Last post I said I'd include Bai JuYi's poem and forgot about it. So rather than scrolling all the way down again I thought I'd put the translation I have into a post that would come up on top.

On Laozi

"The ignorant speak, but the sage stays silent."
I heard this saying from Laozi.
But if Laozi knew the Way,
Why did he write a book of five thousand characters?


If you're not familiar with the name Laozi or Taoism, Laozi is the one who is said to have written the Tao te ching though I think this poem gets its point across pretty efficiently.

So now that I'm back in Zhuzhou I'm dreaming of the next trip. I keep thinking of seeing Xian where they have the terra cotta warriors and the Muslim market. I've heard the yang rou pao mo (?) a kind of lamb and bread soup is really good there. But I've also wanted to see if I could squeeze in Nanjing after having read 2 of 3 of Iris Chang's books (The Chinese in America and The Rape of Nanking) and I've heard that the memorial is very well put together. But the city I live in, Zhuzhou, is also on the border with JiangXi province where Lushan is located. Apparently, it's been home to many writers and Pearl S. Buck spent her summers there. I remember being pleasantly surprised when I read The Good Earth trilogy. I heard a lot of people say it was good and wasn't wholly sure what it was about and what it would say about life in China and after having had a few interactions with well-intentioned people who excitedly told me my name meant chicken in Chinese and tried to get me to speak Chinese (and one case where I remember someone saying he knew what he was talking about because he spent time teaching in Korea), I was feeling a little unsure about what I'd come away with. But it wasn't filled with generalizations about Asia, or some un-nuanced statement about Chinese culture and life, it was written by someone who spent time there and looked much more closely, who probably knew her audience wasn't going to be Chinese but neither did she write in a way that made her work come off as some primer on Chinese culture. It was a trilogy about the changing fortunes of one family across 3 generations and the way they worked to make sense of and succeed in the world around them. She gave a glimpse of how large China was and the events going on in different regions when the family had to migrate to feed themselves.

By the time I finished reading all of it, I realized how unfair I'd been in my wariness of this book. I can't think of anyone who has said it was a badly written book and I thought it was very successful in how it portrayed the concerns and perspectives of its characters. Without naming any events, it was pretty easy to infer roughly what time the events took place and what changes she was referring to. And how not all these changes came at the same time.

So though I realize that going to a place where a lot of writers (Bai Juyi AND Pearl S. Buck. I loved Bai Juyi's poem about Lao Tzu. I'll post it at the bottom.) lived doesn't mean that I'll find some great dedication or building there or anything, but all the same I'm sure it'd make a great visit. The scenery is supposed to be beautiful and full of places to hike around. And I saw something about a bus that goes up to Nanjing so maybe I could put the two into on holiday. That still leaves Xian though, and knowing the pace that I move at when exploring cities I'm pretty sure Xian would keep me occupied for at least a week with all its different sights.

So, I spent a lot of my traveling time missing Zhuzhou, my own bed and shower, and the people I know but now that I'm back resting and doing laundry, I'm dreaming of what next. I might have a week in May but I've heard of no other breaks coming up this term. The spring festival was the big one. I spent more than I meant to, but I guess it was worth it. I am now the proud owner of a young pu erh cake, a chunk of huo tui ham, the occasional craving for a big bowl of Yunnan's guo qiao mixian (crossing the bridge noodles), good memories of Pugaolao Village and its terraces, of day tripping around the Pearl River Delta and of trying things such as oysters with garlic, sugar cane juice, and finding a woman selling what looked like soy sauce chicken just outside the hostel. I really should have found a cooking class at some point but if nothing else, I have the big Chinese knife I received at the beginning of the school year and my own kitchen to practice in. I can do basic things like the pork and green peppers dish that I see at nearly every meal here and I'll have to look closely at the other dishes I enjoy to get a sense of how they are cut and cooked as well (maybe I should ask Pan Ayi/Aunty Pan, who fed us during orientation and who I've missed since leaving Changsha, if I can watch sometime if I don't get in her way). The eggplant slices here may not be so easy to puzzle out its ingredients as pork and peppers was if for no other reason than that pork and peppers was a pretty straightforward name and the presentation is never too fancy. I've also come to like the cauliflower here with crispy bits of pork and red peppers, and the egg soaked tofu with some other things mixed in which I've seen served in a cast iron dish with the egg sticking to the dish. I've found myself picking up on the lines to judge how things were cut at certain angles, though that still doesn't tell me everything. Maybe I'll finally find that "Rice and Friends" cooking class in Dali that is advertised everywhere in Yunnan and at least get some of the basics of Chinese cooking even if I can't have my choice in regional styles (though Yunnan never disappointed me).

