Guangzhou

               Today is our second day in Guangzhou, in mainland China. We were able to get a little extra sleep this morning and were treated to a buffet style breakfast. French toast, fruit, and omelets were a treat for us after a few days away from home. The view of the city from 39 stories up was beautiful while we were eating, no matter where you crammed in to quickly eat your breakfast a jaw dropping view was guaranteed to be seen. The skyscrapers and building were as high as could be, which is essential in a city with over 14 million people. The river was seen at a distance, its bridges dull during the day. These dull bridges were disguised during the day as a simple necessary construction piece, but at night lit up with a mind-blowing amount of colors.

               After breakfast we boarded our bus and were on our way to the United States Consulate. The short drive gave us the opportunity to see parts of the city we haven't adventured in yet. After a quick security check we were once again on American soil. It felt great to be back in America for a short period of time. While at the consulate we were able to learn a little bit more about American and Chinese trade. The biggest area of discussion for our group today involved GMO's and the ban on US beef. This tour was a great opportunity to learn more about the different products traded in China.

               Our lunch today consisted of a delicious arrangement of beef, chicken, pork, and vegetables. We can honestly say that we have never seen a group of twenty year olds fight over vegetables, but boy was the broccoli good today! There was also a sweet treat in today's meal, watermelon. All semester we've been taught that watermelon is brought out at the end of a meal to signify its finish. Every meal we've had this far we have been missing this infamous watermelon. But today it finally arrived, and might I say it was worth the wait!

               After lunch we toured a local supermarket to see how the locals get their groceries every day. This was a cool experience to see all the different foods that are available for purchase over here. It was quite busy for early afternoon on a working day, but that's what you get with this large of a population! We were able to have a few hours on our own after this tour before we went to supper.

               Some of us decided to use our free time to go to the Canton Tower, the second tallest building in the world, and went on an elevator all the way up.  This is where we were able to see most of Guangzhou and really realize how high up 1601 feet is.  Three of us had enough guts to ride the world's highest thrill ride which was on top of the Canton Tower.  The ride consisted of going up even higher on the tower and then locking once at the top of the ride, then after a few seconds we drop and that was quite an adrenaline rush.

               A light buffet dinner was had by our whole group, after which, we went on a night cruise by the Pearl River. We were able to look at numerous beautifully lit bridges, all of which took our breath away. These light up bridges are a sight to be seen when in Guangzhou, and we were lucky enough to be able to see them while cruising down the river. So far, this has been a wonderful day in this beautiful city! We are excited to be traveling tomorrow to a new city, and can't wait to see what else China has to offer!

Kelly Morrison and Dan Bechen

Today we left Hong Kong and headed for Guangzhou by bus, which was a five hour drive. When leaving Hong Kong, we first went through Shenzhen which started off with a population of 30,000 thirty years ago, and now has a population of 15 million. The growth was caused by an experiment on a free market. Shenzhen was the home of the battle pit that was used during the Opium War. This pit was used to burn the opium that the British were giving the Chinese to kill them off. The landscape going from Hong Kong to Guangzhou was very different; we went from a setting that contain mountains and a more urban population to a more flat rural landscape in Guangzhou. Also, on our way to Guangzhou we saw one hector farms (two acres) that contained different fruits such as bananas and dragon fruit.  There were also rice fields, along with ducks, chickens, pigs, and cattle farms.

Once we got to Guangzhou we visited Guangzhou Jinyang Aquaculture Co, LTD. This fish farm sells their stock to high end restaurants for $12.00 per pound. The puffer fish is the most prominent breed of fish grown at the farm. These fish were grown at the farm for two years, and were moved to different ponds based on their age. Also, this fish farm grew shrimp in ponds that contained 150,000 shrimp. It took three months for the shrimp to fully develop.

After our fish farm visit we went for lunch at a restraint that was over the water in huts. Our meal was a wide variety of Asian cuisine. When we got to the restaurant, we could see the cooks preparing our food. There were many different protein options given such as squid, tofu, pork ribs, goose, and duck. We also got a wide variety of vegetables; green beans, onions, peppers, and carrots. We got to try to try bitter melon, which is a cucumber with a bitter taste. Bitter melon is a native cucumber to the Chinese culture.

The next stop for the day was the Guangzhou South China Oceangate Container Terminal. This port was made on June 9, 2006. This port is located on the Pearl River and is a total length of 2100 meters across the 6 berths of 150,000 tonnage. In the terminal 15 million containers pass through this port per year. We got the opportunity to drive out into the port storage and see how the containers were stacked one by one in the lot. Also, while we were there we got to see a barge being loaded with the containers. These barges also import 800,000 cars per year, as well as a large protein supply.

Our last stop for the evening was for a dim son supper. This supper was were each person got one piece of the dish that was brought out. There were many different dishes that we got to try; fried milk, egg roll, shrimp dumpling, noodles, rice, steamed bread, and a custard pie. The group would vote that this was their favorite meal so far. After dinner we then drove to the Landmark Hotel in North Guangzhou. This is where we will stay while in Guangzhou.