Ow my liver.

Things in China are going well. Our friend circle is expanding pretty rapidly, and we're getting really, really good at drinking. Too good. As in, every weekend turns into a hangover fest.

Like now.

Recently that's been in part due to a friend of ours, Daniel. He's a lawyer that we were originally introduced to in order to tutor him in English. Except, its turned into a thing where he, his assistant (also named Mike), Ella, and I just hang out. In typical Chinese style, he goes way over the top in ordering food and drink, which leads us to try in vain to consume it all.

There are worse problems to have.

I know that reading about someone on the internet drinking a lot is like, super compelling reading. But occasionally Ella and I have been able to drag our sorry butts to a few places in town just to check things out. For example, one day we went down to Tiyu Xi Lu to explore this little district full of small, 5 person bars. Some other friends also took us to a pub with the cheapest beer I've seen in China, with a loud social atmosphere that reminds me exactly like being back in America. And, to top it off, we went to another lounge bar that is hidden behind a secret shelf in a 7-11. Like, straight out of a movie, you pull on a box of cereal and a panel opens to a super posh place. That one was especially cool, and I want to keep it a bit of a mystery for when people visit... and I've started talking about drinking again.

Alright, for serious travel things, we visited a few places in the center of town. Not places you would probably go if you only had a few days holiday in Guangzhou, but interesting enough that they appear on some Chinese tour sites. The first was this pretty church Ella found that had a really nice choir practicing, a super friendly/fluffy/lazy cat, and a lot of couples hanging around taking cute pictures together. We just sort of walked around and took in the view, but it was nice and quiet compared to the bustle of the rest of the city.

We also got a chance to go to Korean town, which, man I was disappointed by that. It's just a section of Guangzhou with slightly more Korean restaurants than normal, with much higher prices to match. We actually live across the street from a pretty solid Korean place, so Korean town didn't really do it for me. Instead we found this really small, Japanese sushi place. We got some sushi and shared a bowl of ramen, and I will say, the ramen is probably in the top 5 I've ever had in my life. So, much better decision. Ignore Korean town (except to go to this Japanese restaurant), it's uninteresting.

The same can not be said about the Martyr's Park. Commemorating the people who gave their lives in the early 20th century for China, now it's just a nice park where people come to relax and spend their weekends. I think we'll definitely be back, because inside was a lotus pond that was not in bloom. I think whenever that season is, it will be really beautiful as it was just chock full of lotus. One thing had a special interest for me, and I swear I am not making this name up, is the "Sino North Korea Friendship Blood Sacrified Pavilion". In my mind, this is the place where Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom took place. Alas, it was a gift from the DPRK, basically just a little pavilion that people hung out and played music at.

Inside the Martyr's Park is the Revolutionary Museum, which is kind of fitting. It's a pretty nice museum, although it had very little English to go around. But unlike other museums in China, this one was about the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, and the start of the Republic of China (now Taiwan). As you can expect, Mainland China's government does not really take too kindly to Taiwan and the KMT. So it was weird in a way, to me, having lived on both sides of "China", and seeing one, especially the mainland, really praise the other. The museum itself was mostly just a lot of pictures with very little actual stuff, but the building itself is really pretty. Worth a visit if you're in the area, but not worth going out of your way.

Now, if you look on a map of Guangzhou, you'll notice there's a giant mountain pretty much in the middle of town. That's Baiyun (White Cloud) mountain. And while we live very close to it, we've never actually been up to the top. We remedied that twice over. First, there is a cable car that goes almost to the top. We rode it there and back, and it did have a nice view. But wow, the wait. It took us nearly an hour, and they do have a few roads that go up there. So in my mind I was thinking "Taking a bus would have been much faster." Of course you take the cable car for the view, but I prefer Maokong in Taipei. Maokong also has more to do, because at the top of Baiyun is basically just a McDonald's. I am not making that up. So if you want to get to the top of a mountain while sitting on your ass and eating a Big Mac, China's got you covered. I actually wanted to see more of Baiyun, noticing there was an extensive network of hiking trails. Well, the next week we did just that. A friend of ours, Jay, invited us for a hike. We probably covered 10km that day, and we got to visit the true summit. Guangzhou is too hazy to really get a nice view, but it was still an accomplishment that I'm glad we did.

And now you're pretty much caught up, Future Weg. One other point of note is that I got a chance to be part of a panel in a university speech competition. Truthfully I initially accepted for the quick buck, but it turned out to be kind of interesting. The students gave two speeches, one impromptu. And then I had to ask a question about each. It was a bit difficult to come up with those questions when the students had a lot of words, but actually wound up saying nothing. It gives me sympathy for pretty much every teacher that graded my essays in high school.

And last, Ella and I have been diving a bit deeper into our professional internet lives. I'm getting pretty happy with my other blog, and I think in a few more weeks I want to start promoting it somewhere. I'm just not sure how. And Ella worked really hard to create our first Youtube video about learning Chinese. So if you've ever wanted to learn how type Chinese, we've got you covered.