Despite how cold and wet it is outside, I am really happy to be home and resting. It gives me a chance to regroup, see a different side of Zhuzhou, and both play with ideas for the next trip and play with my kitchen some more after having stepped outside of what's more readily available here (though we do have at least one Chongqing restaurant in the downtown area). I can't wait to get better at using my knife and to be more consistent in how I cut and how that will change what I cook for myself every week. My goals are to make my pork and peppers slightly less oily  (or do a better job of draining the oil before serving), to make the kind of rich stock and thin slices I need to make my own crossing the bridge noodles, to actually make ma po tofu with huajiao instead of just peppers (when we tried it in Sichuan it wasn't so great, but that may have just been the place where we ate), cook up some hot and sour soup, and eventually do a better job of making a well balanced meal for myself. I guess I am kind of at an advantage here in being able to switch over to Chinese food a little more readily than some who found themselves equipped with a rice cooker, a wok, and a big knife upon entering their kitchen. Remembering how to season a wok without an oven took a bit of work but I got there, and it's served me well on nights I just go out and grab some chicken and bean sprouts for a fast and easy stir fry. I read something about how there are 7 essentials to a Chinese kitchen and opened my cabinet to find that I'd automatically bought 6 of them. I have tea, rice, vinegar, soy sauce, salt, oil and i'm only missing firewood. But my stove runs on gas and I have heating so I guess I'm set. It's also just been cheaper to make a soup or a stir fry than it has been to go out to Carrefour, Vanguard, or WalMart for a stick of butter that will set me back about 30 yuan. I used to want it for toast but now I've even traded my breakfast habits for tea eggs or egg folded in shao bing in the morning. More often tea eggs. I love getting up and holding warm tea eggs on a cold morning before teaching. I tend to move out of my bed earlier too so I can buy them next to the school. I still seem to be buying coffee, but I have  big bag of tie guan yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy) tea that I brew and put into a thermos to both wake me up, help digestion, and keep my hands warm for the first part of the morning. Trading my habits for their Chinese equivalents has proven to be much cheaper than trying to recreate Western food too often. Though since Hunan cuisine is often quite oily (I've talked to people who also say they notice that after being here for a while they reach for sugar a little more often than they would in the states) I guess it's just for the better to try cutting some of it by drinking tea.

Now that I've left Yunnan I keep thinking about the traditional pharmacies I walked past and some of Yunnan's famous medicines (there's a white medicine that uses 100 herbs and another one that mixes into tea) and wondering if I should have invested in a few grams. Though Yunnan white medicine didn't seem to address anything ailing me so that's part of why I skipped out. More often, when I'm feeling poorly the first thing I do is ask if I've eaten much fruit recently and that usually helps me perk up. Some have said that you have to make an effort to eat enough vegetables with all the pork that goes into food here but I've been fine with vegetables, it's reminding myself to finish each meal with an orange and a small bottle of Yakult that I have to make an effort to do. While I don't buy into everything traditional medicine has to say about food, it is really important to maintain a balance and since coming back to wet Hunan I do find myself thinking about more about dishes with Sichuan peppercorn which is said to be great for people living in humid places. And I did find it interesting that while I spent a hot humid summer in Changsha I was reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food that mentioned some research that found very hot places tended to have very hot food. So maybe my changing dietary habits are influenced by the climate I've found myself in too, a natural response to being in a place where moderate temperatures only come for a brief period and you need those peppers to heat your body in winter and cool you down in the summer. Maybe part of the Chinese approach to food is also related to an awareness of its regionalism, that one province and its people will have different conditions and slightly different health needs as a result of those conditions.  When I went out looking for pu erh, I heard that part of the popularity of Yunnan's tea was due to what nutrients it provided to the people who subsisted on primarily meat in places they couldn't grow a lot of vegetation and to people who primarily ate seafood. It seems to me anyway, that Chinese people have long been aware of the needs of their various dietary habits

