The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees

This week I had to work 6 days...which sucked. So, I decided to cheer myself up, starting with buying a plant! as I have missed having greenery in my room.





I went to a little plant store in a very pleasantly quiet part of the city, and the owner told me this plant is called ‘發財樹’ which means ‘money tree’. I noticed them in all stores around the city with red ribbons on them, which is apparently seen as a sign of fortune!

On sunday we went to the Temple of Six Banyan Trees here in Guangzhou, and thus far it's been my favourite part of the city. The street leading to it was hectic, full of street stores all begging for my money, I felt like the contents of my pockets were the main target here - but as soon as we walked through the entrance to the temple, all the shouting and terrible dance music from the nearby shops instantly fell away, replaced with the sound of birds and falling leaves in the breeze. I finally found a place were my ears could rest.


















































Everywhere had incense burners and people paying worship, which formed such a relaxing atmosphere – so much so that I very nearly fell asleep after sitting for 10 seconds…

We entered a place called the ‘Hall of Mahavira’ where worship was being held in front of 3 large statues of Sakyamuni, Amidabutsu and Maitreya. Aside from a Buddhist Monk playing a Gong, the place was entirely silent.















Yeup, I definitely didn’t want to leave – especially out onto that crazy street again. Chinese culture certainly seems to contain both extremes; it’s never ceases to amaze me how this city suddenly switches from insanity to stillness.

Reflecting on my First Week of work in Guangzhou

Yeup, I've now lived in Guangzhou for 8 days, and have now completed my first full working week! Hurrah! My work is quite enjoyable (aside from the odd awkward loss in translation now and then), and the people here are very pleasant to me - even when I get my Chinese mixed up terribly.

I even manage to wake myself up 2 hours prior to starting work everyday (apart from when i'm horrendously ill, i'll get to that later...), I often arrive at work before anyone else.

Overall this week has been one of my craziest, but I feel I’ve adapted to life relatively well here – but not without any struggles. It’s safe to say that I’ve begun forming opinions on life in China and how it differs from England; some aspects are fantastic, others…a bit more difficult to get used to. So I thought I’d make a list –from bad to good (as to not end on a sour note).

 What I struggle to get used to in China

1.       The amount of people

In Hong Kong I didn’t really sense the population problem – but here is very different. The streets aren’t too bad (apart from lunch time) but the metro is absolute insanity. I’ve never been stuck in human traffic for 30 minutes before (outside of queuing in Disneyland). Everyone pushes and shoves, and cuts in front – but I can’t complain about that too much, because I think a bit of contact with strangers isn’t so taboo here as it is in the UK; where we try to keep at least 2 foot from each other to avoid excessive apologies to one another.

At the end of the work day I don’t really feel knackered, but as soon as I decide ‘I’ll take the metro to a location I haven’t visited yet’ my energy is depleted, and I dread the next time I decide to be adventurous (which is every night).

2.     Food Hygiene (in some places)

This definitely isn’t a cultural thing because Yinzi is definitely the most cleanliness obsessed person I know, but some restaurants in the locality are clearly not well kept and seem to get away with it. I’ve experienced this first hand with the food poisoning I got the other night which I’m still recovering from. I’ll not moan too much or go into any horrific detail, but most restaurants here are perfectly clean – and now I know of the few I should avoid at all costs.

3.     Noise

Everyone here uses their car horns, it’s usually my wake up alarm. It’s beginning to become just a background noise now, so I’ll get used to it eventually. But there’s also a lot of shouting, especially in some restaurants – however I think it’s my conditioning which is to blame; us British folk seem to be much more noise-conscious than most other countries, I even found the USA to be quite loud and here it’s much less distracting when I don’t know what the people are saying.

 Finally, What I love about China

1.     The Cities at Night are stunning

Tonight we went to Zhujiang New Town which is an amazing part of the city – it’s like the area was designed by a regular boring architect who was slipped some psychedelic drugs on the last day and tried to paint the city with rainbows. Even in my area which is quite old and unclean on the streets, there’s still so much vibrant colour and flashy shiny things at every corner of my vision. Every street you look down it looks like everyone left their Christmas lights on. So every day when I finish work I look forward to exploring another portion of the city at night, I’m thankful that my job at least still allows me free time during my favourite hours in China. I’ll definitely go for a night time stroll whenever I feel down or stressed – even if it requires going on the dreaded metro.

2.      The Prices

I can buy a full KFC for £1.20! Yeah, I know I should be talking about local cultural dishes, but it never ceases to amaze me… As much as I don’t like taking the metro it can get me to the other side of the city for about 30p, and it takes me to shops where I can get a 6 foot Christmas tree £6! – Christmas came early in China!

Here if I want something then in most cases I can get it without concern. They even give out coupons on every corner; I have like 60 coupons for getting a coffee for 15p! My only concern is when I begin travelling to distant places and tourist landmarks that I’ll buy too much and have to take it all back on the metro…

To conclude life is going pretty well here in China. It’s tiring at times due to how fast everything moves here, but I’ll adapt to the flow eventually – and when I return to Sheffield maybe I’ll never feel stress again! My experiences definitely make me appreciate how laid back and peaceful England is, but has also made me appreciate how a fast-paced lifestyle can make a week feel like a lifetime of experiences.

Guangzhou - Where i'm living for the next 6 months!

My first impression of Guangzhou was kind of....meh. The view from the train station seemed to be a regular urban scene, rather dull when compared to the bright lights and querky streets of Hong Kong. This disappointment however was short-lived, once I explored the more central parts of the city at night!

Luckily, my apartment is very close to the city centre! However, it's hard to tell from how it looks...

We took the taxi to the nearest location to the apartment (it's a zoo! on my doorstep!) to meet my coursemate/new room mate Kexiong. As he walked us to the destination the shiny modern architecture began to dissipate, as we entered a rather old section of the city centre. Here the buildings are grey, very dusty from the pollution and all the windows have bars on them. Needless to say I was rather surprised that this is where i would be living, and so were the locals we passed - i'm definitely the only Caucasian in this area!

I was quite frightened at first, as I thought maybe this doomed me to be burgled, mugged or just hassled whenever I walk to my door. But once I entered my apartment, this time I was met with quite a decent sized room and a very large bed - even a tv to watch shows I won't be able to follow! Once my posters and favourite possessions were spread around the place it instantly began to show promise as a functional home-from-home.

Although i'm the only westerner here, I don't feel unsafe - but me and Yinzi do tend to attract a lot of stares, especially from an old man who owns the corner shop who never ceases to be amazed. This place certainly makes me aware that i'm in a new place with different values and unique customs - therefore providing the ideal environment to truly indulge in the China experience.
Maybe this place can become my comfort zone and act as a strong lifeline for getting by here in China.


The toilet will take some getting used to though......

Hong Kong Summary + First day at work Tomorrow!

I left Hong Kong yesterday, and I already miss it! At first it was so chaotic, but after a while it's true charms became prominent - especially when getting out of the urban complex and into the mountains!

After seeing the spectacles that Hong Kong has to offer it's become more difficult to adapt to life in Guangzhou. But Guangzhou isn't without it's charms!

Tomorrow I will begin my first day at work, which is both daunting and rather exciting (but i'll leave that for my next bloggin')

Zainjian!