THIS WAS A GOOD FRIDAY. So good, in fact, that it is Wednesday evening and I am just now posting. Actually I was just lazy. But enough of that.
Rachelle had just gotten back from Zhuhai, and I had taught a class in the morning, which my boss had sat in on. It went better than expected. After a quick nap, we met up with Sebastian and Jenny, and Sebastian suggested we take the Metro to Shamian Island.
Shamian Island used to be a sandbar in the river, but it was the only place foreign interests were allowed to set up shop in Guangzhou, back in the Qing Dynasty, and the British gradually built it up. Currently it houses some interesting Western-influenced architecture, a great big hotel where the American embassy is/was/will be? I don’t recall because the building is under renovation right now and it’s closed off. We strolled around the island, Sebastian being an excellent tour guide, and we eventually stopped at Lucy’s for some munchies and drinks. It was a quaint little American-themed establishment with an outdoor seating area. By the time we finished, the sun was starting to set (but the smog kept it pretty light for a while).
We finished our tour of the island and headed to the riverside to catch a ride on a river boat. After some momentary confusion as to which pier we needed to gaggle around, and some frustration and concern when we found that all the ATMs in the area seemed to be out of cash or were just not working for us, we climbed aboard, were ushered downstairs (upper deck was for the higher-paying passengers), received our water bottles and some kind of spaetzle-krispies treat with sesame (they took some getting used to, but man oh man was i horfing them down by the end of the trip), and AWAY WE GO!
I took a buttload of pictures. Guangzhou is flashy as all hell at night. Maybe not as much glitz per square meter as, say, Vegas, but there’s a hell of a lot more of it to go around. After a few stops and a turnaround, we returned to our port of departure and we were rather hungry.
Sebastian knew of an excellent German restaurant just a few blocks down the road. So we headed to 1920′s, as it was called, and it was in fact delicious. As a matter of fact, my wife and I returned for our anniversary dinner on Monday. After dinner we rounded the corner, passed a place specializing in “gruel,” headed down entrance D of the Haizhu Square Metro terminal, and headed home to listen to construction vehicles outside our balcony until 1 in the morning. THEN we slept.
Pictures follow. I HAD A BUNCH OF WITTY CAPTIONS BUT I PRESSED THE WRONG BUTTON AND WORDPRESS FLUSHED THEM DOWN THE SHITTER. FML.