In general, I do enjoy trying different foods and getting a sense of regional cuisines as I travel around. I know it was part of why I enjoyed going around Italy and here in China with its definite food/health culture that part of me seems to have grown despite the statistics I've looked at (1 in 10 out of home meals cooked with oil pulled from the gutters) and my awful time over the sink in Hong Kong. I guess it's a more accessible way for me to grasp at how big China is and how much it has to offer, as well as the ways people take what's given to them and work to make use of all they can. I know that certain regional cuisines or dishes tend to predominate in the US so it's also been quite satisfying to not only eat but watch cooks or street vendors at work. It's not as if there's a cookbook available for all the things you find out here, and honestly I've had to accept that some foods are just better left in the hands of specialists and trained people. I wouldn't dare to ferment my own stinky tofu though I love going out onto the street and getting freshly fried and covered in peppers, green onion, and cilantro. And roast duck is always delicious, but I don't think I ever experienced Beijing duck until I came here. I kept thinking that it almost looked like what I ate back in California but now I realize what I remember eating back home was probably Cantonese style roast duck. I felt a little lost the first time I came home with a bag of thin pancakes, thick green onion stalks, and two bags of dark savory sauce because I had no experience with eating that way. I used to want to try roasting one on my own but after watching the insane skill it takes to cut a bird into the exact number of pieces that  Beijing duck has to be cut into (about 100 something) I have to concede that getting the right bird, finding the right wood and roasting conditions, cooking it properly and then cutting it properly is outside of my realm. People spend years just learning how to cook a duck right and I couldn't do it justice in my home kitchen. My favorite duck vendor out on the street probably isn't doing it in the true Beijing fashion and I'm still impressed by how fast she slices, drains, skins, cuts, sorts, and bags everything within minutes of me pointing out which duck I want. I'll have to film her cutting off the neck and getting the skin off intact someday. It's just incredible. I wish I had that level of expertise and control with my knife.

I'll close off this lengthy post here. I guess after looking for cheap places to eat while traveling for so long my mind turns to food more readily. I used to think the greeting "Have you eaten?" was primarily about China's food culture but I've since found that it's pretty key to understanding both its food culture and the very practical need to eat in a place where people have struggled to eat enough at times.

So last post was pretty much about how frustrated I was with not catching a bus on time for my room reservation and missing out on half my reservation (my numbers were off and I realized later that I had two nights). I have to admit, for a while I looked at the 7 hour sleeper bus ride it was going to take, the time it would take to get back, and the time I had in Yuanyang and asked myself if it was all worth it. I'm happy say it was:

Initially, these rice terraces formed by the Hani over 1000(?) years ago were the only thing that I knew about, the only big draw I'd heard of, and the only thing I found in a guidebook while wondering if there was something special going on in winter that I should check out. But since I stayed at Sunny Guesthouse in Pugaolao Village and pretty much slept next to the terraces, I found the whole area to be extremely pleasant. Given the nature of the terraces, they can't really industrialize how the red rice is grown and harvested here. I've read travel websites and guidebooks that talk about how great it is that this place is relatively untouched by tourism, but I don't know if it's entirely true when they've built viewing platforms you need to pay to enter. It's true though that since it's not the easiest place to get to, it's not really got a lot of other things going on for tourists. I would totally go back here, maybe even in its off season when the terraces aren't full of water since I really enjoyed my neighbors, a bunch of little girls who were always playing and singing together at all times of the day. One of them showed me to the guesthouse and I wound up giving her both the cakes I had in my bag in exchange for her help and she always smiled at me whenever I walked past.

