Dogging it down to Thanksgiving

 

大佛寺

Recent blog posts might have you thinking I've descended into a kind of hikikomori 引きこもり lifestyle. That observation would not be too far off the truth as for most of the time since early October I was just going to work, and doing virtually nothing constructive at home. Now that the wife is healthier compared to when she had just returned from Taiwan, we've been going out and reengaging with the wider world a bit more often these days. The following is a brief roundup of what's been going on in my narrow part of the world leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday this week, when the two of us will be making our first out of town trip from Guangzhou 广州 (not counting the out of country visit to Taiwan on which we embarked at the beginning of October).

Leadership Day - one of those compulsory activities organized by LinkedIn contributors to get their employees to perform effectively in a team so that they can humble brag about it online later. I felt sick in the morning (psychosomatic?) but felt somewhat better in the afternoon when our teams were tasked to chose a place to visit offsite, presumably to better understand our host culture while bonding. Our group initially chose the Guangdong Museum of Art 广东美术馆 on Ersha Island 二沙岛 as our destination, so I walked to it from home following lunch, arriving there in around 45 minutes:

The museum was staging the 10th China Sports Art Exhibition, which looked interesting...:

...but the Chinese local staff members in our midst collectively changed their minds, and suggested the Guangdong Overseas Chinese Museum 廣東華僑博物館 instead, located across the courtyard from the art museum. The southern part of China has a long history of emigration to foreign countries, so the museum made sense. It was interesting (to me) to see the facility's name being rendered in traditional characters: 

A group photo snapped in the atrium, after which we began our explorations: 

The museum is devoted to the efforts of Chinese over the centuries to sail to other parts of the world for commerce and trade, covering the hardships and sufferings they experienced, the anti-Chinese movements their presences generated, and their ultimate integration into the local communities: 

The use of "coolie" labor was extensively covered, making clear that many Chinese immigrants toiled away in conditions akin to slavery:

A display on Chinese temples set up overseas to serve the emigrants:

Examples of community newspapers. Shu-E would often pick up some at the large Asian supermarkets when we were living in Virginia:  

Lee Jun-fan 李振藩. The wife and I visited his grave in Seattle during Home Leave last year: 

Overseas Chinese involved with the Flying Tigers. As is frequently the case with Chinese museums, the exhibits started taking on more patriotic tones as we progressed deeper into the displays:  

Walkng back home on Ershadao and passing more floral displays that are part of the ongoing 32nd Guangzhou Garden Expo 弟32届广州林博览会:

Why I can't jump on the fasting bandwagon: we went out late one Saturday afternoon (the day before I headed off to Beijing 北京 to attend a work-related workshop). I hadn't eaten since the the morning and began feeling lightheaded. I was on the verge of passing out until we stopped at Shu-E's suggestion to eat some rice rolls at Liyin Rice Rolls 荔銀腸粉:

Feeling resuscitated and re-energized after the meal, we were on our way to a well-known temple when we came across the City God Temple 域隍庙, with a history dating back to 1370:

There was a large abacus hanging from the rafters, presumably used by the gods to count sins and thereby determine if one's ultimate destination will be heaven or hell:

Crossing the bridge to change her destiny 橋運轉:

Inside the main hall:

Across the street was a multi-story art mall. Most of the paintings were of the type designed and mass produced to hang in living rooms and chairmen's offices, with no rise in value as they age. This schlocky work of "art" was supposedly selected for the China Nationalities Art Exhibition in 2020, and yet was still more tasteful than the nearby paintings of topless women: 

More authentic artwork could be seen out on the street:

Beijing Road 北京路, a popular shopping district in Guangzhou:

Dafo Temple 大佛寺. Shu-E wanted to see it after sunset, which is why we left the apartment relatively late in the day. Though the temple has a history going back to the Southern Han Dynasty 南汉 the buildings all appear to be of a more recent vintage. The statues within are also new and ornate - no photos were allowed but clearly a lot of RMB has been poured into the temple's coffers: 

Everything did look impressive when lit up in the evening:

Dafo Temple is more imposing than the City God Temple, but felt much less authentic, even though people were fervently praying within and without. Overall, it seemed less like a spiritual experience and more like a visit to a Buddhist-themed mall:

Attending the workshop in Beijing: at this point there isn't much of a career left to be developed, so it would be better in future to let others attend similar events. I welcomed the opportunity, however, to meet up with former colleagues including Andrew, whom I've known since we were neighbors in Shanghai 上海:

Walking back to my hotel after dinner and taking in the familiar sight along the Liangma River 亮马河. Beijing was cold, especially during the first two days I was there. At the time this photo was taken on a Monday evening it was 1°C/34°F but with the wind chill factor felt like -5°C/23°F , according to my phone's weather app (at least I was dressed appropriately). I don't miss the cold, and most certainly do not long for the dryness of Beijing's winter - I was only in town from a Sunday evening to a Wednesday morning but it didn't take long for my hands to become painfully dry and chapped: 

