Just Living
Trip Start
Aug 03, 2010
1
23
42
Trip End
Ongoing
Zhuhai, Guangdong, China
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Peter and I separated for the first time two weeks ago when I took a trip to the Quanyan Hot Springs with my friend/house cleaner/colleague, Axia. We left on a Friday after school and drove north to Zhongshang to meet up with some of her friends and family to soak in the pools and spend the night. Not only was I the only non-Chinese person in the group, I was the only one at the whole resort. I was also the only one in a bikini too, talk about awkward. The resort was incredibly beautiful. We arrived after dark and the whole place was lit up with colored lighting. Around 50 different hot spring pools, large and small, were spread out around the lush, landscaped property. Most were heated to about 40 degrees Celsius, but there were also cold pools to jump into. They are built out of stones so the setting looks very natural. Each one has a different purpose; some are scented with mint and others with different Chinese healing herbs. There are waterfalls and massage jets, dry saunas, wet saunas, and saunas filled with buckets of salt that you can use a a scrub. You can get a massage outdoors on a heated marble slab or get buried in hot rocks. We sat in milk baths, coffee baths, and wine baths. It was incredibly relaxing.
Then there was the sleeping situation. When we arrived we put all of our stuff into a locker in the women's locker room and put on our bathing suits. They provided these shorts and shirts to wear, orange striped for the women and blue for the men. I felt like I was wearing a Thai prison uniform or something. From there on out we went everywhere in those outfits or just our suits. We ate dinner at the huge buffet, where I learned that the Chinese buffet habits are not the same as American ones. For example, "Oh, we didn't eat these, let just put them back." Anyway, for 18 hours, with as many buffet trips as you could possibly handle, all of the hot springs offerings that I mentioned above, and a place to sleep I only had to pay 60 yuan, or 10 bucks. At this price, I knew I was in for a surprise when bedtime finally rolled around, but I wasn't sure what it would be.
Around 9:30 we were far away from the locker rooms when Axia led us into a changing room on the other side of the property, and we took off our bathing suits to change back into a dry pair of the lovely orange outfits. I was a little confused and asked what we were doing and was told that we were going into sleep. Not back to the locker room? To our cell phones, my jammies, my toothbrush? Nope. Straight into another building to find a "bed". The "beds" turned out to be large recliners, each equipped with their own small TV, and lined up side-by-side in a room that fit about 70 of them. I knew it was going to be a long night, and it was. The Chinese appear to have no consideration for their noise level and people streamed in and out of the room all night long looking for beds. I barely slept at all, though I did get to walk back for my Kindle and my Ipod, and I also paid to get a foot massage right there in my recliner. Not until daylight did I realize how lucky I was. Apparently, the hot springs does not have a bed for each individual that they sell a ticket to, and dozens of people slept outside on lounge chairs, the marble slabs, in the dining area, under the game machines, and on the ground outside any where they could find a spot. Don't worry, they were provided blankets and pillows, but that wouldn't have given me any comfort in the 50 degree and raining weather. Neither did the two large rats I saw scurrying by in the dark the night before. It was quite the experience, that is for sure. Next time, I don't think I'll choose to stay the night.
I had another adventure the next weekend, a ladies-only shopping trip to Guangzhou. This is the capital city of the region that we live in, Guangdong, and about a two hour drive away. We went for the purpose of visiting a fabric market and the pearl market, as well as just some good, old-fashioned shopping. The pearl market was crazy! Picture a mall, 6 stories tall, selling nothing but jewelry. It is mostly a wholesale warehouse, but anyone can go there to get the best deals on white pearls, black pearls, silver, and many other types of stones. After two hours there I was completely dizzy with all of the options, or maybe it was the thick pollution and cigarette smoke in the air. I was actually not in the market for pearls and had more fun in the historic district of Shamian Island. This is where the US embassy is located, where most people adopting Chinese children have to come through for the necessary paperwork, and where the foreigners were completely confined to in earlier years. The architecture is beautiful, yet, so not Chinese. The bridges used to close at night and announcements would be made on the loudspeaker prohibiting foreigners and dogs from leaving the island to enter the city. In fact, as recent as the mid-90's foreigners were still confined to certain areas in most cities in China and were not allowed to live anywhere else. Outside of the island, we had a great time walking around the local markets examining the bulk Chinese medicine products and pets for sale. There were snakes dried out to a crisp and tied in bundles, large burlap sacks full of black ants, fungus as big as my leg, turtle shells, turtle bodies, and gross little wormy tadpole-things. My Chinese friend Ms. Lou can translate most of the unidentifiable products for me, but her explanation for the use of these things is always the same, "They are very good for your health and very expensive."
Work has been rewarding, but also exhausting. While I was shopping away in Guangzhou, Peter was on a trip with some of the students to a sports activity day at a nearby QSI school in Shenzhen. This involved a ferry and a bus ride to get to the all day event. Peter's students all went home with a medal that day. Two of the girls came in second place in the badminton tournament, a boy was third in the spelling bee, and the others won second place in the soccer tournament. We also had a Walk-a-Thon to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross, parent-teacher conferences, and a Learning Expo Night. It has been busy! Last Friday I got a new student, a little boy from Japan that only speaks about a dozen words in English. With only two months left in the year, what do I do with that?!? He is very sweet though, and I can already tell that he is very smart.
Our first visitors are also here, Steve and Patti Hoover!! Yay!! We just got back from a long weekend trip to the Guangxi region so look for the story and pictures soon. Mom, Dean and Sis are next!! Can't wait!
Lots of love,
M & P
Comments
It all sounds so interesting and fun. I can't wait to visit!!!