Guangzhou, China

We arrived in Guangzhou on Wednesday night and went to a local restaurant with Craig and some of his friends, including some locals. The hot pot meal meant cooking your own food (pork, fish, some offal, beef, vegetables etc) in a simmering pot of soup stock at the dining table (half was spicy and half , wasn't). 

After a hearty breakfast, we caught the Metro to the city, about 30km away where we spent most of the day wandering through some of the many different areas. We were amazed at the number of people on motor bikes and pushbikes weaving through the street, without helmets, but fully loaded with 'goods'. Just watching them weave in and out of the traffic and showing no regard whatsoever for road rules or red lights, was heart stopping. It's amazing that we didn't see any serious injuries. Even the darkness last night didn't deter them, nor did many even have lights on their bikes.

 We passed so many different sections of markets and stalls including those dedicated to shoes, toys, clothes, electronics, fake flowers, food, Chinese decorations, furniture and tea, but most disturbing to us were those selling live animals. It was such a hot day today with the temperature around 38C. These dried mushrooms, roots and spices were sharing the road with the rest of the traffic - and nothing was run over! At least the fish (at the right here) were cool!  

The quantity of electrical wires here, speaks for itself.

We ended the day with a visit to the Chen Clan Academy, built by the 72 Chen clans for their juniors' accommodation in 1894 during the Qing Dynasty.They have beautiful displays of Chinese tradioional crafts - enamel ware, ivory carving, jade and olive stone carving, glassware and embroidery. Really stunning work. 
Later tonight we head back to the airport for our flight to Amsterdam. A busy but really enjoyable day.

Seen today: Dried seahorse waiting on the footpath; dried centerpedes on bamboo sticks: close-ups of the paintwork of other vehicles on our Didi rive home (like Uber); lots of trees that have been uprooted as a result of the typhoon last week.