Day Twenty: Roller Coasters & Pizza? Is this still China?

Day Twenty

Today was a fun day (it would've been wayyy better if I hadn't been on my period, but I promise I won't get into that...TMI Melissa)! We spent the morning at home in the apartment wishing my dad a happy birthday through the wonderful technology that is Skype, WeChat, and FaceTime. I was unusually productive that morning and cranked out some blog posts before I decided to spend time with family. 

That afternoon, we met my cousin at an amusement park in the area called Jin Jiang Amusement Park. It's a place that I've been obsessed with ever since I was a little girl, and we've basically come every time we go to Shanghai. Yep, this girl has proudly been an adrenaline junkie since she was a wee little young'un. 

We had lots of fun on the different rides. My favorites are obviously the most intense ones, but there are also some smaller ones that are really cool. For example, there's a motorcycle-style coaster where each person's seat is an actual motorcycle and you lean over in the seat for the entire ride just like you'd be if you were riding an actual motorcycle! There are no flips or drops but you do go pretty fast and it's racing-themed, so I really enjoy it. Jason, on the other hand, hates intense rides, so he stuck to bumper cars and also persuaded us to go on the "It's a Small World" style ride here. Ugh...I hate that ride with a passion. The song is so repetitive and unnatural and supposed to be happy, but it's just weird.

Plus, those dolls and machines haven't been changed in years and they're all dusty and broken and plain creepy. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

It's kind of weird though, because they charge you for each ride you go on (each ride has a specific price and you need to choose which rides you go on first before you pay). Weird, no? I guess it's just China making sure they get the most profit out of their overly sized population. No all-day passes in this place!

After we were finished, we walked to a mall nearby for dinner. We were craving something sweet though, so we first made a pit stop at a place called Mango Mountain. Umm, this sounds like paradise, can I stay here forever??!! The three of us ordered mango or aloe drinks and enjoyed them in the air-conditioned comfort that was the restaurant. Once done, my cousin decided to take us to the nearby Pizza Hut, since Jason and I said that we'd never tasted pizza in China and wouldn't mind doing so. Thus, we ordered a pizza with drinks, appetizers, and salad to fully get the experience of eating pizza in China. 

It's very interesting, I'd say. They love cheesy crust over here, and have most of the pizza toppings/flavors that we do over in the States; however, their pizzas are much smaller, thicker, and have more cheese and less sauce on them. It's not bad, I guess, but I'm not a fan of having a teeny bit of sauce. And the cheese is a bit overwhelming. 

Other than that, I'm just amused at how high-end Pizza Hut seems here in comparison to the ones in America. I mean, they offer SO much on the menus here; smoothies with aloe, fancy desserts, pastas and rices, etc. It's so interesting how different a single chain can be in various countries! Fascinating. 

After finishing up our meal, we went to a nearby supermarket to buy some household items needed by the family, and some feminine hygiene products for yours truly. Another observation: literally no one uses tampons here. Why is that?? How come different countries of women have different things they use for their periods? Okay, I'll stop with my contemplative rants and arbitrary questions. When you look at the aisle for feminine hygiene, it's literally all pads. My cousin didn't even know the Chinese word for tampons. I had to scan every inch of that aisle, and ended up finding only ONE brand/type of tampon that wasn't even like the normal tampons you'd think of. They were really weird...but I had no choice but to use them. 

That's basically how our day went. We had lots of fun revisitng our fave amusement park here and it was nice to spend the afternoon with our cousin. It's been four years since we last saw her...God knows we need as much quality family time as we can get! 

The entrance to the amusement park!

Me and my cousin in the first row...best seats in the house.

Entering the dreaded "It's a Small World" ride. Gross.

They were selling pets outside the amusement park and it made me want to cry. Everytime we come back and see these minuscule little animals on the street with harsh sellers, I cry inside and want to take them all with me. I've tried tirelessly to persuade my parents to let me get a puppy here in the past, but as you might guess, that worked out just swimmingly. 

A refreshing stop at Mango Mountain! 

Our pizza (split with two flavors). What do you think?

My haul from the supermarket trip (from left to right): pads, roll-on cooling gel that my cousin showed us (it's actually. so refreshing), a facial cleanser for a few bucks, a green tea juice box for my inner child, mints, and the only box of things- remotely- resembling-tampons in China. 

Day Two: Settling In & Proper Welcomes (originally written on 6/22/14)

I slept like a rock despite my jet lag. When I woke up, my dad and brother had already been up for hours; they hadn't been so lucky. My grandma greeted me with a breakfast of her homemade zongzi with meat and beans (zongzi are a type of rice dish that is wrapped in bamboo leaves and cooked. They can be either sweet or savory), some almond cakes, and lychees from the marketplace that my aunt had just bought. 

Like most of the locals, my aunt owns a motorcycle. We aren't talking Harleys or anything: it's more of a moped for sure. She has a car too m, but it's really convenient to drive the motorcycle for short trips. I've been obsessed with motorcycle rides ever since I came to China as a little girl. Whenever a relative took me out for a spin, I was the happiest person alive. It's on my bucket list to own and ride a motorcycle...we'll find out in the future if I'm actually that bad ass or not! 