Maybe I should go back to that first day of arriving. It was the 18th, New Year's Eve. After resting on the bus as best as I could, a man came on with a flashlight asking if anyone was going to DuoYiShu and I said yes. So I walked out at (6? 7?) some dark hour of the morning, loaded up into a minibus with one woman and two men and we set off for DuoYiShu. When we arrived at the viewing area, I asked if he could tell me where the parking lot of Pugaolao Village was. The other man siting up front heard me struggling with my Chinese and he spoke to me in English. We all got out at Pugaolao and they seemed bothered by me traveling alone so they walked with me down a to convenience store that a local man had set up in his house. The man called a friend who spoke English and had me talk to him, the woman who traveled with us stared and said "You don't understand?" as she tried to work out my nationality and my appearance. So the man who ran the shop walked me partway before asking a woman with a big-eyed baby to help me out, she walked me partway then asked a little girl to help me out and she got me to the guesthouse. Dante had Virgil and Beatrice, but I got 4 guides on my journey through what felt like paradise despite how tired I was. Cool, clean morning air, sun already risen over the terraces, roads with water running down the gutters everywhere and taking advantage of the mountain that this village is built on, little girls in traditional Hani tunics, blue sky, and all of it more than welcome after the time I've spent in cold and wet Hunan. The change in the air was the first thing I noticed as the bus came up the mountain since I couldn't see much outside my window at night.

So I've experienced my first set back in traveling during the period of the world's biggest human migration as people head home to see family and friends for the new year. I showed up at the bus station at about 8:30AM, got frustrated because the woman running the ticket desk just kind of left and I was standing in line long enough that I had to get into another line. And then I found out that all buses to Yuanyang were booked for the day. I was really upset, but I guess I should have followed my initial anxiety when I got here feeling like I needed to arrange everything right away. So now instead of riding the bus for 7 hours to be there on the evening of the 16th, I get to ride the 7pm bus, arrive at 1AM on the 18th, spend the night of the 19th in DuoYiShu, and then run out again on the 20th. I want to cry and I'm so mad at myself for overlooking this because I've never had problems getting bus tickets on the day of travel before, but it wasn't the new year and they had more buses than just three a day. I'm not looking forward to spending the night on a bus...

I emailed the guesthouse so they would know and decided to call to be doubly sure that they knew my situation. They didn't sound too thrilled that I booked and paid ahead during their high season and was unable to make it out there...so now I feel even worse about being this stupid. And here I thought I'd done just about everything I could to ensure I had my accomodation and travel options sorted out but no, I guess I'm just some idiot kid after all. I won't ask for my money back for the obvious reason that it's not fair to them when their rooms are probably in high demand right now...but ugh I'm just so upset with my incompetence. On the bright side of things, I get one more night in Kunming and the bus station isn't quite as far away as before, but still! I guess I'll try to relax and make sure I'm ready to go with whatever happens tomorrow because this was the best I could do to still see the terraces, so here's a picture of crossing the bridge noodles before I tossed everything in together.

And a strange sight I found in a Gloria Jean's coffee shop just before leaving Macau:

So here I am taking stock of my things and food should I find that it's difficult to make my way to a store that's open during the holidays. I've noticed that the noodle shop I really liked my first night here has been closed since last night and I think some of the smaller shops are closing up as people leave for the holidays. Places like Wal-Mart and Carrefour have become difficult to navigate (at least compared to Zhuzhou) as people stock up decorations and gifts. I imagine bigger places like them will be open during the new year period.

So I never made it out to the bamboo temple (takes a bit of work changing buses and ultimately takes at least 40 minutes if not an whole hour to get out there). So no surfing arhats.But the city itself has been really pleasant and I'd be happy just staying and wandering here. I've come to know a few people who are living at the hostel too and they've been really nice. Traveled a lot too so we've talked about our different impressions of different countries.

