IT'S SOOOO HOT!!

The average temp during the day has been between 36-38 degrees CELCIUS! Apparently it's going to be 42C on monday. The relative humidity around 62%. You walk outside, it hits you in the face...and then you sweat. No one else seems to be worried about the heat. They use umbrella's to shield from the sun...but the sun is hotter in Aus. It's the damn heat that is hot EVERYWHERE! We stand in the shade and it doesn't matter! It's crazy watching men work and women carry huge loads of merchandise...I think we look hotter than them! It's insane. But as long as we stay in air-conditioning my body continues to function. This means only one thing: Shopping! As long as we shop in air-con, everything is fine! :) This makes me happy!

I bought a bag today! It's '很好皮‘ (very good leather) and very soft. I bartered the lady down to 600RMB which is about $90ish AUD. Look at this:

It's awesome!

We did brave the heat yesterday; I dragged Paul around to some touristy sites. Guangzhou doesn't have too many...people mainly come here for the food and shopping! We did make it to the huge garden in the north of the city though, as there is the Sun Yat Sen Monument (couldn't find..the garden is so huge), the Five Rams statue (also didn't see...), and the Zhenhai Tower. This is the Zhenhai Tower. It's part of the old city walls and, being the on
the tallest peak in Guangzhou, was where they kept an eye out for intruders etc.

There are also many other little statues etc hidden throughout the park. Trying to convince Paul that walking up steep steps when we were literally melting was tranquil and relaxing was quite hard to do. I must admit that it was a lot quieter (and if we sat still enough for long enough, it might have been cooler) than the actual city outside the park. There were heaps of little hidey spaces and clearings in the gardens and people were either lying in hammocks fanning themselves and sleeping, or squatting on the ground playing card games. We also passed a couple of older people walking around for what looked like excersise. At one stage there was an old man by himself in a little clearing walking backwards and forwards, faster one way and clapping on the way back. It was way too hot for us to be walking anywhere that wasn't with a purpose!

Beautiful! The gardens were too I suppose!

According to Paul, this was part of 'The Lame Wall of China'.

I'm finding I can use my mandarin a lot more here. In Hong Kong everyone spoke Cantonese and most spoke English. Here everyone speaks Mandarin and then Canto and then if we're reeeeally lucky, a smattering of English. This is good. I have to remember how to barter, and find laundry detergent, and ask directions...so far so good. I do have to thank Stephanie for then electronic translator she gave Paul! It's coming in handy!

What else...oh yeah....you know you're in China when you see people peeing in the street (or on the street that you just walked on). So far it's only kids, and only peeing.

Before I go, I'll show you some of the food!

This is Paul's 'spaghetti with sausages and vegetables' and soup (?) and
sweet potato chips. He also ordered an Oreo milk drink...it was yummy!

This is at the same restaurant (RBT) as above. I ordered the 'RBT Beef noodle with
mushroom' as well as my favourite...Pearl milk tea (a strong milky tea with sago pearls at the bottom!)

Teapuccino anyone??

This is in the middle of Beijing Lu (Beijing Street), which is a mall like Queen st. This is what is
underneath the actual street that we're walking on. They found parts of old streets and city walls. Some are
over 7 centuries old! As you can see, they keep putting more roads on top. (Also notice the Coke advertising, very subtle)

This is Beijing Lu. It's really busy and pretty much like Queen Street...notice the McDonalds??