have departed insular HK, and am now barreling through mainland china. it’s not what i expected at all. at least not this particular region. i was expecting jade pagodas lined with gold, panda bears munching bamboo, vast, lush, green vistas with mystical shrouds of low-lying fog, little old chinese men espousing wisdom in a hushed, poetic cadence. basically, i was expecting to step into a living version of the asian arts wing of the metropolitan museum of art. silly me.

 

we’re headed to zhuhai (“the paris of asia”), which is south of guangzhou city, within the guangdong province. mapquest it if you can. it borders (by water) macau, which i am told, i can walk to (have not figured this out just yet) from my apartment in zhuhai. we’ll see...

 

let me tell you a little about entering china. i was under the false impression that HK and china were the same (now that both are again under chinese rule.) from what i’ve learned, china pretty much let’s HK do what they want, because the city brings in so much money. so they are allowed many more liberties than the mainland. so entering HK was a pleasure. a breeze. leaving HK was a pleasure. a breeze. entering china proper, not the same experience. it’s like, once you cross the water and hit land on china, all the rules change. and it comes off as more aggressive, more regimented, more, well, communist. and can someone please explain to me the spitting? what is this?? signs posted everywhere clearly state that spitting is a no-no. but spit they do. everyone. on everything. i am all for cultural differences. bring them on. but i find this a little disturbing. not just because of the high level of grossness, but considering the state of avian flu (you will more than likely see posters on how to not spread avian flu, either next to, or nearby the anti-spitting signs, and nowhere on said poster are the words ‘do not spit’) i would think people would take more care.

 

... a little later on in the journey:

 

okay, so as we get further into china and further away from the border, it gets far more beautiful, and less intimidating. i really am enjoying china. would love to explore the inner regions, farmlands and smaller provinces. perhaps even venture into mongolia.

 

on we go....