Hello, hello, hello again!!

It's been AGAIN a while since the last English update, soo.... Here we go again!! (And this time, an English update before the Finnish one - what a surprise!)

The remaining days in Shanghai provided us with visits to the city's aquarium, a nearby city called Nanjing, Shanghai's markets in an area called Yu Garden, and to lots and lots and lots of restaurants. Of course!

To start with... The aquarium in Shanghai was... Well, to make a complete surprise - HUGE! It had lots and lots of different kind of fishes (...surprise!) and other sea-living critters, such as cute seals, NOT-so-cute jellyfishes and some GIGANTIC turtles. My! And of course, the tour within the aquarium ended with world's longest "underwater tunnel", which provided absolutely beautiful views. Totally worth the money!

After the aquarium-excursion, we decided to head for another restaurant, this time into a Korean-type barbeque restaurant. The catch within this place was that almost every food was brought in front of us in "ready-to-fry" condition, so all the meats and such were ment to be barbequed by ourselves. Almost the same thing as we had back in Beijing - some kind of Hot Pot. But, again, when considered this all to be made by a couple of traveling Finns, I'd say this idea sounds like... Well, ehm, poor Koreans!

But let all the worries flow away! EVERYTHING went fine - well, expect for one potato slice, which suffered major burn. Heh! Well, it was too thin to be fried, anyway! Apart this one badly burnt potato slice, food tasted - surprise, again! - GREAT! We had some beef, mackerel, mushrooms... Aaand also some eel. Okay, having some eel MAY sound like exotic, probably as good as "delicious", but, ehm... It is not. The eel was covered in extremely sugarish sauce, and the fish itself was waaaaay too soft to be eaten. That poor little piece of fish crumbled into pieces even BEFORE it reached our hungry mouths, ah! And that way-too-sweet sauce made it all taste like... Syrup. With extra sugar, or something. Phuh.

Well, although the food was delicious, the way it was ment to be eaten, was NOT! Do the Koreans REALLY use such chopsticks as we did that day?! My God! They must be pretty talented, the most patient people I've ever met, and they must have a surgeon-like precision! The chopsticks were metallic, which means poor grip while grabbing the food, and they were FLAT. Yes, FLAT! Normally chopsticks are somewhat edgy and have a round end, which are ment to grab the food, but these were ALL THE WAY flat! Must have been quite a show we had, few starving Finns, greasy fingers, and a somewhat foul mouth and serious laughter after every failed grab. Ehm, sorry for every Koreans, if we disgraced their food culture!!! I truly apologize - the food was REALLY good!!

On monday we decided to take a trip to a nearby town called Nanjing. Yes, a "town". Well, according to Chinese standards, this city is a town - ONLY 7 million inhabitants. Well! Nanjing is historically meaningful city, it played significant role as a capital during some Dynasties. And Nanjing Massacre occured there, when the Japanese attacked - for further information, there's always Wikipedia!

We got there quite comfortably - on board a train, which traveled a comfortable 320 km/h. (I could have a word or two with the Finnish Railways...) The locals seemed to be QUITE unfamiliar with the concept of "tourist" - judging by the looks EVERY inhabitant gave to us. And I mean EVERY! Puh! Put three shy Finnish men into a town of 7 million people, and make those people STARE for these strange newcomers for a VERY long time - it somehow made us feel quite uncomfortable. At least when a group of grandmas, sitting in a ring, stopped their talking and turned their faces to us. And started staring. Scary!!!

Okay, Nanjing MIGHT have been some kind of historically significant city, but today, only few fragments of past times can be seen - a statue or two. The rest of the city's history is buried under massive skyscrapers and neverending highways. History is wiped out for the sake of modern development. That's how it goes!

Once back in Shanghai, me and Juha decided to venture out to see the club-life in Shanghai. Jari decided to head back to our hotel, in order to recover from his tiredness. Aaaand... How was clubbing in China?

Well! To start with - we found this one club, "Soho". Okay, the name sounds like western-ish, but I experienced something that I've NEVER experienced before - with the entrance fee (of 60 RMB's - roughly 6 euros) we got a bracelet, which gave us the possibility to get FREE drinks (from a specific list) until 4 in the morning. (And in this point, I truly believe that this idea would NOT work back in Finland... Uh!) So - definately, we HAD to try this out!!

