Alright, curently in Japan so....FREE WIFI!!! UNCENSORED INTERNET!
No photos atm but they'll be up later.
29/12/12: arrived at Guangzhou Airport, and stayed at my uncle's place.... SO COLD! Oh yeah, also felt so plane sick after all nighter-ing (why did I do this??!!!) and drinking milk before the flight - never do that again. Also admiring China's obsession with neon lights at night! Ate out with immediate family.
30/12/12: Visited some giant shopping centre called China Plaza (??). Imported food is very pricey, but food generally had me going googly-eyed since it was so cheap, and I kept converting the price into AUD. Typical bread price at bakeries = 2-6 rmb. I had my first experience in a squat toilet after 10 years, and let's just say I still equally disliked it as I did back when I went before. Why do they not provide toilet paper?!! Sometimes there's also suspicious looking liquid on the floor (hence why I bought my shittiest pair of boots overseas). Moreover the plumbing is highly fragile, so you can't flush toilet paper down and you put all tissues and etc. into a bin, and sometimes, there are things you just don't wanna see there.... >_> Also the home toilet is very prone to clogging because of no. 2's, and as I said previously, plumbing is shit (pun intended, and no it was not me who did a no.2 and clogged the toilet, haha). Once again, we ate out for dinner. Also, we have to heat water for 15 min before we can shower....Australia > China (poor standards of hygiene is making me do TMI on sanitation)
31/12/12: Shopping in some rundown part of town, and more complaints about the sorry state of restrooms. More 3 hour eating out sessions again with extended family members -___-Also I feel like a very naive Westerner whenever I come across disabled beggars on the street - I disliked my relatives' unsympathetic attitudes to their plight (they say that the beggars act like they are pitiful during the day so naive people will give them money, but then when night comes, they're laughing as they dine exquisitely and go home to grand houses). I know that some may be fake, but not all of them are truly like that. I must also comment that people in GZ are so freaking vulgar - a lot of people smoke in restaurants (I do not appreciate passive smoking especially when I am eating food) and many people just spit on the street (ew) and the two general scents I identify when walking on streets are: smoke or garbage. Also, typical China - they don't celebrate the New Year (only celebrate Chinese new year *rolls eyes*) and even cancelled fireworks. One thing I do like about GZ is their giant bottles of fake Yakult for $1 AUD.
01/01/13: Happy New Year! Moved out of my relatives' house for 2 days (thank god, felt like my family and I were cramping their lifestyle) to stay at a hotel. A million relatives today, living in and out about the hotel and more eating out. I don't mind eating out but we've been eating out every single meal, and we keep ordering the same food (meat-wise) that I am not the hugest fan of....argh, just like me to be the picky eater. GZ Metro is stunningly simplistic and well thought out, having been renovated recently - trains come every 4-5 minutes, and they also have glass panes to prevent people from falling onto train tracks. Trains have TVs that feature ads and also have bilingual maps and little signs to show you where to transfer at. The metro is very easy to use, buses are a tad more difficult to use though. Met my cousin's 6 yo cousin at lunch, and she is SOOOO cute!!!! AHHH. If I ever had a daughter I want her to turn out like her :) :) The wharf near the hotel had some food stall thingy going on, so shops were open when we popped by at 9.30 PM (almost forgot to mention stores are open very late in GZ), and thus I devoured fairy floss at 9.40 for 5 RMB.
02/01/13: Last day of the hotel stay, eating out the entire day (brekky, lunch and dinner). GROSSSSSSSS, words cannot describe how much I detest eating out every meal. But what can you do when you have 30-40 relatives?!! Bought 2 CDs
03/01/13: Moved back to my relative's house (*groan*). More eating out (*another groan*), wandered to a few shops - shopping is very inconvenient when 10 people are going. Found Watsons (Asian equivalent of Priceline) so was super excited, until I saw the prices for everything (eeek).
04/01/13: I met up with Viv in Taojin (some rich area)!! =D Wandered around with our siblings :) Realised my Canto stinks so badly, I can't even understand anything when salespeople corner me at shops...ordering Macca's was difficult (but made easy with Viv's excellent grasp of Canto). Talked to Bitter as well despite poor reception(: Oh and another tip, do not speak English when going into shops, people try to rip you off because you're a foreigner, and don't give discounts (if this happens, well screw them! Don't buy their stuff) Then caught metro (I dig the metro) to another stop and did late night shopping for cheap stuff like slippers, and late night eating which was not eating out at restaurants (YES!). Also when Chinese TV broadcasted the giant duck's arrival, I was excitedly hyperventilating on the bus and of course, weird looks were fired my way;P
05/01/13: Woke up at 5.30 to catch the 9.30 flight to Narita Airport.... totally head over heels in love with Japan the moment I stepped foot in the airport! Japanese Customs takes your fingerprints and photo before you exit :) Worlds away from GZ in terms of hygiene! Shops are open very late, and I'm staying at a nice hotel in Shinjuku (streets are soooooooo pretty...). Ordering food in Japan fail: couldn't read Japanese, shop owners couldn't keep speak English very well, and we finally realised we had to look at pictures with numbers next to them, remember the number of the food we liked, then go to the ordering machine, put money and put our number, get our ticket, give to the cooks, and voila! Food out in 2 minutes :) Food and drink portions are generally small too...
06/01/13: The very distant relatives who stayed with us earlier in the year (Ayaha and Ayaka) travelled 3 hours to get to Shinjuku so they could take us to Tokyo Disneyland! And omgosh, picked up a few Japanese words along the way (a little language barrier), traveled on Japan Rail (sadly, no bullet train) to Maihama. Went on around 12 different rides / attractions in total (all are beautifully done) and Tokyo Disneyland is awesome since they put accurate estimated waiting times outside attractions and rides (waited exactly 70 mins for 1 ride, which was the estimated time). They have fireworks every day at 8.30 pm, day and night parades, a lot of food and souvenirs (quite pricey)-love this place!! SO WORTH THE TIRED LEGS AND BEARING THE COLD, brrrr. Got back to Shinjuku after 9pm, hopefully I will visit Ayaha's place sometime in the future, and learn some Japanese :) A funny custom of Japan is that people like to wear their school uniforms when they go out on weekends...:O and like China, people in Japan are obsessed with wearing masks that cover the nose and mouth. People are also so polite, friendly and accommodating and their English is pretty good. They bow a lot too! I want to live in Japan since I like a lot of things about it but one thing I don't like is whaling and treatment of sea animals. Anyway,
Over and out,
-r
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