Jason, my brother, got the first motorcycle ride of the trip since he was awake then, so he got dibs while I snored away. That's okay; I'll fight anyone who tries to get the next one. 

We spent a really long time looking at photos that day. I had made a photobook documenting the past four years of high school, at my mother's request. She thought they would make great gifts (I don't see why our relatives would be that interested in having a book full of Melissa, Melissa, and Melissa, but it wasn't my call). Thus, I went through it with each relative and explained things when they asked (ex: "what in the name of God is prom and why do you need to be dress so nicely for it?" or "colleges invite you to go VISIT before you decide you're going to go there??"). Jason had also brought his yearbook, and my cousin Joyce had photos from all her trips. 

We enjoyed a nice homemade lunch of dumplings, congee soup also known as zhouk (a staple in the Cantonese diet), and Asian veggies. My uncle also ate with us after getting over here on his motorcycle (YAAAAY). 

Afterwards, we went out to get bus tickets to go to Hong Kong in a few days. They were sold in this gorgeous, pristine five star hotel that had waterfalls everywhere inside, a gargantuan flower pot in the middle of the football-field length lobby, and elephant statues greeting you at the door. Not too shabby! 

Our dinner was eaten at a local restaurant that was less than five minutes away on foot. The place was packed with people and I could barely hear my own voice over the noise. That's local dining for ya! 🍴

If the Cantonese are known for anything, it's food. Every time we come back, we've experienced the most insane and incredible meals, flavors, and dishes. According to my dad, Guangzhou is noted for its cuisine throughout China, and then within Guangzhou, Shunde (a smaller region within Guangzhou where we were) was famous for its food. I'm very grateful to have been born into a family that literally lives in a paradise for food lovers. Praise The Lord. 

We dined in many dishes: steamed fish, eggdrop and vegetable soup, sesame sweet and sour pork, chicken, chives with cashews and seafood, green beans and pork, stuffed peppers, and sweet red bean cakes for dessert. The English names for Chinese dishes sound terribly unappetizing, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was all delicious. 

Our bellies stuffed, we took a long walk around the city, observing the nightlife. There was a huge mall nearby and all of the streets were lined with salons, boutiques, shops, cafés, and much more. Once back at the house, we just relaxed and got in some internet use before bed. A great first full day in Guangzhou! 

My breakfast that first morning: zongzi, almond cakes, a butter cookie, and fruit (not pictured)

Lunch! My relatives like using newspapers as placemats 😄

 An exotic fruit known as mangosteen! They're absolutely delicious; I've eaten quite a few since we got here! 

Inside the Golden Hotel (aka a place too fancy for me 😞)

A picstitch of our dinner! These red bean things were super yummy...they were crispy and not super sweet! 

A tower we walked past that night on our stroll

Day One: Welcome to Canton!! (originally written on 6/22/14)

***Also meant to publish this way earlier since I had it ready on the 22nd! Thanks for always screwing with me, wifi...

Hello from China!!🇨🇳 

We are finally here, after a marathon of three plane rides, hours of waiting in various airports, very interesting airline food, and an excruciating delay in Beijing due to weather issues. Here's a summary: 

Day One

Basically, we flew from Boston to New York in the early morn after a rough 4:30 alarm, then to Beijing (14 hours of awkward naps, reading, and heavy use of my tv screen), and lastly from Beijing to Guangzhou. This was the 1st time I'd ever done so many flights in a row and it was rather awful. 

We got stuck in Beijing for awhile due to thunderstorm alerts there. The plane sat stubbornly for at least an hour while we napped, read, and glared at the window, willing the plane to move. The only good thing was that there weren't that many people on our flight, so some people stretched out and slept on the entire middle row...lucky. 

Finally, we landed in Guangzhou, where it was hot and muggy after just raining like crazy. Our aunt and cousin were waiting for us there; they had rented a van to transport us back to Shunde, the smaller region where my aunt lives. 

I chatted with my cousin in the back during the hour long ride. She's in her twenties and works for a kitchenware company that has international connections, so she gets to travel a lot. I was turning green with envy listening to her talk about her visits to Barcelona, Germany, Brazil, Korea, and Russia. She's seen Gaudi's work in Spain, visited Stonehenge, and much more. There's just too much to see and too little time! In the future, it'll definitely happen..

We got back to the house and it was essentially the same as what I remembered. My aunt, grandma, and cousin live in a three-story house with a very nice porch and terrace on the second and third floors. I feel like its unusual to have a house in the city with a gate and one-car garage, so I'm super thankful every time we come here to stay. This time, I have a room all to myself! Scoooore 😝 

We unpacked the numerous ginseng packs, pill bottles, and other gifts we brought for them before heading to bed. Finally- sleepy time! 

Leaving our beautiful Boston for a month! 

The Beijing airport! We had noodles there before getting on yet another flight. 

A view of the street that my aunts house is on

The living room area (other couches aren't present because I was too lazy to get up off the one I was sitting on 😒)