Tomb-sweeping
fever gripped Chinese society over the first weekend of April as
the CHING-MING Spring Holiday provided a great excuse for everyone and
their dog to take the long weekend off. This is generally the time when
families head off to their hometowns for a visit to their ancestors' tombs,
rather a silly reason to spend most of your day in a freeway traffic-jam
just so that you can wipe a bit of dust off Grandpa's masoleum. While this
was all happening, Laeititia and I were doing other things. Quite
sensibly too, if you ask me. We went to China.
More visas cluttered our passport pages as we joined
our Boss's family for a few days in mainland China and Macau. We flew to
Macau, then crossed the 'border' into China proper, staying for the night
in Zhu-Hai city, a showcase
special economic zone which is full
of interesting things, one being the Youan Ming Palace, a spectacularly-restored
Ming Dynasty complex where we spent Saturday.
A royal time...Laetitia and
I got the chance to try out some interesting places to sit, one being the
traditional sedan chair (as used by the Emperor) and the other being the
considerably less bumpy Imperial Throne. She was also roped in to a huge
pageant performance at the main amphitheatre there and was 'crowned' the
new Empress of China, complete with dozens of dancing handmaidens and stern
pony-tailed blokes waving large spear things. Fun - at least that's what
the 4000 people in the audience thought, though L wasn't paying much attention
to the adoring crowds, preferring to focus on the small matter of trying
to understand what was going on on a stage on which she was chosen as the
Empress by the troupe despite the fact that she was also the only person
who couldn't make head or tail of what was supposed to be happening re
stage directions etc. We did get a videodisc made of the occasion, though,
so she's already had the chance to see the ceremony as everyone else did.
That night I met a Taiwanese friend and we hit the town. Oh. Remember those
films in which a lone foreigner visiting China wanders around a really
INTENSE dance club and stares in amazement at the Chinese Military Police
in full parade gear patrolling the sweaty crowds of dancers? It happened.
To me. Really. |
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Gaungzhou was the next
stop on our travels. This huge city is generally known as 'Canton' to English
speakers. We stayed about 30 floors above the traffic (which helped a lot),
though we had to tread carefully at ground level, 'cause the hotel foyer
was being renovated and we had to carry cases etc through the middle of
this damned construction site. Still, we DID get a discount on the room....
Our 8th wedding anniversary
was
spent in another city near the Coast, Shenzhen. This is a major port and
special economic zone just across the bay from Hong Kong. We had a pretty
decent Thai dinner to wrap up a self-indulgent couple of hours in a Chinese
massage/reflexology palace. One thing about China - it's not THAT cheap,
but the coffee should be. It's dire. The country itself is certainly worth
another visit, provided you've got some basic Chinese under your belt.
Laetitia tried to chat up one of the locals (see pic) but didn't get very
much in the line of a response. Must have been her accent... |
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