Back in the warmer climes of Guangzhouo. In the distance is a row of buildings lit up in the evenings; the black cube in the foreground is the Guangdong Museum 广东省博物馆, which I visited back in 2015:

As I write this the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition is approaching its end date. We could've made a reservation online to attend in person, but it didn't seem worth the trouble of dealing with the crowds, especially as we can see some of the light shows from near our apartment building: 

Coming home from the hospital one evening:

Dinner that same evening at a Cantonese (aka Dim Sum) restaurant called Diandude 点都德, a chain that first opened in 1933. I've eaten a couple of times at a different branch close to the consulate, but this was the first time for my wife (for Diandude, not for dim sum). Among the dishes we ordered was the  "Signature Shrimp Dumplings" 招牌虾饺皇超:

My favorite was the "Steamed Red Rice Rolls with Shrimp" 金莎红米肠, which Shu-E dismissively chalked up to my being a Westerner:

It goes without saying that the Cantonese cuisine in Guangzhou is absolutely delicious but it's also true that I couldn't eat this every single effing day. 

On the most recent Saturday afternoon we were looking for lunch in the subterranean Mall of the World shopping mall beneath Huacheng Square 花城广场. I was hoping all the Japanese restaurants were being boycotted by patriotic Chinese but there was a long wait for a seat in the local branch of Sushiro スシロー. So instead we went to a Chinese steak restaurant called Steakman ("Let's meat together") - the food there wasn't as good as Taiwanese night market steaks but the price was right at only around $15 for two:

Afterward Shu-E suggested going to a street market, so we rode the metro's Line 3 to Xiajiao 夏滘. The wife admitted didn't know the second character in the station's name (a rare admission). Shu-E claims the character must be Cantonese, hence her ignorance, but according to Pleco the meaning in Mandarin is "a branching river", and is often used in place names:

Our ultimate destination was the oddly-named OMG Web Celebrity Street, which raised expectations of a high-tech shopping center teeming with social media influencers: 

As we approached the mall those illusions began to be dispelled:

The "celebrity street" turned out to be an odd mixture of ersatz traditional Chinese streetscapes and Chinese imaginings of American nostalgia, with no obvious Internet trappings nor sightings of Chinese internet celebrities. The mall seemed designed for selfies and photo ops for social media posts:

There was some bizarre signage including the usual Chinglish and odd English phrasing, plus some absolutely weird creations bearing no resemblance to any known language using the Roman alphabet (I suspect some of the names were conjured up via AI). And why Sunderland A.F.C. of all the English Premier League clubs?: 

What happens in Guangzhou stays in Guangzhou:

The what? Shu-E didn't recognize the objects beneath the sign were replicas of old filling station pumps:

Starb Ucks?:

There were some families and groups of young people, but the mall surprisingly was relatively quiet for a Saturday afternoon. Also, despite the 22°C/72°F temperature many people were wearing jackets and sweaters. Like in Taiwan, as soon as the weather cools everyone dresses as if we were in the icy throes of winter's grasp.

Back closer to home and young women getting photo opps with...Loey? Turns out to be a K-pop performer named Chanyeol: 

The Sunday before Thanksgiving. I didn't sleep well the night before, with my eyes tired and irritated, so we decided for the most part to stay home. I did take a walk after breakfast, where I had to dodge people taking photos of the floral displays: 

I crossed the Pearl River 珠江 on the Haishin Bridge 海心桥, then turned west and crossed back across the water, while looking over toward from whence I came:

Other than going for lunch at a Western-style restaurant called Gail's that is popular with the expat crowd (the only Chinese there in the small but busy ground floor dining area were the staff, and my wife was most likely the only native Mandarin speaker amongst the clientele) we didn't do much of anything else.

It was back to the above-mentioned bridge after dinner. Chinese metropolises really shine (no pun intended) at night with waterfronts lit up, as I've seen in Shanghai, Tianjin 天津 and Qingdao 青岛:

Sightseeing cruise boats plying the waters of the Pearl River:

The view was not so spectacular in the other direction:

In China anywhere with people there will be vendors: 

As can probably be detected from this post my mood has improved somewhat since my last couple of briefings. That's almost entirely do to the fact I've been going outside again in my free time. As written above Shu-E and I will be making our first domestic foray outside Guangzhou this Thanksgiving (so much for turkey and all the stuffings), while the following month will see our daughter return to China for a quick visit during the Christmas holidays. The underlying depression is still there but venturing out to see new neighborhoods is a far more positive activity compared to moping around our hotel room apartment bemoaning my fate.