We arrived in Guangzhou, China on Thursday afternoon after a 2 hours delayed in Jakarta. The views from above were amazing, unfortunately my camera was out of reach (stowed in the overhead bin with my backpack) but you can see rows after rows of apartments buildings and more high rises buildings.
I was pretty tired after we got back to the apartment not merely from the flight but from all the running around and lack of sleep since a few days before our trip here. Hubby asked us to go to a mall nearby where there's also a supermarket to get some stuffs early in the evening. "Don't worry the mall close late here" he assured me. So off we walked down to the mall and although it is not too far its also not that close either. He then explained to me that he had learnt to walk slow here due to the humidity level, one could literately sweat so much with a paced walk. He also pointed out to the other passerby who really does walks a bit slower and looks as if they're just strolling for some fresh air LOL.
At the supermarket I was surprised to see that one must handed their bags (even diaper bag!) to this lady at a small counter before you enter the place to have it put inside what looks like a large red shopping bag then she will zipped it up then put some kind of a lock on the zipper. It looks like those security tag you see hanging from clothes on a large department store that will buzz an alarm if you try take it out of the store. "To prevent thieves" my husband explained. So I just took one sippy cup out and had the lady bagged my bag.
The supermarket is crowded and big, similar to ones in Jakarta. However, with my dark skin, a white husband, and a toddler, we really does stands out like a sore thumb. People stare at us. It is nothing new for me because people in Indonesia does this too, the only difference here is people obviously will stare at you. At least Indonesians will 'pretend' that they're not staring LOL. These people will drive by and still stare at you (well, on this case pushing their shopping carts and stare at you until they're too far to look. One thing that I learnt from the supermarket expedition is the Chinese people will bumped you or even hit you with their carts without a care, just like one lady did to me while I was walking while carrying Alex. Her shopping cart successfully hit the back of my feet pretty hard and as I turned around to see her, she act as if nothing's wrong without one trace of 'I'm sorry' on her face. Hubby then explained that the Chinese doesn't flag out their apology like the western does and I said well in Jakarta, people will at least says 'sorry'. But I guess, it's just part of their culture. Another shocker was people will obviously stare and scan the contents of your shopping cart. I personally think that is kinda rude but then again, this is China!
Another TCM (This is China Moment) happened when I keep spotting guys (both young and elderly Chinese) walking around inside the mall and supermarket with their bellies hanging out because they pull their shirts up high to their chest. It is understandable that the heat and humidity is indeed very bad (plus the aircon inside the mall is not very accommodating). Let's just say that I need to get used to this un-pretty sights from now on LOL.
I haven't seen any one spitting like I've been 'warned'. In general, the people are so friendly and smile at you a lot. Although, I feel like a total alien here only equipped with two chinese words of "Ni hao" and "Xie xie" while the people down to the security guards at our apartments seems to love to chat and will chatter in Cantonese (that's the language most people in GZ uses) in a lightening speed. I had tried to find a cantonese dictionary in Jakarta to no avail and only have a picture dictionary of Mandarin. Luckily, hubby already picks a few words after being here for two months now.
The apartment complex is actually a nice one. Plenty of tress, nice landscapes, clean, equipped with lots of security guards and it's a gated community. However, there's one thing that I have to get used to, seeing my neighbours laundry hanging at their balconies. A dryer is often times beyond reach to these people who's like Indonesians are more accustomed to sun dry their laundry. Can't help but compare it to the rules some apartments have in Indonesia about this. Well, I used to work in one apartment complex who completely banned this practice. I remember my ex boss used to say "If these people can afford to live in an apartment complex, then they surely can afford a dryer machine". However, with a skyrocketing population of over 6 million people living in GZ alone, almost everyone lives in apartments nowadays. Thanks God, I had successfully persuaded my husband to get us a dryer LOL.
Its been a rainy season here and one cannot predict the weather as it might rain suddenly, thus the high humidity level. After a brief worrisome period about pollutions in GZ, I'm relieved to know that we're not living in downtown GZ where pollution is on its highest. We lives in Huadu district, approximately 20-30 minutes away from the city. Here, although still very hot, I can still see some blue skies especially after it rains. Maybe the rain does good by clearing up the air from any unseen existing pollution.
The food here are AMAZING! On my first night here after a trip to the supermarket, hubby offered to buy dinner while I rest. An offer I'd be glad to take since I was too tired to even think of fixing dinner. He then came back with this yummylicious noodles (forgot what they're called in Chinese but Indonesians will spotted them as 'kwetiaw' and some dumplings. That was the best 'kwetiaw' I ever had (and I normally doesn't really like them) and the dumplings were so good!
For our second night here husband took us to a restaurant across the street. The place looks nice and clean with pictures on their menu with some english translations. I didn't know what to order so I let hubby picked one for me as he's been there quite regularly. He ordered fried rice for himself and some chicken for me also fried noodles for Alex. The portions of meals served here are HUGE! My meal came and it looks delicious and my stomach roar from the mere smell of it. It was rice with chicken on a hot ceramic bowl served with a sunny side up egg on top, stir fried baby bok choy on the side and another veggy I'm not familiar with. It was really good, however you have to be careful with the chicken bones. Made a mistake with chomping it down only to found out those small cut up chicken that I thought was boneless still have the bones and marrows on. I think you suppose to nibble them in your mouth then spit the bones or any leftover marrows back to the bowl but it's not an easy practice, I should say. I do know how to use chopsticks before but my skills needs to be improved LOL.
Internet connection here is much slower than the one in Jakarta although they 'proclaimed' this one to be a broadband. Understandably, internet is still pretty much a new thing in China so they are a little behind compare to other countries.
Ok, that's my long story of our first 48 hours in China.
Beijing Lu is super crowded with plenty of stores from branded familiar names to McDonald and KFC, even Bread Talk (pretty famous bakery in Jakarta). I was so intrigued by the showcases of old Chinese underground city that you can look through a glass. Unfortunately, its one of the hardest thing to take picture of as the glass reflects so much. We walked down further and further until we reached the Pearl River. One of the famous spot of GZ. We will have to try the night Pearl River cruise one of these days. 