Guangzhou

Got to Guangzhou two days ago. I took an express train from Shenzhen which took 1.5 hours. Guangzhou used to be known as Canton. It is the other major historical city and port of the Pearl River Delta besides Hong Kong. In the last couple of decades it has seen some of its glory and economic dominence eclipsed by the newer Special Economic Zones around the delta, but it is still the biggest city in Guangdong province. I hoped on the metro and went straight towards Shamian Island. Shamian Island is the old foreign enclave and it still looks it today, with quite cobblestone boulevards and buildings that look straight out of 19th century France. Stayed in a hostel with folks from Canada, America, England, Ireland, and Spain. The waterfront park was across the street with views across the Pearl River. Guangdong is a wannabe Hong Kong and it hasn't quite gotten there, but it does have its fair share of neon and tall buildings and wealth.

Guangzhou is much more of "real" city than what I saw of Shenzhen. And unlike Hong Kong, which is nearly all new, Guangzhou has a mix of new and old.

Just north of the island is Qingping market which is a bit of a zoo. Literally. You can find nearly any animal for sale here. Most of them are for eating: lizards, crocodiles, crickets, beetles, coackroaches, snails, snakes, turtles, birds, fish, pigs, chickens, etc. They are all scurrying about live in cages. Point to your prey and they kill it for you in front of your eyes. There are also more benign stalls in this market, such as those selling aquariums and aquarium accoutrements. There seems to be quite an aquarium culture in this city. Other market stalls sell all sorts of dried roots and mushrooms and medicinal plants.

Then there is the pet district. Hundreds of cute little kittens and puppies, and other more exotic pets for sale such as sqirrels. At first I was worried that these too were for eating, but then I saw cat food for sale, so I'm pretty they are are intended as pets and not dinner. Still, the way these animals are treated seems pretty inhumane. There are a dozen little kittens shoved into each cage, piled on top of each other. They dont have room to move, let alone play.

Most of the Chinese in Qingping market are adults. However as I head north I find the young people's markets and they are a world apart. There is a wide, European-like pedestrian street lined with trendy clothing stores, all of them pumping loud techno music. One was playing a Chinese version of that infectious Romanian pop song, Dragostea Din Tei. Everyone on this street (and there are thousands of them) are in their teens or 20s. This is the new face of China. I wonder what the elders think. I wish I had room in my backpack to do some shopping because there are some pretty cool clothes here and everything costs a dollar or two. Interspersed among the hip clothing stores are cafes and dessert shops with the most amazing looking desserts, and they only cost 50 cents each. Lingerie shops abound as well. Bras, bras everywhere. And giant billboards advertising lingerie with Chinese models in quite risque poses. This from the country that censored the Rolling Stones' lyrics? The contradiction seems even more bizarre when I notice a sex toy shop, blatantly advertising itself in the middle of the shopping district as "Sex Toy Shop". This is permitted in China?

Even though I am here during what I assume are school hours on a weekday, no one seems to be in school. There are armies of young women who stand outside the stores encouraging people to come in.

I'd heard horror stories about the traffic in China. So far they aren't true. Traffic in Shenzhen was placid. Traffic in Guangzhou is busy, but no worse than an American city of the same size. It's probably better than New York. Yes, some cars run red lights, but if you are patient it is easy to cross the street. People for the most part follow traffic rules. There are crosswalks and pedestrian crossing signals. The traffic on the streets is mostly limited to motor vehicles. There are none of the cows and carts you have in India.

Chinese girls spend a huge portion of their time text messaging. Even when they are with their friends, they sit around text messaging.

Some of the city buses in Guangzhou have "live" digital maps on board - like the GPS navigator units some upscale cars have, but showing the bus's position along its route block by block, very helpful if you are unfamiliar with the territory.