Sunday, 31 March 2013
All the people so many people…Parklife!
Guiyang, Gateway to the dramatic countryside of Guizhou and the ecological delights of Yunnan and thriving city and provincial capital , romantically described in Lonely Planet as ‘A city that would never win any prices in a beauty contest.’…This is my new home

Sat. 8.55 am! I have a big weekend planned, its my first real chance to experience the state capital. Problem is the only free bus leaves in 5 minutes and I am still in my pants.

After a frantic dash I made it to the college bus, only to get stuck in traffic for 3 hours! the urban spread of
Guiyang begins 5 miles or so outside the city, the suburbs are a little like a box of biscuit misshapes, you munch through a load of shattered rich tea, and splintered custard cream and its sweet and ….just ok…then you pull out a pink wafer..whole! Demolition and construction is everywhere, this a rapidly growing business and travel hub. New international hotels, conference centres and warehouses the pink wafers and Oreos of the biscuit tin nestle underneath the flyover of the yet to be completed superhighway will soon connect Guiyang to Yunnan and Guangdong next door to the Radisson the tired street side restaurant or the dilapidated corner store spills into road like a crumbling bourbon creams..
(I think it may be time to put a lid on this cookie barrel analogy.)

I am here to meet a Local and get a feel for the town, I have been here before, twice, for my Government medical. I had to take a resit because of white blood cells in my urine, for a couple of days I thought I was going to get deported because I needed a new kidney. Luckily the only innards required were the ones on sale at the offal pick ‘n’ mix shop where gizzards, livers, feet and chickens necks are flash fried and smothered in hot sauce. I have also discovered boiled tripe wraps which are pretty killer too.

Guizhou university [ Guizhou Normal University ??] is situated in the northern part of the city and surrounded by bars and studenty stuff. The student teachers line the streets out side the campus entrance like intellectual rent boys advertising there skills all of which are for sale right price, there are loads of university’s in Guiyang I was lucky to get to the right one. Yang Ying is a teacher who resides on campus at Guizhou ‘Normal’ University and my host for the day.

I arrived flustered. Fortunately my new friend has keen eyesight and she spotted a freckly 6 ft ghost striding down the pavement with ease. After a brief handshake I was ushered to a fancy restaurant in a hotel complex called the ‘He House’. for a exquisite and refined lunch. She was polite, and very easy to talk too we both shared a love of travel especially India, she seemed to envy the freedom I have in my life and she felt stifled by Chinese bureaucracy and wanted to see the world. So the conversation flowed like the tea she suggested we mingle with the rest of the population of Guiyang and visit Qianling park and HongFu temple.

Saturday in Guiyang is park day. there is a scramble at the ticket office booth and the paths are jammed with buggies and minors in charge of mini electric cars. teen flushed with first love walk by fumbling nervously for each others hands, and older couples help each other down steep stairs. It seems its a park for everyone.

Just round the corner, left of the impoverished monk street performer who plays the harmonica with his nose. past the couples dancing in the bandstand and behind the middle aged man with portable amplifier and mic wailing a tuneless ballad. (I Imagine his wife had kicked him out the house for being under her feet all day! ‘..Shut up…you old git either fix that shelf or go and torment the people in the park with your talentless warbling!’ she must have said) are the stairs to the top of the 1300m mountain and the HongFu temple. Yang Ying bounded up the stairs. she was enjoying her day and tended to work a lot over the weekends so to have something different to do was fun.

Entrance to Hong Fu Temple
The smell of incense and blossom welcomed us to the 400 year old temple complex and the atmosphere was serene despite the crowds. In a small temple to the right of the main structure is probably the best temple i have ever been too, its a maze like room crammed filled with quirky Buddha all about the same size on three shelves which stretch all the way round the temple walls. Now these jocular, portly men are fortune telling Buddhas, and I was invited to play ‘You gotta pick as Buddha or two!’ The rules are easy. Pick a Buddha you like then count a round the room moving to your Buddha right until you have counted as many Buddhas as you have been on the planet, then remember the number of final Buddha and collect you fortune from the kiosk. my final Buddha was stubled, poorly attired with a small forehead and an uncomfortable expressions reminiscent of acute constipation. I doubted very much he had anything nice to say about my future. Ying’s Statue on the other hand was much more welcoming and happy so see decided to get her fortune told……..It could not have been worse!……Stay close to home and your Husband will arrive after he has travelled from afar….ooops!!….not the fortune you want to her when all you dream about is far off adventure in foreign lands.

Where there are people, food and trees in asia there are Macaques, loveable,cuddly, funny,dirty, rabies carrying monkeys, the most adaptable species on the planet after humans. I have a love/hate relationship with Macaques after one stole my samosa and pee-ed on me from height in Varanasi train station. In Qianling they pry on the timid and the weak, playfully fighting each other to get biscuits nuts, and sweet sugary drinks, they drink so much Sprite and OJ, they must be on a mental sugar rush all there lives until they die from diabetes! I had a terrific day in the park I saw so many wonderful things I really enjoyed watching the men loving write on the pavement with water and big sponge quills to demonstrate the art involved in beautiful calligraphy. The company was magical, Ying and I became good friends on that walk in park. and the day had only just begun……next came a Siwawa masterclass!

from www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9981092315/ , uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9981293814/