Adventures in Guangzhou!

Me, Christi, and Ian went out to meet Phillip, Tyler, and Mal at the Yuyuan Gardens, one of the oldest strictly Chinese areas of the city. We toured through the buildings and gardens and then went out to walk through the Yuyuan Bazaar (shopping area). The gardens were beautiful but I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible because it was tourist central and the place was overflowing with nothing but westerners. It was odd that I almost felt uncomfortable there surrounded by non-Chinese. Maybe it was more the fact that I don't really consider myself a tourist since I'm here for the long haul, but it annoyed me to hear them saying loud obnoxious things like, "These Chinese sure know how to make a garden!!" Regardless, it was nice but a little overwhelming.

Tyler, Mal, and Philip had to head back to Wuhan in the early afternoon so we had one final extravagant meal together. The highlight was some type of unidentifiable crunchy sea creature soaking in some flavored vinegar along with some cucumbers; either that or the dish that almost resembled the Kung Pao chicken you get in the U.S.--both were pretty darn tasty. After lunch we said goodbye to the three and parted ways. Even though it was only 4 days or so together, it was actually quite sad to have to bid them goodbye. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was getting used to the comfort of hanging out with a big crew of (American) friends and it was a bummer to see them go, especially since there's no telling when I'll see everyone again.

Ian, Christi and I weren't about to stop our adventures though. We immediately headed out to the Bund, the walkway on the Huangpu River. The Bund has aesthetic value but also some very significant historical sites including the British building where the Brits used to run the opium trade (noble, huh?). After walking around for a while we took a ferry across the river to the new Pudong area. The ferry ride was pretty funny because throngs of people all rushed on the boat and fought for seats even though the ride lasted all of two or three minutes. They even had a concession stand onboard! For those of you who know the vineyard, it reminds me of fighting for a seat on the chappy ferry--totally unnecessary.

Across the river is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower which is a big tourist trap to take the elevator up for the view. Instead of fronting the 50 yuan, we went over to the Grand Hyatt in the Jinmao Tower, the tallest building in China. The Hotel has a lobby on the 54th floor that provides comparable views for free. At first I was concerned that they'd find out we weren't guests and kick us out but I wasn't thinking--3 white people together must OBVIOUSLY be rich if they're in Shanghai so of course they are hotel guests. We took in the view for a bit and then headed up a few floors to a lounge/bar area and sat down for a drink and some dessert. The lounge has a view inside the hotel up to the top floor which, due to the spiral design, creates an optical illusion that it goes up forever. I ordered a dram of Glenfiddich and sat there enjoying my single malt along with some tiramisu and pleasant conversation. It was an excellent place to spend an hour due to the comfy couches and incredible mural on the wall. It's not often that you get to enjoy some of the finer things in life, especially with such good people, but this was definitely one of those times.

As we began to head back to Ian's we figured, why stop there? Right down the street from his apartment is a massage parlor that he and Carmen go to for foot massages. I was a little skeptical of the whole thing, having never gotten a professional massage of any kind, but the whole experience was pretty amazing. For the equivelant of about $4.75, they put the three of us in a nice room together on comfy lay-z-boy chairs and served us tea. Following the beverages they brought out a bucket for each of us filled with hot herbal water to soak our (somewhat gross) feet. After a couple minutes they instructed us to rotate to a different seat so they could give us back rubs. What treatment! After a few minutes of this they put us back in the recliners and put our feet up on the pads to get to work. Apparently each person is trained by a different master who advocates a distinct style. The lady working on my feet was trained in some sort of rhythmic style with a lot of clapping and soothing hits on my feet and calves which was great. I was pleasantly surprised! I'm not going to lie--I was nervous at the beginning and didn't know what to expect, though that relates in part to how ticklish I am. There were times that I was in pain from what she was doing but by the end I felt like I had a new pair of feet. It was incredibly relaxing and I think all three of us dozed off for a few moments during the hour.

After massages we headed back to Ian's a listened to some music for a while before heading to a noodle shop around the corner. It may sound crazy, but I was actually somewhat happy to get back to "commoner's" food and not have to worry about the exotic luxury dishes from the fancy restaurant. Give me some noodles in a spicy broth with some sort of meat and I will always be happy. We leafed through the Time Out Shanghai guide during the meal and decided on a few places to check out for the night. First we headed to Nanjing Donglu, roughly equivelant to the Times Square area of Shanghai. It was pretty interesting and had no shortage of neon signs. After hanging out in the park at the end for a while, we went in search of what was described in the book as a gay bar resembling a lesbian pool party. I don't know if Christi thought we were crazy or not, but I think the Wesleyan in both Ian and I just meant that we were psyched to see a bar with a pool inside, gay or otherwise. Sadly, it was not meant to be because we couldn't find it. All was not lost, however, because on the way there we stopped to listen to a middle-aged Chinese guy play acoustic guitar by the entrance to the subway. The guy wasn't exactly Stevie Ray Vaughan, but he played with great feeling and it was excellent to hear some live music. We were thus inspired to seek out more music and headed to a bar with a live rock band. As we walked in I was surprised to hear U2's "With or Without You." Was it a western band? Not a chance. These were four Chinese guys rocking hard and they were a ton of fun. They played a mix of Chinese and western tunes and I must say I was pretty excited to hear Coldplay's "Clocks." They even did a second set of reggae tunes which was pretty cool. All in all, an excellent night.