Well, that was the end of the good points of clubbing in China. Inside the club, smoking was allowed. This really makes you appreciate more the smoke-free bars in Finland.. And talking or having longer discussions than one word was impossible because of the music - we had to get to the toilets to even talk a bit, or then SCREAM into one's ear. Me and Juha lost our voices for 3 days because of this. Yes, we CAN scream.

The people inside the club behave very same way as anywhere - this didn't change in China. People were dancing (or, the correct word would be "wobbling", there were no dancefloor, so the people were wobbling by their seats), and me and Juha decided to try a simple drinking game, as the drinks (or some of them, such as Whiskey-cola) were free. We made a simple rule: the opponent throws the dice, and you have to drink the amount the dice gives. Simple and easy! And since conversation's made impossible, let there be a drinking game all through the night! Wee!

On tuesday, I was a bit.... Tired.

Later that day, we headed for another Chinese restaurant - this one was slightly different from the others, because this restaurant offered FROGS! Got to try that out!

That wasn't the only difference. Nobody didn't mention, that the food in this place would be SPICY. I have nothing against a spicy food, but my god, the food should TASTE, and not BURN! We had some mackerel-soup and fried frogs - a lots of food, again! Mackerels weren't that spicy, but they were delicious - but the frogs. Okay, I THINK they were good - only if my mouth would stop burning and my eyes and nose flowing like Niagara falls. Well!

Wednesday was the day, when we headed for the Yu Garden's market place! It's practically a very big area covered with all kinds of boutiques and markets - along with very, VERY delicious tea shops. Ahh, Chinese Jasmine tea... Heavenly!!

Originally, we had the plan to move out from Shanghai towards Guangzhou on thursday, but since there were no places available on any train on that day, we decided to change our hotel in Shanghai and move on towards Guangzhou on friday. Well, we COULD have stayed one night more in our previous hotel, BUT! After DAYS of showering in a so-called shower (the water pressure is like a "one drop at a time), staying inside a smoke-smelling and cold hotelroom... Ahh, we voted for change! So, we headed towards the southern Shanghai, into a new hotel. And was the change good?

YES!!!! FINALLY a DECENT shower, the bed was a bit softer, the room was NOT cold and FINALLY smoke-free!! Weee!

Well, we "celebrated" the final day in Shanghai with Juha and his Chinese friend by eating in a sushi-restaurant. Woo, new experiences for me! Sushi tastes surprisingly good - to be only some fish, wrapped into a rice porridge and some seaweed. But it's tasty! Although I've GOT to remeber to NOT put SO much wasabi into the soy-sauce. I felt like somebody would have tried to punch its way out from within my head, through my nose!! But heck, wasabi really TASTES good - but with less punch next time, please!

So. Friday was finally the train-train-trainy day, all the way, through the day, yay yay yay! This time we did NOT have a bullet train. No - getting a ticket or those SHOULD have been done 14 days before the trip, which is not possible for us. Well, this was certainly an UNUSUAL experience!!

How did it went? Well. The sleeping car is NOT sound proof. The train does NOT run smoothly. The train ride does NOT take 18 hours from Shanghai to Guangzhou, but 22 hours. Well, at least we woke up on time - 4 hours before our destination, eh heh!

Anyway. We made it here - down south! Alive and somewhat well, although tired we were! Aye!

The first experience of Guangzhou was - "Ohhh no - it's WINDY AGAIN!!", the second was - "Hey! It's actually WARM in here!" We ventured out to find a metro station, and then we walked QUITE a while to find our hotel. Doing so with rucksacks on your back and feeling SOOO tired and hungry makes it feel quite... Challenging! But eventually we found our precious hotel, got ourselves cleaned up, and ready to explore the new city! The first thing was - FIND FOOD!!!

....and boy, THAT was a challenge! A travel guide on the Internet announced that "Guangzhou holds more bars and restaurants than any other city in China", but THEY ARE LOCATED IN SOMEWHAT SMALL AREA, for Christ's sake! Eventually we found that area, and had our urgent needs fulfilled with somewhat tasteless Chinese noodles and fish. No matter what - that was food!

