Guangzhou II

Because of the spa incident, we didn’t keep to the schedule. We got up on our own and had breakfast in the lobby. I discovered baked beans on the buffet line-up and was pretty excited to have beans on toast for breakfast.  They also had some fried potato cubes that were decent. I’ve noticed that since we eat such small meals and, the ones I do eat, consist of vegetables, OR I don’t eat at all, my appetite is about non-existent. I also can’t eat like I used to. It will be a real shocker when I get home. I put on some trousers the other day that used to be snug. They are baggy now. I feel like some kind of refugee camp survivor.

Meredith, Ryan, Natalie and Robin wanted to go to an “authentic” market, so Peter took us to one. I had heard that we might find snakes there, but I wasn’t bothered. I guess everyone was looking for an antique opium pipe and you can find them pretty cheap. I just went along for the photos. Initially, there were just bags and bags of mushrooms, beetles, seahorses, fungus, weeds … all sorts of dried shit. A few places had dried lizards on a stick, just like you see in “Spirited Away.” At one place, I saw small animal legs - skinned - with the hoof at the bottom. One movie that I saw last year, and subsequently bought, was about the Tibetans who formed a volunteer police force to prevent the mass slaughter and poaching of their sacred deer. I wondered if these weren’t those deer. The further into the market you go, the weirder it became. Finally, we found ourselves in the live animals section. Kittens, puppies, chicks, turtles, fish, etc. are all on display. I found myself drawn to this one cage - open at the top - of two Golden retriever puppies and a black lab. They were panting, because, it was hotter than fuck, and they hadn’t a water bowl. In fact, as I looked around NONE of the animals had water. Apparently in China, puppies can sit outside all day in 88 degree weather, with 88 percent humidity, and never need a drink. I was getting increasingly upset. I told Peter to tell this asshole to give them water. When he didn’t, I took out my bandage container and poured some Evian into it. One of the puppies drank it up. The lab drank some but wanted to chew it instead. Robin picked up the lab and held him. He had such a sweet face and big paws. He was just adorable. The other girls picked up the retrievers. I haven’t seen many big dogs around here. People are poor, and taking care of dogs isn’t cheap. I envisioned the worst fate for these guys.

Robin asked Peter about the possibility of buying the dog, and taking him home. I told her I would pay for the dog if she did that. We asked the guy the price and all he said was “Two.” He ignored us, and acted sort of pissed that we were there. It was time to move on, and I started feeling sick to my stomach. Ahead of me were rows and rows of puppies. One cage had what looked like Pomeranian pups in it - no water - all had red bows in their hair. I’ve actually seen quite a few people with Poms over here, so they were probably destined for a home. The lab and retrievers might have been going to Korea where they would become someone’s dinner. I wish I hadn’t taken a photo of that dog, because just thinking about him makes me want to bawl. I couldn’t take it anymore. Everyone was all enthusiastic about buying some shitty trinkets, oblivious to what was going on around them. Barking puppies, probably fucking thirsty and wanting to cool off. It makes me sick. Day two of more shit in Guangzhou. I headed back to the hotel. If someone gave me 1 million dollars and a free house, car and travel for a year, I still wouldn’t come back here.

For lunch, we went to a very noisy restaurant for hot pot. The way it works is they take away the spinning glass circle in the middle of your table and uncover the hole that’s there. There’s a switch in the table, too, that allows you to turn on the burning element. A huge pot is brought to the table that’s filled with, I’m sure, beef broth and green onions. You must have to order the rest of the items. Ah-Yen got us tofu, carrots cut into squares, lettuce, beef balls, pork balls and beef strips. My food went in first, trying to keep it as vegetarian as possible, I’m assuming. Next in went all of the flesh. At first, I don’t think I was particularly keen on going to that restaurant, but it ended up being OK, especially since they ordered a small bowl of steamed rice for whoever wanted it. That made up some calories you don’t get from boiled lettuce and tofu.

The afternoon was supposed to be fairly open.  I had heard about the Six Banyan Temple from a friend, so I asked Ah-Yen about it. She said it wasn’t far from our hotel. Natalie and Ryan had chops to pick up in the art gallery area, and since this was on the way to the temple, about six of us went along in two taxis. The temple consists of several buildings and a giant pagoda. We saw a few monks dressed in grey. One of the monks performed some kind of ceremony - it might have been a blessing - on three young women in the main temple, where you see three gigantic Buddhas. The first was Siddhartha, Buddha of the past and of compassion; the second was the present Buddha, Amida; and the last one was Maitreya, Buddha of the future.  I got some good photos, and we probably would have enjoyed the stay longer, except we got caught up in a serious thunderstorm. It absolutely chucked it down. In most places, a rainstorm will cool the city down. Not in Guangzhou. It just makes it more horrible.

On the original agenda, we had planned on seeing the Chen Clan Temple, which is now a folk museum. Maybe because it was close, the plans were once again on. It’s really a beautiful building that is under maintenance. It’s being restored, which means the top of the structure is being repainted. The areas that are already done are pretty amazing. Inside of the temple are samples of unbelievable embroidery - they look like paintings - as well as some ivory pieces. Some of the things are for sale. I took tons of pictures. While walking back through a small park-like area, I saw a black Fergus-like dog being encouraged by his owner to do some kind of business. That’s fairly typical here. I see a lot of dog urinating or excrementing encouragement. The dog was gorgeous. Makes me miss my hairies. We got home via a few taxis, I think around 5:45 p.m. The idea was to go out again at 6ish for a night cruise on the Pearl River. I was so hot and sticky from the day, and I needed some “me” time, so I bowed out of the cruise. (It would have been too dark to take any photos anyhow.) Since we had an Ethernet cable in our rooms, I connected to the Internet. I just happened to get Smith on Skype, and we talked for about three hours. While talking to him, I saw half of a documentary about this former millionairess from Shanghai who had given up her fortune to care for sick, abandoned, and disabled dogs. For a brief time, it restored my faith in the Chinese’s ability to improve on its treatment of dogs.