MADE IN CHINA-Guangzhou

From charming Yangshuo we are going to the Delta of Pearl River in Guandong Province. The Delta is probably the biggest industrial zone in the world. Several cities like Guangzhou, Dongguang, Macau, Shenzhen (cluster) surrounded by the never ending factories and grey, concrete block of flats for labourers. Every stupid cheap plastic object you have in your home was probably made here. Big modern cities like 12 million Guangzhou are the international trade centers.

But Guandong province is not only famous from trade and industry. It is a kingdom of strange food. People from Guandong eat everything what can move even if it is poisonous like scorpion or snake.

Modern world is coming so quickly that old customs are being removed from the downtowns. We had to visit some dodgy places, back streets and old markets searching for the best snacks.

international trade center

beggar or poet?

A butcher’s shop in old Guangzhou.

A girl in front of the butchery.

In the labyrinth of the back narrow streets.

Student dorm.


The best choice of pressed duck in the city.

Young guy selling snakes from the cage fastened to the bicycle. It is illegal business. If police come he has to go away very fast.

Cut the head off by scissors, take the skin off, remove the intestines and give still moving snake in the plastic bag to a customer.

The bowl with snake and frog remains.

Yellow scorpions, the most poisonous species. The best stuff to make a soup.

The scorpio vendor.

YANGSHUO ALTERNATIVE

In south east China in Guanxi province there is a town surrounded by the beautiful calcareous rocks raised from the flat green rice fields. The Li River crosses this paradise country and gives it fresh water, plenty of fishes and more charm that crowds of tourists enjoy traveling by boat or riding on bike around. In the past Yangshuo was a small, calm fisherman village settled on the bank of the Li River. Now it is bustling resort called by the local people 'global village'. There are hundreds of foreign travelers, plenty of english teachers, chinese tourists and students learning english in many language schools have just opened in Yangshuo. You can feel here more easy and free like nowhere in China. In one word it is nice place to meet new friends and enjoy together the amazing scenery of green hills and rice fields in the day and beer after the sun set.
But where is strange food, weird customs, culture shock? In westernized Yangshuo there are good pubs, young people like to party every night, bakeries, pizzerias, internet, and even camels...globalization.
What to do here? After four days of drinking beer in english pub with pool I decided to move my heavy ass and check what is around the corner.

The paradise valley of Li River.

An ancient inscription in the cave

Drinking beer with shopkeeper.

an old house

our neighbours open air kitchen

a very nosy guy

and less nosy people.

Finally I found my favorite snacks on the food market near the bus station and the main street in Yangshuo. Pig's tongues and tails. One guy prepared it especially for me.
Than I felt some terrible but unknown smell. What is that...chicken, duck?

no...It was something better what Chinese love particularly. Dog meet is a delicacy. It has excellent taste and makes your body warm during the cold winter nights.

BLOWING SHANGHAI

However , there is no strange food in Shanghai we decided to visit the fastest developing metropolis in the world. The urban and social revolution is the most significant feature of modern Shanghai. The citizens of the city seem to be proud of it. English is widely spoken comparing to other chinese cities. The colonial history is well preserved and cultivated. International and chinese companies are building higher and higher skyscrapers. The Pudong area has the most of that steel and glass monsters but in truth the whole city is under construction. Sometimes I have an impression that it is not an architectural revolution but the war. Hundreds of squared meters of the old town are being crushed down by the heavy bulldozers. From the death fileds full of debris the new, 200 meters high towers are rising up. It is the same like in every big city in China but nowhere is so brutal like there. The small part of the old town is all that remains of a large, exotic and dodgy city of Shanghai. In the shade of glass towers old Chinese people are playing chess in dark small shops, vendors are selling fresh seafood, fruits and vegetables on the street. Above their heads the colorfull clothes are drying in the sun hanging on the half rotten parts of the buildings. No strange food there but that space makes strange even cut fish in half.