Adventures in Guangzhou!

Located next to Xinghai Square, apparently one of the largest open squares in the world, the Sun Asia Ocean World aquarium is right on the water. I decided to look beyond the steep price tag and see what was inside the gaudy-looking walls. After handing over my ticket I was ushered right into a performance hall with water, fake pirate ship, swinging ropes, and a few other random props. After a couple of minutes the show started with loud music, flashing lights, and several actors.

I foolishly thought that I had picked the better aquarium, at least according to the Lonely Planet descriptions, but I immediately questioned myself. The show was totally over the top with ridiculous acting from the humans, and barely any exhibition of the dolphins. You'll forgive me if I wasn't entranced by the apathetic-looking "mermaid." I figured the exhibitions would be much better though and was excited to check them out.

Though the tanks were much much cleaner than in Xiamen and set up in a more visually pleasing way, there was hardly anything to see! There was a bare minimum of fish and a whole heckuva lot of cheesy "submarines" models and underwater kitsch. You do get to ride one of those moving conveyer belts that nudge you past sharks, rays, and random fish, but it didn't have anything terribly exciting. The one thing in the tank that blew me away was a rusting car. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to place an automobile inside a tank for fish, but the rust seemed to be enjoying their new home.

After the aquarium I went to check out the square itself which was quite nice. There is a big monument in the center to celebrate Hong Kong's return to the mainland in 1997. This surprised me a bit, simply because it seemed like something that had been around for longer. On a hill overlooking Xinghai was a castle just begging to be explored. I walked to the base of the hill and found about a hundred steps to climb. Not one to shy away from that challenge, I started the trek. The corner stone of the castle said "2000" and upon reaching the entrance at the top, I discovered it was a shell museum. A shell museum. In a castle. That was built in the year 2000. Weird. I found out after that apparently the shell museum is only one or two rooms in the place and that no one quite knows what else is up there. Bizarre.

I walked to the beach of Xinghai Park to watch the sunset and was disppointed that the enormous zipline there was closed. It looked like a ton of fun, but the trip was still worth it because of the sunset over the boats in the distance. I got back to the rest of the fellows in time to greet the Princeton-in-Asia Program Director, in town for the annual site visit. We had an excellent dinner together and then said goodbyes, for I was leaving early the next morning.

The plane ride was uneventful except for the fact that I went to the bathroom and discovered that the sink was full of vomit. So I went to the other bathroom. You know what? That sink was full of vomit as well. What gives? I'm not sure if it's bad luck following me around or a strange China-thing, but I see a lot of vomit in China. On the bus to the botanical gardens in Shenyang there was also a girl throwing up. Walking around the streets of almost any city in China, it's relatively common to see puke on the sidewalks. Plus during my adventure in Hunan Province last year, vomit was lurking around every minibus. I have no explanation for this phenomena whatsoever, but it gives me that much more reason to take my shoes off when I enter my apartment. Gross, but true.

So that was that. I'm glad to have gotten up to the cold northeast and gotten to know the PiA-ers up there. My list for must-see locations in China is steadily getting shorter and I'm excitedly trying to plan for the next excursion. How lucky am I?
For those wishing to see pictures, you can click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157594380790768/