Back to the Motherland (Guangzhou)

After a few days in Shanghai we flew straight to Guangzhou, China. Thankfully Guangzhou is one of the few cities in China where we can speak cantonese and everyone understands. The main reason why I wanted to go is to see where my parents grew up and how they met. The city is a bit of a mess right now since they are preparing for the 2010 Asian Games. Most of the roads and tourist attractions were being repaired so it was difficult to walk around. Personally, I found Guangzhou people to be a lot more civilized than the ones we encountered in Shanghai. I felt the city was more similar to Hong Kong than China. The whole time we were there we didn't get pushed or shoved, lol.

We arrived at the Guangzhou airport to be picked up by my uncle from Hong Kong that I've never met. Luckily he printed and lamenated a photo of me for reference:


I like how he printed a current picture of me as well as one when I was 8 and one of my mom. =|


Once we got our luggage and met up with my uncle we checked into our hotel, which was pretty clean and spacious. Instead of resting we walked over to the Pearl River to take pictures, went to Beijing Road where there are lots of stores and snack vendors, and visited the apartment my mom grew up in.

Picture with my aunts and uncle along the Pearl River.

According to my mom once you go up the stairs and open the door there is 4 seperate rooms that housed 4 different families. There was a communal washroom and kitchen and that's about it.


After all of that walking we finally took a train to dinner. We went to a chinese restaurant to try a few traditional Guangzhou dishes. My uncle also shared stories of my parents when they were dating, which was very entertaining.

The next day we woke up fairly early to have dim sum at the hotel's restaurant then off we went to my dad's old house (much bigger than my mom's):




Then we visited the Chen's Lineage Hall, which is where the Chen family lived.



Above is the altar where the Chen family used to pray to their ancestors. Through numerous generations the altar would be filled with pieces of wood with the names of the deceased carved onto it.


While we were walking to and from I took a random picture of this guy hanging out. Keep in mind that day was really hot.




We also went to Yuexiu Park where people can fish, play basketball and even climb the mountain. We were too exhausted to do any of that. At night Norm and I went back to Beijing Road and shopped a bit. Then we went for a relaxing (and very cheap) massage at the hotel. The next morning we took a direct train back to Hong Kong. Overall, I really enjoyed seeing where my parents grew up and being able to take lots of pictures to show them how much Guangzhou has changed.

-Mandy

China Round 2

So after going 5 days with China in Beijing, we went to Shanghai to live with my aunt and potentially check out the Shanghai Expo. We went to the ghetto Shen Zhen and caught a flight to Shanghai.

First day, we went the Expo. It was raining that day so I was hoping that the amount of people at the Expo was going to be lower. BOY was I wrong. I suppose people came from all over China to check out the Expo - foreigners were very few and far between there. Another thing that I noticed was the difference in culture between people in Hong Kong and people in China. People in China don't seen to understand the concept of personal space as well as as queuing up for a line. Lining up for exhibits and the boat across really was a test of patience. We ended up looking at the North Korean and the United Emerites exhibit and some of the theme exhibits. Of course, the China Pavililion would take 6 to 8 hour wait, but I took a picture in front of it just to show that I was there.


However, after one day, I had enough of the pushing and shoving and the dirty bathrooms of the Expo. The second day, we went to check out some of the tourist attractions like the Yu Gardens, and some other tourist destinations. However, it was just as packed with people and I was starting to feel slightly irritated with the density of people. But, Shanghai is still fun - just go at a time when half of China isn't there. One thing that made it all worthwhile is the Xiao Long Bao! Mmmmm.....


Also the massages there were pretty good and cheap (no happy endings) =P

Hong Kong Jockey Club

Due to insistence from the #1 fan of the blog (my mom), this post will catch on everything since I left Japan.

One of the coolest places in Hong Kong that I didn't go to last time was the Hong Kong Jockey Club Racetrack. Courtesy of my cousin, we went to the box seats away from the crazy hustle and bustle and to a place where there exists an all you can eat buffet with lobster, foie gras, sushi, lamb chops, steak and much more. Needless to say, I feasted.


Also, horse betting is actually very fun. Learning the different bets (Quinella Place, Trio, Place, etc) was good as I won't be an idiot if I ever decide to go to a racetrack. I lost money, but Mandy and my aunt won quite a bit. I did win a bit on a few races though. Afterwards, Lum Fong, aka Raymond Lam and Joey came out to sing. He was okay... I guess.


Next entry will be when we go to the Big Six aka China!

Tokyo Part Deux

So, are you burning to know what happened on the fourth, fifth, sixth AND seventh day in Tokyo? Well, you're in luck - I will divulge everything (to the best of my recollection).

The fourth day of Tokyo was an early day. I typically don't wake up early unless it is for an extremely good reason, but that day we went to the Tsukuji Fish Market. Also known as the place where the fishermen sell their fish right after they catch them. We stopped by a sushi restaurant nearby and ate some FOB fish. The FOBs were delicious. My personal favourite was the sea urchin, with the fatty tuna a close second. If that wasn't enough, we went for some Chirashi don (raw fish on a bed of rice) RIGHT after. Oh Japan, you've ruined my palette for sushi now. I dread eating sushi in Toronto now...