Speaking of impressions, I can't help noticing how there are police everywhere and now there's a truck stationed nearby the market I've been walking through frequently. I asked some of the others who are staying here if there's always been a lot of police and they said that it's been that way since they got here. Little police pods watching traffic all the time throughout the city. But I know about some of the terrible events that took place last year and I'm leaving from the very train station where they took place. I also received an email saying to remain aware of my surroundings in case anything happens during the new year period so that may contribute somewhat to my sensitivity to all the police. But I've felt very safe here and see why so many think they'd like to come back and work here in Kunming. Just as in Cuernavaca, "City of Eternal Spring" and my first chance to go abroad in high school, the sun is out and the flowers are blooming in February. It's beautiful, the air is pretty clear, the sky is blue, the streets are pretty clean...every now and again you run into a kid peeing on the street but I don't feel like I've had to look behind myself for advancing motor scooters quite as often as I do in Zhuzhou. I walked out to find Tian Fu Famous Teas and went along Dongfeng and Nanping Jie and found it to be a very different world from the relatively quiet Zhuan Tang park. Zhuan Tang has people dancing, fishing, sitting on couches by the lake, cleaning ears, and getting a shave. Nanping Jie feels more like a busy modern city with tall buildings, international supermarkets and fast food chains, brand name stores, and kids in teeny paddle boats in shallow pools where they're parents can observe them while grabbing a snack. You can find people participating in all kinds of activities in Green Lake (Cui Hu) park as well but there's more touristy merchandise and candy. And people selling bread for the birds.

So I'm leaving the Cantonese speaking part of China and though I didn't get to everything, I did knock quite a bit off my list. I'm now moving on to Yunnan province, to the capital city of Kunming after a boat ride to the Shenzhen airport. I meant to catch a slow train but every single train for the date I wanted was full. Maybe I could have asked for standing room but that would have been 24 hours of standing with my stuff (or bringing my own seat). So flying it is. While it is sad to leave some of the conveniences of having more available in English and I feel like I've just begun to really enjoy Macau, I have been looking forward to seeing the surfing arhats and in particular, to going out to DuoYiShu for a few days. The terraces look gorgeous and the there's a large Hani community there as well so I have an opportunity to learn a little about one of China's many minority groups. In fact, the Hani made the rice terraces that so many come to see filled with water and colors in the winter. And though I'm missing out on the things going on in big cities for the new year, I've also heard that more rural areas tend to use more firecrackers in their new year celebrations...I guess it'll be like trying to sleep when they have big events or a new business opening up in Zhuzhou.

Since I'm leaving Guangdong and the SARs behind, I'll give some very quick information about Yunnan province. Yunnan borders 3 different countries and is home to about 25-28 different ethnic minorities (nearly half of China's 56 recognized ethnic groups). As a result of this, the food has a lot of different  influences and I was surprised to learn that cheese makes up part of the culinary traditions here. So of course, I'm looking forward to trying everything. I'm already happy to report that I've found massive bowls of noodles for 8 yuan across the street and that the streets around my hostel are full of eating options.

I can't say I've really got a lot on my list here. I've already mentioned the Bamboo temple a few times but it looks like a few days of just wandering and eating. Which is more than fine by me! I'm thinking of finding a cake of pu'er (bo lay) tea while I'm here as well. I think I'll need it by the time I've eaten my way across Kunming. I hear that they do roast duck with honey here and my nose is on the lookout...

So after an hour long boat ride that I pretty much slept through, I arrived in Macau from Hong Kong. I changed my money (but I've seen found that it's not unusual to find places that take Hong Kong dollars or list prices in two currencies) and caught a taxi down to the hotel. I thought about walking and for a while was looking at buses on the map I picked up but ultimately decided that I should just find someone who knew the way since I'd get a sense of the place in a few days anyway. And it hasn't been too hard though it's somewhat startling to find a bus ride costs 3.20 Macau pataca when a bus ride in Zhuzhou costs 1 yuan. It's also annoying that 10 cent coins here are teeny little things so finding that 20 cents has been a little tough and at times I've had to just drop in a 5 pataca coin and get on. My head's still a little funny, but the sun's come out in Macau and that's been nice.

Though I've never been to Portugal, it has been kind of nice to be somewhere with a more European influence. On my first night here, I bought a package of presunto (cured ham) and a cider to enjoy. Weirdly, imported beer here seems to be a little cheaper but soda is more expensive (5 pataca for a sprite as opposed to 2.5 yuan). The tiles along the streets and some of the arcades remind me at times of wandering through Italy too. I've come to like it here since it's got a lot of things available but the parts I've been through don't feel as overwhelming as Hong Kong. There are signs of the coming new year everywhere. I passed by a spot where they're setting up a flower fair (which sadly, as I chose to go to little DuoYiShu for new year's week I'm missing the flower festivals and big events going on down here), there are lights and zodiac animals (sheep especially) everywhere, and signs are posted for the firecrackers and festivities that are coming later this month.

