Lady Ho Tung in Guangzhou
This past weekend I visited Guangzhou. It takes about 2 hours to get there by train from HK. Unless you’re me and you don’t book advance tickets, and it’s a very busy Easter weekend, in which case it takes half a day and you wait in 10 different dead-end line-ups and end up taking the train from Shenzhen.
Not to worry, this delicious lunch cheered me up. You may hear from people that the food in HK is good…I will not be one of them, and I suggest you don’t believe others unless you enjoy anonymous meat in oily brown gravy (or maybe I should just stop eating at student cafeterias?).
Spent some time in the Guangzhou Museum of Art, where I had fun playing in the sculpture garden...
...and enjoyed the installation of steel cut-outs displayed inside by Israeli-English artist Zadok Ben-David. 
Not to worry, this delicious lunch cheered me up. You may hear from people that the food in HK is good…I will not be one of them, and I suggest you don’t believe others unless you enjoy anonymous meat in oily brown gravy (or maybe I should just stop eating at student cafeterias?).
Spent some time in the Guangzhou Museum of Art, where I had fun playing in the sculpture garden...
...and enjoyed the installation of steel cut-outs displayed inside by Israeli-English artist Zadok Ben-David. 
As always, Mao.
As always, the sleeping guard. Wonder whether they make them work all night, or who’s slipping sleeping pills to these guys because every guard I saw was asleep. They are much better at being photogenic than guarding the artwork. 
My travel companion, who speaks French. Not very useful with the Chinese dialect, I'm afraid. You may notice all the families in the background of this photo--white North American couples with little Asian babies. Turns out that Guangzhou is quite the adoption centre. There are little Asian babies everywhere, shops renting strollers, artists offering baby portraits, baby food sections in the restaurant menus. They are so CUUUUUTE. Don't worry, I didn't bring one home, although I was tempted. It's actually a rather lengthy process with couples staying in town for up to a month to complete the paperwork.
Here are some shots from a market in Guangzhou. As in all markets in Asia, there was the every-present, unmistakable, nasal-invading scent of dried fish. I think Bruce’s does it better (my family’s fish market). 
Detail of dried fish.
Saw these fish being cleaned and it was more like chopping firewood than anything else. 
I wanted to buy this cat for dinner, but apparently it wasn’t for sale. 
These chickens were, though. And they were fresh…
…so fresh that I lost my appetite. They are alive when they’re in those cadges there. Then the head is chopped off and they’re thrown in a bucket. I now that that the saying “to run around like a chicken with your head cut off” is true.
So I lost my appetite for chicken, and settled for this tasty looking dried frog.
This woman playing in the park was a disgrace to Canadians everywhere, but the park itself was beautiful. Shamian Island, where this park is located, was where foreigners were relegated during Canton's trading heydays. The European architecture has been preserved, giving the place a quaint, if somewhat forced, feel. 
Here are some shots of QingPing market. It sells everything that I don’t need: dried ginger, ginseng, dried mushrooms, dried scallops, dried fish (of course) and pets (at first we thought they were for food, but they were actually pets because pet-food was being sold alongside).
Antoine with starfish. 
Watched this man pick out his goldfish. It’s an art.
I thought these bags of rice for sale in the street were pretty.
As the packaging for this "teast foods" assures me: "coolfashion need Cool taste, we like the newtaste, we need he quality Here you." Sometimes it's easier to just read the Chinese.
More market shots.
A temple. Sorry, I was too lazy to climb the 17 stories up, so you'll have to crane your neck.
Burning incense for Buddha.
Grey skies, nothing but grey skies...all weekend long. No problem--life in China is teeming with activity to the degree that I barely even register the weather. If it starts to pour rain you throw a plastic bag on your head, buy a 2$ umbrella from a street vendor or better yet, affix one directly to your bicycle so that you can go about your business as usual. 
And while you're in town...why not take in a cheesy light show set to Disney-esque music.
The locals (or Chinese tourists?) love it. But I prefer taking photos of them to the actual show.
I met these two models on the train ride home, they let me take their picture.
As always, the sleeping guard. Wonder whether they make them work all night, or who’s slipping sleeping pills to these guys because every guard I saw was asleep. They are much better at being photogenic than guarding the artwork. My travel companion, who speaks French. Not very useful with the Chinese dialect, I'm afraid. You may notice all the families in the background of this photo--white North American couples with little Asian babies. Turns out that Guangzhou is quite the adoption centre. There are little Asian babies everywhere, shops renting strollers, artists offering baby portraits, baby food sections in the restaurant menus. They are so CUUUUUTE. Don't worry, I didn't bring one home, although I was tempted. It's actually a rather lengthy process with couples staying in town for up to a month to complete the paperwork.
Here are some shots from a market in Guangzhou. As in all markets in Asia, there was the every-present, unmistakable, nasal-invading scent of dried fish. I think Bruce’s does it better (my family’s fish market). Detail of dried fish.Saw these fish being cleaned and it was more like chopping firewood than anything else. I wanted to buy this cat for dinner, but apparently it wasn’t for sale. These chickens were, though. And they were fresh…
…so fresh that I lost my appetite. They are alive when they’re in those cadges there. Then the head is chopped off and they’re thrown in a bucket. I now that that the saying “to run around like a chicken with your head cut off” is true.
So I lost my appetite for chicken, and settled for this tasty looking dried frog.This woman playing in the park was a disgrace to Canadians everywhere, but the park itself was beautiful. Shamian Island, where this park is located, was where foreigners were relegated during Canton's trading heydays. The European architecture has been preserved, giving the place a quaint, if somewhat forced, feel. 
Here are some shots of QingPing market. It sells everything that I don’t need: dried ginger, ginseng, dried mushrooms, dried scallops, dried fish (of course) and pets (at first we thought they were for food, but they were actually pets because pet-food was being sold alongside). Antoine with starfish. Watched this man pick out his goldfish. It’s an art.
I thought these bags of rice for sale in the street were pretty.
As the packaging for this "teast foods" assures me: "coolfashion need Cool taste, we like the newtaste, we need he quality Here you." Sometimes it's easier to just read the Chinese.
More market shots.A temple. Sorry, I was too lazy to climb the 17 stories up, so you'll have to crane your neck.Burning incense for Buddha.Grey skies, nothing but grey skies...all weekend long. No problem--life in China is teeming with activity to the degree that I barely even register the weather. If it starts to pour rain you throw a plastic bag on your head, buy a 2$ umbrella from a street vendor or better yet, affix one directly to your bicycle so that you can go about your business as usual. And while you're in town...why not take in a cheesy light show set to Disney-esque music.The locals (or Chinese tourists?) love it. But I prefer taking photos of them to the actual show.I met these two models on the train ride home, they let me take their picture.
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