MONGOL SERIES, DAY 8 & 9
GUANGZHOU
Eating Mouse & Driverless Buses in Guangzhou. China’s city of Guangzhou isn’t a city well known by many of us in the west but it has over 15 million people and considered one of the biggest cities in the world.
KNOWING THAT IT WAS MOUSE IT WAS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO ENJOY
Not only is it well populated but incredibly hot and humid during the summer. If you visit, I’d recommend waiting for the milder months.
WHERE IS GUANGZHOU?
Guangzhou
LOCAL PARK
A tradition in Chinese culture is to spend mornings and afternoons in local parks. Locals do everything here, from singing to playing the flute. I found a few people playing keepy ups with a homemade shuttlecock made from cardboard and feathers. I expected it to be tricky, but it was easy to learn and surprisingly fun.
I quickly met interesting people, including a local flute teacher who paused his class to give me a solo. Like many Chinese, he was an intriguing character, though I couldn’t communicate with him directly.
Eating Mouse & Driverless Buses in Guangzhou
OPERA TEAHOUSE
Tea and opera shows often go together in Guangzhou, and you’ll find many of these small restaurants. Older generations frequently visit during the day to enjoy lunch while listening to traditional opera. It was extremely loud, but the food was incredible.
Eating Mouse & Driverless Buses in Guangzhou
MEDICINE STREET – TEA
Just around the corner was the district’s medicine street. China is known for its unusual natural medicines, from deer antlers to bull d*ck, which supposedly makes you strong.
An interesting small medicine tea shop sat on the corner. The server examined my tongue, diagnosed me, and made a tea to help me recover. She said nothing was wrong with me (a first!) but still gave me preventative tea. It wasn’t the best tea I’ve tried!
It might sound like a novelty, but the Chinese take their medicine seriously. A few locals were there while I was. Some had colds or sore stomachs, bought their medicine, drank it, and moved on.
Eating Mouse & Driverless Buses in Guangzhou
FLAG….
- THE FIVE RAMS SYMBOL – Yuexiu Park and Yuexiu Mountain are famous for being one of the city’s symbol, being the Five Rams sculpture.
- RED – Symbolizing the city’s energy and passion.
- WHITE – A touch of purity and balance.
THREADING
There are many things which are known to be sore which I enjoy; sports massage and a back scratch being two of them but threading was a step too far. Threading is a hair removal technique which gets at the root of the hair on your face and neck. I couldn’t cope and what didn’t help was that I hadn’t had a shave in a few days meaning she was really going for it.
RELATED READ: EATING SCORPIONS AND INSECTS IN BANGKOK MARKET
MOUSE FOOD
There is an expression in Guangdong (the province) that people here; eat everything that files, everything that runs, everything that swims and anything else. And what better way to prove this than trying the regions most controversial dish, Mouse! I’m all for trying new things but I was nervous about this one and what didn’t help was that the restaurant was well outside of the city, underneath a motorway and empty when we arrived.
We ordered 1 mouse and the nearest thing to a cockroach, I wasn’t sure what was going to be worse. It was said the taste for mouse originated from the famine where up to 45million people died and many locals had to improvise by eating anything they could find, often field mice.
FACTS ABOUT GUANGZHOU:
- Economic Powerhouse: Guangzhou is one of China’s most important trade and manufacturing centers, home to the Canton Fair, the largest and oldest trade fair in China, attracting international business from across the globe.
- Architectural Marvels: The city is known for its stunning skyline, featuring the iconic Canton Tower, which stands at 600 meters and is one of the tallest towers in the world, offering breathtaking views of the Pearl River.
- Cultural Fusion: Guangzhou’s food scene is a melting pot of Cantonese cuisine, known for its dim sum and street food, but also reflects influences from its diverse population, making it a culinary destination for food lovers.
MOUSE
The mouse however wasn’t as bad as expected, the hard part was using your hands to open it up and shred the meat off the bones. For some reason I was ready for the little sh*t to bite me, I just couldn’t get my head to understand it was dead. But after a while I got a good bite of meat and it was just like chicken, a little darker in colour but the taste wasn’t that far off. Still not easy to enjoy knowing you have a mouse’s thigh in your mouth.
What surprised me as we left was the restaurant was almost full and everyone was ordering mouse!
ROBOT DELIVERY
Believe it or not China is living in the year 3024 while the rest of us are stuck in 2024. The $40 a night hotel I am staying in has a robot delivery service which collects your Deliveroo (China’s version) from the driver and takes it up to your room. I wasn’t even hungry but knew I had to experience it.
Apart from loaded it with the bag of goodies, it needs no help at all. It will leave its station, use the lift and even call your room phone with a cute little message once it is outside.
Eating mice & driverless buses in Guangzhou
TOMB OF NANYUE KING
Visiting the Tomb of the Nanyue King in Guangzhou is a fascinating journey into ancient Chinese history. The tomb of Zhao Mo, dating back over 2,000 years, offers a glimpse into the burial customs of the Western Han Dynasty. There are several chambers which still holds the remains of many of the items he was buried with, including his concubines. The museum, built around the tomb, holds many of the items that was also buried, included the exquisite jade burial suit he was laid to rest in.
DRIVERLESS BUS
As China continues to innovate, the next huge project of the country is autonomous buses. The city has gone as far as establishing a district for the purpose of testing self driving buses. At the minute it’s still in the testing phase so only has 6 stops but it works pretty well so far.
There is no driver but instead an operator there to take over the controls if something were to happen. It was pretty non eventful but gave an insight into how things will be soon enough.
SHARK FIN SOUP
China has many delicacies, some more controversial than others but nothing as much as the infamous shark fin soup! The practice of shark finning is incredible cruel and involved cutting the fin before discarding the body, alive, back into the ocean. Sharks are then unable to swim properly, slowly dying from injuries, suffocation, or predation.
Although it is not outlawed, there are more restrictions around it now and many restaurants offer an imitation only soup. I hate to say it but it was rather tasty even if it wasn’t the real thing.
BEER & MASSAGE
There are many good things in life that should not go together, such as pineapple on Pizza and children with musical instruments but beer and a massage actually works! This is especially so when the massage was the most painful massages I have had – since that Jamaican on that South American cruise. Who would have thought that Chinese beer could be this good!
TODAY’S YOUTUBE VIDEOS
If you want to see today from a different perspective, and catch a few different stories from the front row, then check out today’s YouTube videos below.
FINAL THOUGHTS
What a gem Guangzhou is. This has to be one of the most unique cities I have visited, offering everything from 21st century infrastructure, incredible (and shocking) food and all reasonably priced! This is a place I will have to return!
NEXT UP
Getting a business suite on the train to Wuhan. Anyone want to visit the wet market? Click to read.
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
171/229
This post is part of the Mongol Series, for the entire series click here or for episode 1, click here.
To watch the video of my trip, head to my highlights on my Instagram.