(This cost 3500 yen!)


Chirashi-don, but it wasn't as good as the fish market restaurant.


Picture of the fish market. Next year the fish market will be re-located to a more remote area.

After that, we went to Ginza to check out the masssssive Muji there as well as the Sony entertainment store. We took a look at the 3D TV technology, and I was quite surprised how sharp it was. Though, realistically, it just looks like layers of 2D TV stacked in front of one another. However, my foot started acting out that day so I went back to the hotel early to rest. However, Mandy continued and went to Roppongi. There was a cool store that sold a lot of kawaii (cute) stuff. [Mandy's note: We went to Roppongi Hills, which is a relatively newer shopping area. The interior design of the mall was simplistic and serene; lots of water falls and bamboo trees inside the mall! We found a Joel Robuchon bakery inside the mall and I had a very delicious peach tart. It was so good I went back to buy one for Norm.]



On the fifth day, we checked out DisneySea... not Disneyland, but DisneySea, which is an exclusive park available in Japan. It was actually quite good, we stayed for the whole day and watched fireworks and the water/fire show. With my awesome skills, I managed to win a Stitch doll from the carnival games! Plus most importantly, I pushed Mandy to go on her first roller coaster ever! Check out Mandy's expression when we went on the Tower of Terror. [Mandy's note: I'm willing to go on a roller coaster but I still can't convince Norm to watch the Sex in the City movie. Sigh]



On the sixth day, we went to follow a tour to check out Mt. Fuji. If my foot was okay we would've hiked up the mountain but we had to settle for a tour. The peak stations had some really beautiful scenery - mountains shrouded with wispy white fog.



We went for a boat ride, and were supposed to take the cable cars to check out the scneery. However, it was raining quite heavily and the cable cars weren't open in case of lightning. So instead they gave us aquarium passes. It was kind of cool I guess, though I would have preferred to go on the cable cars. Though, we did see some fish, penguins, jelly fish, crabs and other cool crustaceans.



Lastly, we took the bullet train (shinkansen) back and a typical 90 minute journey was shortened to simply 30 minutes. The infrastructure in Japan/Asia is just amazing.

The last day was an easy day. Did some light shopping and we went to the Airport. Note to self: take the Narita Airport Express when going to the airport rather than the ordinary JR express. A 2 hour commute could have been a 30 minute commute with an additional 1500 yen or 15 dollars. Luckily I had my DS with me.

Sayonara Japan. I will miss you and your delicious food. (Mandy bought some 800 yen grapes and went crazy with happiness.)


Norman-san

Tokyo

We just got back from Tokyo and I already miss the food! The plane ride was only 4 hours but it took a good 10 hours from our place in HK to checking in to our hotel thanks to Tokyo's efficient but very confusing train system:



The sad thing is that picture only shows the railway system and not the subway system, which connects some of the existing stations. We were advised to stay in Shinjuku because of the infamous red light district. (See how long it takes for you to find the station on the map!) There were always these anime guys on the streets giving out flyers to locals but we couldn't figure out what they were soliciting.

On the second day we went to Asakusa (north east of Tokyo) to check out the famous Senso-ji Temple. We learned that before entering the temple you have to wash your hands (left and then right) and rinse your mouth with water.




Outside of the temple there were tons of food and souvenir vendors. We snacked a bit and headed to a tempura restaurant. Japanese tempura is distinctively different from Toronto's - it's a smooth, thing layer of batter instead of flakey. After lunch we headed to Akihabara, known as Electric Town. We walked the streets, checked out an enormous 7-storey electronics store that has an area for DSi players to play together, saw a Gundam Cafe with a huge line-up, played TYPING OF THE DEAD, and went to dinner at a tapas restauarant.



On the third day, we started the day off like every other: a quick breakfast at the local convenient store before we headed to Harajuku to visit the Meiji shrine and Harajuku girls! The Meiji shrine is inside Yoyogi Park, the largest park in Tokyo.



It was a great change of scenery since Tokyo like Hong Kong is full of skyscrapers. Unfortunately, I think we entered/exited through the wrong exit and missed the Harajuku girls =( We did a bit of shopping before we went to lunch at a burger joint. According to Norm it was the best burger he ever ate!



After we re-fueled we walked to Shibuya and witnessed the most busy intersection crossing in the world. It was scary to see how many people cross every single light change.



We didn't do too much shopping because the Japanese are crazy! Each store delegates one employee (sometimes two) to stand on a chair and yell in a high-pitched voice to attract customers. It's too chaotic for me to even browse. Eeeeek

For dinner we went to a revolving sushi restaurant for the first time. The sushi wasn't amazing but it's cool to pick and choose exactly what you want. For those of you who haven't tried it basically you grab the dishes you want off the conveyor belt. At the end of your meal the cashier counts your number of dirty dishes. Different coloured dishes represents different prices.



My overall impression of Tokyo is that the girls wear way too much make up and feet crushing high heels but the people are super nice and the food is amazing!! That's it for now... Norm will continue with the rest of the trip.

-M