Changsha cruising

I've been cruising around Changsha for the last few days.  Attended a wedding of a local girl and a FT which was loads of fun - a cross between the traditional and western.  Funny thing was that the table of laowai had to be thrown out at the end - the staff literally picked everything off the table apart from the bottle of red we were drinking and the glasses.  We had already been through a magnum of champagne, but it was Chinese champagne so not quite the same!  We eventually got the message and left, agreeing to meet later for dinner and further carousing.

Changsha is quite interesting - haven't done any of the Mao things, but have had fun exploring the food places, little backstreets and today climbing Yuelu Shan which had lots of lovely green trees and freshish air. The locals and other Chinese visitors seem friendly, chatting, asking what we've seen, etc.  Happy to direct us where to go. Pollution here is much the same as other Chinese cities.

Today went for lunch at a very flash Japanese restaurant - Teppanyaki beautifully cooked by a young Japanese chef.  Very civilised.  Tonight heading off to the place that sounds a bit like yum cha.  Hotel has a very handy net bar, but earlier today just before climbing the moutain I hit a newly opened net bar - VERY posh!  The key board could actually be read!!! and they brought tea over to drink while working.  Gave me a bunch of fliers which I obligingly handed out until I left them behind in a clothes shop.

But this place is way too hot for me to live in permanently - I like the places that have nice long winters.

Sounds like you've been having a Blast!! Congratulations!

It's a beautiful day in Changsha today Lotus. Temps are perfect. It won't get hot for another couple of months or so.

Today is much better than yesterday.  Cool breeze, lightest touch of rain - which is why I decided to walk Yuelu Shan - yesterday - forget it!  I did my time in Q'ld - I don't need more heat and humidty.

Yes I am having fun. 

Oh, definitely DO get out and do the Mao stuff...endless campy fun. A bit like going to Graceland only with even nastier bathrooms. Much more interesting than Changsha, really...IMHO.

If you have the time, take the bus-and-then van trip out to the old Mao family farm. I have a "snowglobe" desk paperweight from there. It contains a cheesy goldtone bust of Mao, and when you shake it, cheap plastic imitation old-Chinese-style gold ingots swirl around his head.

It's one of my most prized possessions. 

 I can't imagine going to Changsha and not going Mao crazy.Apparently there is a place where you can get your photo taken alongside a holographic image of Mao while lighting his cigar.Too funny....

I'm trying to skip the Mao hagiographic stuff.  Instead I am doing much more interesting things like chewing betel nut for lunch, going out for breakfast and meeting naked men in the street.  Why didn't you guys mention these much more interesting things about Changsha??  And I am deeply disappointed with Lonely Planet for leaving them out as well.

Went to the Hunan Embroidery Institute this morning - bit disappointed not to see the embroiderers at work, but the pieces on show were glorious!  Beautiful detail, tigers faces that turned to face which ever way you looked at them.  Sadly the ones I really liked won't fit in my backpack.  But I have found a teashop where I will head back to this afternoon and drink tea and buy a couple of the lovely tea cups they have.

Hardest part of the trip so far?  Having to fight with Woza over every meal, every taxi ride, every entrance fee for who pays.  Bloody rich Dongguan-ren!!  At least during our summer holidays (4-6 weeks in the planning so far) I can speak Tan and she can't so I should win more often!!

Having to fight with Woza over every meal, every taxi ride, every entrance fee for who pays.

Be nice to her. Let her pay!!

I'm trying to skip the Mao hagiographic stuff.  Instead I am doing much more interesting things like chewing betel nut for lunch, going out for breakfast and meeting naked men in the street.  Why didn't you guys mention these much more interesting things about Changsha??

These are just everyday things here.

Mentioning betel nut is like mentioning that we have cigarettes in Changsha. Just common stuff.

Naked men too. It gets hot here.

Nah - I'm sneakier than that - I  get in quick, pay for a cheap breakfast, then let her pick up the tab for the fancy restaurants we go to!!  That way I can salve my conscience and look good at the same time.  

Maybe going free lance is a good idea after all???

Quote from: Lotus Eater on May 05, 2007, 05:37:46 PM

I'm trying to skip the Mao hagiographic stuff.  Instead I am doing much more interesting things like chewing betel nut for lunch, going out for breakfast and meeting naked men in the street.  Why didn't you guys mention these much more interesting things about Changsha??

These are just everyday things here.

Mentioning betel nut is like mentioning that we have cigarettes in Changsha. Just common stuff.

Naked men too. It gets hot here.

The heat I can agree with!! Even though today still has a reasonable breeze.  But we don't get betel nut in Xi'an and the typical male airconditioning process is rolling the singlet up to the armpits and the pants up past the knees - such a suave, sophisticated look!

Naked is clearly more useful.

Naked is clearly more useful.

....In Oh! so many different ways!!!...

Even though today still has a reasonable breeze.

You spelt his name wrong!

He's not here or he would have sussed out Woz and I by now - we leave an indelible impression wherever we go!!

Went to the semi-yum cha place (not like yumcha in Sunnybank)- nice-ish food, but nothing incredibly exciting. But we hit the shops and I managed to find good walking shoes and Woz took over the phone from the shop she was buying in and competely bamboozled the person on the other end.

Last day together - Woz has to leave today so she can make her classes tomorrow night, so we decided to splurge on a fancy breakfast at the flashest hotel in Changsha.  VERY nice.  But we agreed that they really needed to provide the Weekend Oz for us to read while we nibbled on blue vein, camembert, fruit etc for breakfast.

So far all the Changsha people I've met have been really friendly - at breakfast we ended up in long conversations with the locals and I learned more Chinese.  I've had to adapt my Shaanxi accent to Hunan-hua - which means turning all of the 'h' sounds into 'f', but once I sussed that out it was easy-ish to get taxi drivers to understand where we wanted to go.

I head back tomorrow and the day after leave for a week in Beijing.  It's been a ball!