Chances are when you hear the word “China” or think of visiting, Beijing & Shanghai are the first places that come to mind. I know that I always thought that one of those would be my destinations upon my first visit to the country. However when Sachin & Shyamla (my brother-in-law and sister) moved to Guangzhou last year, that automatically changed.
As someone who has never visited China before, I was pleasantly surprised during my stay in Guangzhou last week. Other than the language barrier which was extremely prominent, I really enjoyed my time there. If you’re wondering what China is actually like as a place, here are some random tidbits which I picked up along the way:
- If Sachin & Shyamla are anyone to go by, picking up Cantonese/Mandarin is not overly difficult. Some words* which stuck:
*Nihao: Hello/excuse me
*Yo Bien: Right
*Jo Bien: Left
*Jigga: This
*Nagga: That
* Shi Shi: Thank you
- Whereas most restaurants in the West serve regular water as soon as you sit down, restaurants there serve hot water instead.
- I want legs like flamingos and to live a life like Pandas. Oh and speaking of animals, elephants are freakin’ hairy:
- There really is an app for everything…including an English to Mandarin/Cantonese translator
- Spas are available at a dime a dozen…or should I say an RMB a dozen 😉
- Facebook and Twitter are banned in China
- Unlike most ‘markets’, Chinese markets aren’t based on the streets. Consider them like American malls with a heck lot of bargaining.
- Their use of corn is not limited to sweetcorn soup. I kid you not when I say that corn juice is sold on the streets and…wait for it…offered as a fro yo topping (as are cherry tomatoes)
- Guangzhou is extremely safe: over 268.000 surveillance cameras have been installed citywide in order to boost security.
- Chinese food in China is good…really good
*My spelling of the Mandarin/Cantonese terms are purely based on how they’re pronounced*
I love reading your travel recaps! Learning about different cultures is so awesome, especially when you’re able to immerse yourself for a few days.
And corn and tomatoes on fro-yo?! How did that taste?!
I’m so glad you enjoy them- I’m the same about hearing about different cultures! I wish I could tell you how they tasted but unfortunately, I reserve them as solely salad toppers :)!
Corn on froyo?!?! That’s hilarious! I love reading about different cultures and stuff like that, China sounds like such a neat place 🙂
Haha I was blown away and by the 3rd time, I had to take a picture! And then got shoo’ed away by the server haha!
Wow, looks like you had a wonderful trip!
I did :)!
Corn as a dessert? Sounds a heck of a lot like The South in the U.S., haha. Nothing like corn in every dessert/sitting in a soupy sugary syrup. And wow, all of your travels continue to make me jealous! I’ve never been anywhere in China, and I’d love to go some day, but the language barrier sort of intimidates me too.
Between the red bean cakes, sesame ice cream, and corn in fro you, clearly there are no boundaries when it comes to dessert in China…oh and for the record, I did see celery & cucumber as a topping option on one of my fro yo trips…I wish I was kidding.
Are red bean cakes related to to red bean paste? I practically lived off of red bean paste stuffed buns the last time I was in NYC and had easy access to Chinatown…so so good. Don’t know about celery on ice cream though–is that supposed to make you feel healthier about eating it? Haha
I think it is similar to red bean paste but there were definitely chunks of red bean too! I can imagine people enjoying them but every bite, I just kept expecting savory. As for the celery, apparently it’s a fat burner so perhaps using it as a topper cancels out the ice cream/fro yo calories…just a thinker ;)!
oooh, look at you speaking in Mandarin! Glad to hear you had a nice time, although I don’t think I can live without FB… I don’t think I could live in a country where everything is so controlled. The food does look good. 🙂
Luckily my BIL set up an account whereby his internet server is routed directly to the US so I was able to get my FB & Twitter fix…the measures we go through for social media!
So interesting! I have never even heard of Guangzhou before. And “Yo bien” sounds like Spanish! 🙂
Haha it reminded me of French & Spanish :)!
sweetcorn and cherry tomatoes on fro-yo, now that is…interesting? On the up-side at least they’re thinking of their 5-a-day! 🙂 Looks such a great trip, Guangzhou sounds just as good as Shanghai or HK.
Haha interesting to say the least! Although in all seriousness, I was quite impressed with how healthy the food there was….they LOVE their greens- the stir fried veggie options were huge!
I don’t know how I feel about vegetables on fro yo… I think I’ll stick to chocolate sauce and Oreo bits. 😉
And that food looks good! I bet authentic Chinese food is sooo much better than the stuff we get here!
Haha I’m all about the sweet & savory combo but veggies on fro yo is too much for even me to handle! I’m normally not the biggest fan of Chinese food but I was blown away there…everything tasted unreal!
Ewww ew ew ew corn on froyo!!? HAHA That sounds awful!! Otherwise China sounds like a blast!! I sort of like that FB and twitter are banned there…those sites cause too much drama anyway! And spa’s around every corner? Count me in!
As much as I agree about FB & Twitter, them being banned sort of got old (& annoying) after day 2 :)!
Looks like you had a great time 🙂 🙂
I sure did :)!
Your travel recaps are always so fun and interesting for me to read, and sure gets me inspired to try and go on adventures myself one day! I would have gotten sick of that ban too, I am surprised they do that!
Thanks, Tess- I am glad you enjoy reading them! Fortunately my brother-in-law bought a router which connects their internet directly to the US, and hence use Twitter & Facebook freely! I’m too much of a social media nerd otherwise :)!
Corn on fro yo?! That’s just bizarre!! I was in Guangzhou for a day back in 2009. Seemed like a cool place!
Oh no way were you transiting?
Ni Hao! So happy you had a good time when you were. Now you have to plan a trip back sooner than later. I quite need an afternoon of sushi, foot massages and double helpings of fro yo with you.
Ohh don’t tempt me…that sounds like the ideal day 🙂