Day 6, May 16

Day 6, May 16th

               Today was our last day in the city of Guangzhou and we persisted through our tours despite heavy rainfall most of the day. To begin our day we had breakfast and checked out of our rooms from the Landmark Canton Hotel. From our hotel, we traveled by bus to the local aquatic seafood market in Guangzhou which is the largest fish market in South China, selling approximately 1.1 million pounds of seafood daily. The market is open 24 hours every day providing fresh seafood and other products such as:  shrimp, various types of fish including salmon, tuna, crab, octopus, eel, scorpions, turtles, alligators and more. A really unique aspect of the market is that a majority of all the seafood and even alligators were alive. It was incredible to see all the unique sea creatures that the people of Guangzhou utilize for their cuisine and what items were of higher value. Our tour guide joked that the Chinese people describe Cantonese people of Guangzhou as people that eat everything in the sea but the submarine, everything on land but vehicles and everything in the sky but the plane. Following the fish market we toured the fruit and vegetable market of the city. The fruit market included domestic fruit such as jackfruit, lychee fruit, dragon fruit and mangos to name a few. Their imported fruit area included numerous grapes, cherries and apples from Washington State and various other fruits from not only the United States but also New Zealand, Vietnam and other countries. The fruit market sells approximately 18 million pounds of fruit a day on a wholesale basis to restaurants and grocery stores in city and surrounding areas. The vegetable market was also very unique providing leafy vegetables ranging from lemongrass to white carrots.

               For lunch we traveled a short distance to one of the oldest restaurants in Guangzhou and enjoyed fried chicken and vegetables, steamed vegetables with mushrooms and fungus type cuisine, and jack fruit, which had a flavor similar to bananas and pineapple but far different texture than either fruit, but still delicious. Following lunch we walked around a small island in the city separated from the main land by the Pearl River. Our tour guide explained that this island was where foreigners lived years ago, specifically British, influencing the architecture and overall experience of the island to have a more British atmosphere, very different from the rest of the city.  The native Chinese residents were not allowed in the island village until 1945. It has been the location of the U.S. consulate before its current location and where numerous American families stay while adopting children from China.

               We are now on our way to Xi'an by airplane which is about a two and a half hour flight. Most of us ate KFC chicken or McDonalds for supper tonight at the airport which has been as close to American food here in China as we have seen. We are hoping for sunny and 75 degree weather tomorrow.

by: Cheyenne and Clayton Johnson