Wedding Madness

Well...we continued walking....we had been told about a nice place to get a drink and something to eat by the sea, so we set off to find it. Little did we know what we would find when we got there...

 We got there to find the beach....full...and I mean FULL of people in wedding gear having their photos taken, by professional photographers, with lighting and props and make-up artists etc.

It was such a bizarre sight. One of those cultural things that just makes you smile and scratch your head.

Yeas that's a faux grand piano in the background,
dining table and arbour in the foreground

 How they managed to take pics without other couples getting in the pic I'm not sure.

The bicycle was a very common prop for the ladies.

Qi Ao Island

So we went for a day out, to an island just of the coast of Zhuhai, connected by a rather large bridge. And came across a few surprises. Firstly the bridge itself is a bit odd... huge suspension bridge connecting a relatively small place to the mainland...why?
Well the owner of one of the local bars informed us that... at one stage there was a plan to build a road bridge across to HK, and this large 6 lane suspension bridge to the island was the starting point. They didn't get any further or they scrapped the plans or they ran out of money...who knows.
So anyway, we caught a bus over the bridge, no real idea where we were going or what to expect, we just stayed on the bus until it stopped (it actually just did a 3 - point turn) and all the locals got off, then we walked.
Well.. what we found was a quiet and quite traditional village, small single story houses with walled courtyards attached. Locals just going about their daily lives and wondering (no doubt) what the hell we were doing there and why we were taking pictures of bizarre stuff (doors, numbers, piles of bricks :))

Here's a smattering from the village.

Old door in the village

These 'shrines' peppered the village, all had incense burning at them

This lot followed us for a while thinking we were hilarious

old derelict building

back alley

great hat

and another great hat

Boys and their toys

They were brilliant with their yo-yos

like the hat

Jinding street barbecue

So ten minutes down the road from BNU is a small town called Jinding. Every night, stalls are set up along the main road selling food; barbecued meat, fish and veg, hotpot is also available (not the Northern England style hotpot, but the Chinese version: a large pan of stock into which are dropped your ingredients of choice for a short time and then taken out and eaten with noodles or rice, quite often with a bit of the liquor from the pan)
The smells can be inviting or a bit full on, depending on the products being sold, some of the mainly meat based stalls are a bit overpowering and are accompanied by a slightly rank rotting smell....not good.
Each stick (you'll see them below) costs between 0.5 and 5 Yuan which is the equivalent of 5p to 50p (UK))
so you can choose 3 or 4 veg, a bit of meat and some noodles and it'll come to about a $1.50 (US) (my keyboard has no pound symbol...sorry). A plate of dumplings, usually made from minced pork, cost about 40 cents ....with a little dip made from vinegar, chilli paste and some coriander...they are awesome.
Anyway it's a spectacle, here're a few pics. These ones are DSLR, hopefully you can see the difference from the last lot.

Hand making noodles

Assorted ingredients waiting to go in the hot pot, take your pick on a stick.

The hot pot in action, complete with smiley faces

Or you can have them deep fried

Largely unidentifiable ingredients

My favourite; freshly steamed dumplings

Duck, very commonly seen like this

A few more pics from Guanzhou

So...Guangzhou...was preparing for the Asian Games 2010....slightly better organised than Delhi for the Commonwealth, they had pulled out all the stops and the place was obviously ready well in advance, no pot holes, building sites or stinking mosquito ridden cess pools. Well done....India...take note! For those of you that don't know this used to be called Canton...and obviously where the language and food Cantonese originate.
Anyway enough of that waffle.... here's a small selection of shots from the place.

Baskets down a back alley, near the Chen Family Academy

Dried fruits and nuts

Bamboo mat sellers

Outside the Opera House and Art Gallery seemed to be a popular place to have
pics taken before the wedding

Children on a trip to the art gallery (which was excellent btw and well worth a visit)

A common sight all over, young and old alike playing a local version of hacky-sac

5 Montages from GuangZhou

On a recent trip to Guangzhou in Guangdong province, China. We saw lots of stuff, too many to post pics of all of it, so here's a snapshot of some highlights via montages.

 At the crossings.

 A selection of some of the folk pottery from an exhibition at the Chen Family Academy.

Also at the Chen Family Academy, a selection of embroidery work, which was quite mind-blowing.

 Crammed onto the heavily used metro system, all a bit much sometimes.

An exhibition called Chromatic Interference at the Art Gallery.