(*) it was the beginning of day 2 in guangzhou. i woke up and decided to head to the nature park where the dr. sun yat sen tower & 5 rams statute stood. dr. sun yat sen is a very important figure in chinese history. go ahead and wikipedia him. my feet were still on fire, but i managed a lazy walk through the park. it was extremely odd in that in a city of such aural chaos, i finally found peace & quiet. the park was huge, and as i had begun to walk with a limp at this point, i didn't get to all the areas i wanted to. but here are some pictures of what i found in the park, including a picture of my friends with whom i played the chinese version of hackey sack.
a picture i took myself of myself eating bamboo. real bamboo. it was delicious.
5 ram statute. the traditional story goes that the 5 rams provided the people of guangzhou with seeds of food during a severe and horrible draught. it is from these seeds, that the delicious and world-reknown guangzhou cuisine was born.
stereotypical asian picture taken in front of a stone relief. the stereotype comes from me holding a peace sign. whenever there was an asian individual in a picture with me, they inevitably would hold up a peace sign. i'm still not entirely sure if they know what that means, or if they just do it b/c it is something western to do. or their fingers just instinctually raise to form a V.
ridiculous tree & its roots.
a view from inside the memorial tower to dr sun yat sen, looking out from the red door entrance.
the person who walked in on me lying on the floor as i took this picture of the upper portion of the memorial tower's spire, was slightly confused.
also within the park, but not pictured, was a vietnamese senior citizen dance recital, a literal siren in the middle of the woods whose voice was gorgeous but whose origin was unknown, a glee club, and a small park convenience store called "nice shop".
(*) i walked back from the gorgeous, but humid as hell, nature area to leave and jump on my train to nanning. i finally found food on the way back at a restaurant a block down from where i was staying. my first attempt at a large restaurant only lead to one beer & only confusion. i stepped in, and as they didn't have a menu for me to look at, i pointed at what the guy in front of me ordered. i pointed at the man, then put 1 finger in the air. she repeated something. i shook my head in a manner indicating yes. then i was served what the man in front of me had ordered - a beer.
(*) i then went to the next closest restaurant, a restaurant across the street from my hotel. i had tea, appetizers, noodles, and one beer for 20 yuan. $2.60. not bad. i paid my bill and left. immediately i was chased down in the middle of a road similar in traffic congestion to michigan avenue around 3pm. all i heard was "mister, mister". i turned around, and there was my waitress. after 15 seconds in the street, she decided we should move our conversation to the SIDE of the street. this was a better choice then conversing between each other with non-functional and non-understandable mutual languages. however, the side of the street was still not as good a choice as the sidewalk. but as we were moving in the correct direction, i didn't mind.
i was surrounded by the waitress, the manager, and the under utilized security guard. after they huddled up, they determined i paid correctly. i am guessing the waitress used the wrong ticket for the table. after a few "i'm sorry"s, i was allowed to leave. i half expected to hear "mistah, mistah" again, but instead i made my last walk into the mini mall 4th floor & packed my things.