Guangzhou itself is - yet again! - a VERY different city! So far, EVERY Chinese city throws my beliefs and pre-assumptions into a garbage can, and laughs very loud to my assumptions. Oh my. Guangzhou's VERY more "stable" city, when compared to Shanghai - it has "only" 10 million inhabitants, but the traffic here (and the atmosphere) is.... Calm! People seem not to rush anywhere (expect within the metro!!! MY GOD, I found a new definition for the word "crowded" - that's "Guangzhou's metroline number 5."), and this city even has some beautiful and calm parks here and there... Ahh, bliss! I'll tell more about the appearance of Guangzhou with some pictures, while we explore more!

Oh, and our hotel has a gym and a SAUNA!!!! FINALLY!! Well, the temperature within the sauna is only 50 C, but... Hey - it's a SAUNA! In CHINA!! Blessed be the sacred one, who was wise enough to construct that sacred place of heavenly heavens into this hotel! And going to the gym feels good after a while, doing something more than only walking around feels refreshing.

Ah, I should stop here, but I've really GOT to share two encounters with Chinese people we had today! (Sorry for this long post - well, it's me again, so... Ehm!)

This first one happened, while we were on the crowded metro. We were one of the last ones getting into the metro car, so we were quite well pushed against the train doors. Next to me, there was a young boy (about 6 - 9 years old) with his mother, facing towards the doorway, while I was facing my back towards the doorway. This little boy was indeed soooo curious of what happened around him - he was totally used to the crowd, that brave little one - he was looking around curiously and observing closely every people on the train. At some point, naturally, his eyes met two funny-looking, strange men, who seem to be foreigners. And oh my, those curious little eyes stopped for a while when they met mine, and that little fella spent a short while observing these strange pair of foreign eyes, that were looking into his from up above. Ahh, these kind of sights just makes you smile!! But ohh, that boy seemed to ignore that with a look "well, those are not from around here", and then he just kept looking around and talking with his mother.

But oh! Little did I knew, that he was gathering all the big bravery he had within himself, gave another wonderful look into my eyes again - and then - that brave little thing raised his hand for a wave, GAVE me a wave with SO CUTE sounding "Helloo!" OH-MY-GOD!!! I answered back to him with a wave and a "Helloo!" Wow. Seeing something so cute as this one here... I smiled all the way until our stop, and I'm smiling at the moment as I am going through this oh-so-insignificant-sounding-event, but to me... Ahh, one small but yet SO unforgettable event!

The other one occured, when me and Jari were having a "western-style coffee break" around 6 o'clock, when sun was setting down. We were sitting in a park, with cups of coffee (from Starbucks...) in our hands - just calming down, talking about things, and watching the civilization flow by. Precious moments, when one can just sit down and not to rush ANYWHERE - with a HUGE cup of coffee! Well, anyway, after a while, one young girl (older than 14, younger than 21, perhaps? Anyway, young) approaches us, and says "Excuse me", from few steps away. "Yes?" I replied, turning to her. And what does she say next?

It surprised me also. "Ehm..... Guten Abend?"

With a couple seconds of surprised silence, what did I reply? "Guten Abend", of course. But oh!! The look on the girl's face - my God, you could REALLY see her lighting up like a star - you know what's the feeling like, when somebody REALLY understands you when you're speaking with a foreign language? This girl had the very similar feeling.

As she ran away with a BIG smile on her face, I turned to Jari, and said (in Finnish) "...well, now she thinks we're both German." And yes, a LOT of people from China believes, that we're from Germany. What's the thing between Finland and Germany?! Hey, come on!! What's happening here?!?

Well, anyway, the girl comes back after a while, and asks, if we're both from Germany. Ehm. I tell her, that we're really from Finland, but that I know a LITTLE bit of German. Anyway, the girl seems to be overjoyed that she finally med two foreigners, and she explains, that she's a student in Guangzhou, and that today her family came to visit her. Then she asked that would it be OK if she would take a photograph of me and Jari with her family. Heh! Kind of unusual question, really, but definately we agreed to that. Heh, such things happen only in China, I think...!

Well, that was it! Anyways, the next days we plan just to wander around, and do... Well, nothing planned! We've been quite hectically moving from a place to place in the past days, so now it would be a good time to rest for a while. And enjoy the weather, it's something around +14 in here - not too warm, but after SOOO windy Beijing and Shanghai, this feels kinda good!

But when compared to Finland?

Ohh... I miss snow.

See you next time!