Aside from wandering, I've made it out to one casino/hotel, walked to Jardim Lou Lim Leoc (Lou Lim Leoc Garden), seen the ruins of St. Paul's, and have been eating all kinds of junk. One of my favorite places to wander through is a market near the hotel where I've been able to pick up all kinds of lai see, eat cheaply, and stare hungrily at the roast meat carts. It's also where I've been getting a simple but filling chicken soup quite cheaply and I feel pretty good every time I grab a cup.

Macau has also been my opportunity to connect with distant (in just about every sense of the word) family. I tried to call my distant cousin before leaving on break but either I forget the code I needed, was told that all Macau numbers needed another 6 digits, or when I finally got through, was unable to communicate and was simply told "BYE BYE" when I spoke English. I had an address, but I wasn't sure if I would need to find out the address in both Chinese and Portuguese or not in order to send a card. I decided not to take chances and was told that the address I had was for his office so I made up my mind to take a day to go find the office and ask about my cousin. The first day I went out there was the weekend, so though I discovered that the place was a 7 minute walk from my hotel, everything was dark and shuttered. So I tried again on Monday, found the lights were on but no one was there so I decided to eat a late lunch and come back. I found a woman and a man at work and said "Hello" and asked about Hin but they didn't look to sure about what I wanted until I showed the card I wrote to the man who asked if I wanted him to give that to my cousin. Not being totally sure what else I should say or do, I said yes and thank you. So if nothing else, he has a "gong hay fat choy", a cell number, and a mailing address from me. And he'll also know that I'm on the mainland until June. Maybe I could have done this better to communicate my presence, but I wasn't sure. I really wanted to say something to him earlier but this works as well. But for knowing next to nothing about Macau, I have to say that finding a hotel a short walk away is pretty good.

So as I mentioned before I was in pretty bad shape in Hong Kong. I think I know what got me and it may not have been the noodles at all. On my last full day I decided to skip out on the hot water kettle in the common area altogether and my head seemed clearer. So I did get a day to kind of check everything off my list short of going to the history museum (and I didn't pick up any of the fancy lai see I meant to, but that's OK). I ate a small spread of char siu bao, jung, and jook at 10AM, I got my hair trimmed at a nearby hair salon where they spoke a little English (I picked it because it seemed more reputable than the other place inside offering a "cut and shampool"), rode around on the star ferry, went up steep hills to Man Mo temple, and ended the whole thing by seeing the symphony of lights show they advertise everywhere.

All in all, though it may have been a bit much at times I can see Hong Kong's appeal. I did enjoy being able to communicate with more people who spoke English, my eating options (when I could eat), seeing how people dress differently here than where I'm located, and I suppose just the variety of things you can expect in a major city. It's certainly very different from Hunan. I'd like to go back, but maybe next time I'll spend a little extra for a room with a window and try to go outside of Tsim Sha Tsui and the crazy walkways leading from the Central star ferry pier. While I'm not a big shopper, I wish I had seen more of the shops. I found Man Wa lane (Chop Alley) towards the end of the day and though I've pretty much got my heart on buying a name chop from Zhuzhou, I can't deny that the options here in Hong Kong were pretty enticing. You could pick all kinds of stones and they had helpful charts showing you the different styles they could use in carving your name. Some of them were really brightly colored and who knows? Maybe I'll find myself with a small collection someday because I just can't choose. But since I have wanted one for a while, I think I'll stick to making sure the one I get in China is meaningful to me. I've been thinking that since this coming year is the year of the sheep and I was born in the year of the sheep, I'll probably ask for my chop to give a nod to that.

