Adventures in Guangzhou!

I sat for a while in Government Square, a large open garden area, and watched some old guys playing mahjong. Though I have no idea what the rules are to the game, these guys certainly came across as pros. I also enjoyed the fact that I was not an attraction at all (being a white foreigner), but rather one of many spectators attempting to get a view of the table. After a while I decided it was time for food once again and I went off in search of lunch.

I walked down a side street a little bit off the beaten path and sat down at an open-air restaurant-joint. Of course their menu was entirely in Chinese characters so I had to resort to asking them if they had certain things, e.g. "you meiyou ji rou chou fan?" [do you have chicken fried rice?] Nope. I settled on ordering some jiaozi that the woman next to me was eating. As I handed back the menu, the owner of the place came over to sit down with me. We began conversing in Chinese, though I will admit--this was not nearly as successful as my conversation from yesterday. I did figure out that his cousin is studying economics at Emory Daxue (Emory University) in Atlanta and that the guy wants to visit him but can't get a visa. He was friendly enough to give me his business card and told me I should come back anytime and that he would order for me. Heh.

After lunch I hopped on a bus to head outside of the city limits toward Jin Dian Si, The Golden Temple. Purporting to have the largest bronze temple in the country, I figured it was worth a look-see. After a minor adventure trying to talk to the bus driver and explain where I wanted to go (but didn't know where to get off), I got to the base of the hill where the temple is located. After paying a hefty 20 kuai admission fee I walked through the gate only to discover that I had about a thousand steps to climb before I reached the temple grounds. Normally this would be fine, but I was still sore from capoeira!

When I finally got to the temple itself, I was somewhat flabergasted. Given that the temple consists of 260 tons of bronze it's pretty impressive, but compared to the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou it seems rather miniscule. The actual grounds of the temple are enormous though so I began to meander around looking at the different statues and buildings. I heard some chanting coming from a different temple complex so I walked up to listen. I was disappointed to discover it was only a recording, but pleased to see a bunch of monks sitting around with big smiles on their faces.

I allowed myself to be invited in and given some incense to light even though I knew there was going to be a charge somewhere down the line. They showed me how to pay my respects to the three gods in the main chamber room and then one of them sat me down to chat. Half in Chinese and half in English, the monk grabbed my hands and began to examine my palms. For the second time in my life I was informed that I have something called the "Mystic Cross" on my hand signifiying some sort of innate ability to read people. Weird. The monk then had me blow on my palms and enclose them around a pendant with a yin-yang on it. After having me repeat some Chinese line 7 times he told me to make a wish and write it down in his book. Then he pointed out how much the previous visitors contributed in order to make the wish come true. Ahhhh- there's the rub.

He wanted me to give 200-300 yuan but I explained that I didn't have that kind of money. He reluctantly settled on me giving 30 or 40 (I can't remember) and told me my wish would come true. I got the feeling that he was telling me he couldn't guarantee my wish but that he'd put in a mediocre effort for it. Eh, can't hurt. It sort of reminded me of when I was traveling around Western Europe with my best friend from West Hartford and he lit a candle in one of the cathedrals in Munich. As I gave an inquiring look (both of us being Jewish and all), he responded, "Can't hurt, right?"

I walked out with my new good luck pendant in hand and ambled through the fern garden, the plum blossom orchard, and general arboretum. As I walked under a cloister in a small enclosed quad, I heard a man playing the Chinese flute. There was no one else around and I didn't want to disturb him, but I really wanted to sit and listen. I tip-toed my way to one of the benches next to him and sat down to listen and read for a while. He noticed me after about 10 minutes or so and gave me a small smile before continuing on into the next piece. Between the weather, the music, and the quiet, it was a perfect afternoon.

When the guy finished up I decided it was time to head back to Kunming proper and meet up with Lexi. After my afternoon dose of shao kao, Lexi and I headed out to purchase some train tickets to go to Dali for the weekend. I'm not quite sure how or why, but train tickets are about half the price of bus tickets and the ride takes about the same amount of time. I certainly won't be the one to point this out to the Chinese authorities. After purchasing our seats we headed out to capoeira once again. I felt a little more confident this time with the basic moves but I still had a tough time when it came to actually "playing" an opponent. Regardless, it was enjoyable to go across the room practicing the butterfly kick. You basically get to fling your body around and swing your legs up in a kicking motion. Good times!

At capoeira class I met Jen, Lexi's safety advisor and her friend Cindy. We chatted for a while during and after class and I inquired about how she got to be in such an important position. What I really wanted to know was, do I have a safety advisor that I don't know about? And for that matter, why is there a safety advisor in Kunming, possibly the safest city in the country, and not in GZ, a city notorious for gangsters? Jen told me that her only real mission is to get Lexi good and drunk (in a safe environment, of course) and that she was happy to function as my surrogate safety advisor.

Cindy was also a fascinating person to chat with. She has worked as a chef on several hollywood films and worked with some pretty famous people like Quentin Tarantino. Her job is basically to be on site somewhere in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a couple gas burners and a supply of random necessities that will enable her to whip up whatever the actors request. Guacamole and tortilla chips in the middle of the desert? No problem. It's pretty impressive, actually.

Cindy recently landed a very lucrative gig to cook in Shanghai for an upcoming blockbuster so she decided to celebrate by purchasing an absolutely absurd amount of good (western) red wine and chocolate. We hauled it over to Salvador's, a cafe that serves western cuisine, and proceeded to have a feast. I had pasta with pesto, mushrooms, roasted chicken, and sun-dried tomatoes which was excellent. I also managed to finish off Lexi's bagel sandwich (bagels!) and Cindy's quesadilla. Yum!

Lexi had to head off and put in some face time with her boss, so I followed Jen and Cindy to a bbq being thrown by a couple of German students. After climbing up 7 long flights of stairs in their apartment building, we walked into a really fun party of random internationals all eating, drinking, and chatting. I headed up to their roof deck and was immediately offered a beer and a steak. It would have been rude to refuse, right?? I was pretty psyched to have a real steak which had been marinated for two full days in some sort of honey pepper concoction. I chatted with the hosts for a bit and also talked with a couple French people for a while about China and living abroad. For some reason it seemed funny to me to hear Chinese with a French or German accent but sure enough, there it was. I also talked to a somewhat inebriated American guy who was a bit too loud and obnoxious for my taste. It was a reminder that Americans have a questionable reputation abroad for a reason.

Before I knew it the clock was edging towards 2am and Lexi and I had an 8am train to catch. Ugh. We met up and headed home to then pack in a daze and nap for a while before heading out to Dali. I was excited to get to Dali but also a bit sad to have to leave my home-away-from-home in Kunming. I was really starting to get used to the place! Regardless, it was time for a new adventure.