Adventures in Guangzhou!

Arriving in Batangas, we negotiated a ride to Tagytay, an area overlooking a lake within a volcano. We got ripped off on the price and stuffed into a crowded van, but sometimes that's the way it goes when you're traveling. The ride was a windy express with cool scenery and we got dropped off on just the corner we were hoping for.

We walked down Buckhead Estates Road towards Sonya's Garden, a 1.5 hectare organic garden, restaurant, and bed & breakfast. As per Juliana's recommendation, we timed it perfectly to get lunch at Sonya's and to walk around a bit. Though it was in the middle of nowhere, the place was packed. We were asked what time our reservation was for and we sheepishly admitted that we didn't have one. Somehow it didn't matter too much and we were seated immediately ahead of tons of people waiting. Maybe it was because we were a party of two or maybe because we were white but I didn't care--I was starving.

Sonya's was the sort of place that didn't have a menu. You just sat down and they served whatever they had available that day; whatever was fresh from the garden. Immediately upon sitting down I knew I was in for a satisfying experience. The first course was a massive salad bowl filled with fresh greens. Then on the side they had tons of fresh fruit, nuts, croutons, and other fixins for the salad, topped with freshly made salad dressing. It was tasty! Then we had fresh bread with different spreads (from hummus all the way to roasted eggplant and black olive tapenade. Then on to the main course: fresh pasta with different sauces and toppings including grilled salmon, chicken in cream sauce, peppers & onions, tomatoes and pesto, and a few others. Dessert was chocolate cake, taragon tea, and some fried banana creation.

I can say without hesitation that it was easily one of the best meals I've had over the last two years. It was all so fresh and so good that I didn't ever want to leave. I would have been happy just sitting in the garden and reading books between meals for the next ten years or so. Unfortunately, we didn't have that luxury so instead we walked around the massive garden for a while and enjoyed all the plants, flowers, and fragrant air.

We caught a bus back to Manila at the top of the road and we were on our way. Back in the city, we managed to meet up with Juliana again, though not without a hitch. Apparently it is impossible to call a cell phone from a land line in Manila, even from a pay phone. We were told a pay phone could do it but we tried two and neither worked so I'm unconvinced. Anyhow, I had to make friends with a random white guy in the convenience store and convince him to lend me his cell for one call. It all worked out fine though and we met up a little while later.

Dinner was a massive barbecued ribs extravaganza at another shopping center. Yum! Ali came and met us and introduced us to halo-halo, the local dessert specialty. Basically it's shaved ice, ice cream, coconut, fruit, sago, and random other stuff all mixed together in a glass. Not my thing, but pretty decent. From there we headed to a bar for a drink. The bar we went to was a pretty hip place with a DJ spinning and someone drumming live on top, all outside on a patio. I was impressed with the "scene" and with the fact that Juliana ran into a bunch of casual friends she knew. It seemed like it was possible to go out and just meet people in a way that really doesn't happen in Guangzhou. It was fun!

Back at Juliana's apartment, I checked and it turns out the Yankees were on! I watched until I fell asleep during the bottom of the 5th at around 3am. Nothing like watching baseball on vacation! We were up early once again to catch a bus back up to the airport. Two things struck me about the experience of going home. First, at a public rest stop while we were connecting buses, I went to use the restroom. It was completely disgusting and for the first time in my life I was actually supremely disappointed they didn't have a squat toilet to use--that's a weird feeling.

Second, at the Clark Airport, which is all of two gates big, the food options were infinitely than the massive Guangzhou Airport. In the space of one small room they had Mrs. Field's Cookies, a well stocked cafe, Mister Donut, and a little stand serving Jamaican Beef Patties. The patties were so good that I had three. Back in Macau, there weren't nearly as many people going through immigration and crossing the border, so we were off without a problem. After yet another bus ride from Zhuhai, we were back home in Guangzhou. We decided that it was the perfect vacation from China--clean air on the islands, beautiful beaches, people spoke English, there was great American food, and the people were nice. All in all, it was a great trip.

For pictures from the trip, click on the following link- http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157600203004383/