So I've arrived in Hong Kong but I had a bit of a rough start. I thought my laptop was hibernating while I was out for a while but I came back to find it extremely hot. I could hear it the next day but nothing came up on the monitor. In addition to that, I picked up an easy dinner of noodles from 7-11 because I was tired and I spent half my day spitting into the sink and everytime I tried to go out or thought it was over, my body rebelled and I found myself hunched over the sink and the toilet again. So...I seem to be ok when it comes to street food, but not cup of noodles. Blegh. I'm not sure how early I was up, but I beat my 6AM alarm and basically didn't leave until 2PM when I asked the front desk if there was a computer repair shop nearby, but he didn't seem to understand so I took out my cell phone to find something through the wifi. Long story short, I felt really exhausted and ready to collapse, but also realized I stood a better chance of finding someone I could talk to in English about my laptop here. The metro stop was pretty close (Sam Shui?) but as ever, "people mountain, people sea". I was feeling really hot and when I found a place to ask about my laptop, it just started working again which was great but it also meant that hot, tired, and sick me had to get back on the metro. Thankfully, there was a supermarket near the metro exit so I ducked in for yogurt drinks, fruit, a bottle of water, and a box of green tea. Being in bed and spitting up all morning meant that I hadn't eaten anything since last night but I could feel an unpleasant sensation in my throat whenever I thought of how I felt this morning. I seem to be better now though, the yogurt and fruit are probably just what I need. So I'll try again tomorrow to go sightseeing since the ferry terminal is just down the street and I've heard a ride is 2.50HKD. It'd be a good way to see things without rushing off somewhere.

To be honest, Hong Kong is feeling like a little much due to both my rough start and just how different it is from Zhuzhou. There's so much packed in here, but I admit I expected Hong Kong to be more difficult to move around. Maybe I'll find other parts of the city are different. I'm trying to enjoy all that's available to me all of a sudden but also thinking of how quiet the rice terraces will be in a little over a week. So I will try again tomorrow, there's a dim sum place close by and I'm sure that once I get into the swing of things, it'll be nice! I'm already impressed by how people wait for each to get off the subway before rushing on and how many people are just speaking English as I pass them.Blurry

I tried to make it out to Foshan the day after coming back from Zhongshan, but as I mentioned before I struggled a little. And I found out that the GuangFo metro line wasn't under construction after all so I didn't need the bus. Three metro stops from where I was staying and I was at the end of metro line 1 and the beginning of the GuangFo line that took me to Zu Miao. My only real concrete plans were to go to the Nan Feng dragon kiln (there are three left in China and Foshan has the oldest one, it's over 500 years old) and possibly catch an opera performance at 2pm at Zu Miao temple.Since it was still pretty early, I wandered a bit to find my bus and head out to the kiln first. It took a while for it to register just how big the twin kilns were (30 meters). It's still in use too. Anyway, since traveling to Cortona I seem to have made a habit of picking up a ceramic item wherever I go and the area around the kiln was definitely the place to do that. I resisted for a while and found myself back at the window of one particular shop eyeing the zodiac teapots. So I am now the proud owner of a small sheep teapot. It's been my one big purchase thus far aside from getting a violin in ZhuZhou. I'd have loved to stay longer but I also get the feeling that I could have spent a lot of time just staring at tea cups so I took one last walk around the kiln and the surrounding area and caught the bus back to Zu Miao.

Zu Miao temple was a bit of a strange place for me. It was kind of an all in one culture and heritage site where you could light incense to Bei Di (the north god), watch some Cantonese opera, check out tributes to Ip Man and Wong Fei Huang, see some dancing and kung fu demonstrations, look at woodcarvings, visit a Confucian temple, look at an old boat, and buy Foshan's famous paper art. It was fun and Cantonese opera actually wasn't quite as unbearable as I wondered about (to my ears anyway). It definitely drew an older crowd. I've been told that interest in Chinese opera has been fading, and that the experience of going to Chinese opera is quite different from what we'd expect during a Western opera. People who go to such shows are usually familiar with the work and the stories so they just kind of wander out for a smoke and come back for their favorite parts. But it was a good way for me see it at a relatively cheap price without having to pay for a whole show in the opera house (and possibly find that the highly stylized movements, singing, and face makeup was hard for me to take).