he darted thru a hole in the fence, scooted between myself and Ping and then back thru another hole on the other side……

We laughed and said that obviously they are not forbidden to move between enclosures, but actually encouraged to do so!!!

We decided that he only did this maneuver to frighten the tourists because he circled a tree and ran thru another hole, onto the path and back into the original enclosure.   This time he truly did frighten a young woman, giving us all a good laugh.  He probably enjoyed it too!!!

We took a few photos with the Pandas……

and one selfie with Ping……

Obviously we need to crouch more when taking selfies with  Chinese!!!

We left the facility around 1:00 and Ping insisted that we have lunch with her.  After eating “health food” which translated as a type of porridge we returned to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day.

We did venture out for dinner, heading to the BBQ place that we had enjoyed so much.

We were able to order easily but did have trouble getting the red pepper salt mixture that we loved so much before.  They didn’t speak any English and we didn’t have any idea of how to order it.  We actually returned AGAIN to this restaurant on Wednesday night and this time showed them the photo of the plate from our first visit.  It worked and we got exactly what we wanted!!!

This time I took a few more photos, including a few of the women preparing the skewers…..

This woman was amazing….. she would take green onions, roll them up into shallow disks and thread them onto the skewer.  All of this was done without taking her eyes off of the movie on her cell phone!!!!

We loved our “napkins”……

….and took a selfie to celebrate Chinese Valentines Day……

…now known to us as “the day we saw Pandas”!!!!!