Guiyang City of Expensive Sunshine

Thursday October 14, 2010 Travel Day

We left Beijing at 8:15 to fly to Guiyang “The city of Expensive Sunshine.” We made it through the airport without trouble even with Bob’s bag weighing 63lb. The only man in the group won the contest for the heaviest bag!

The flight was uneventful. Cherste made a friend on the plane, Ting Ting.  A better understanding of the one child law of China was obtained after Ting Ting, now 28 years old, shared her experience of the burden of being the only child. She was flying to Guiyang to be with her sick parents. At age 28 she wasn’t sure if she wanted to even have a child because she and her husband work many hours and a nanny is very expensive. She was feeling torn being in Beijing with a good job and having her aging parents far away. Tradition is the son cares for the parents. Although many in the city do not adhere to tradition, she nonetheless felt a great burden.

It was raining when we landed and we soon found out why they call Guiyang the city of expensive sunshine. It rains most of the time here. The climate is temperate with an average of 60 degrees throughout the year. Things were green and lush. The bus took us to the city, rolling hillsides all around. Our first stop was the town square where people gather to socialize and play games. The men like to play a sort of chess game. It was rare to see a person without a cigarette. It was rare to see an older person with all of their teeth. As we walked through the square we were greeted with curiosity and wonderment. One man shook my hand and would not let go. Some of the people looked as if they had seen a ghost. It was a bit awkward to have so much attention placed upon us.

The Sheraton is a beautiful 5 star hotel with a bar on the top floor. We were quite pleased with our accommodations.  In the lobby of the hotel we spotted a family from the states who was lovingly entertaining a Chinese toddler. After talking with them further we learned they had adopted Grace, 19 months old. Grace was missing her arm from the elbow down. The family shared with us that adopting a special needs child is a much quicker process, 14 months, than a child without special needs, up to 5 years. The lack of her left arm did not seem to slow little Grace down and she seemed to be bonding to her new family well. Again, we were faced with the complexities of the one child policy. Had Grace been a boy and not had a disability she probably would have not been placed for adoption. Shawn, our guide shared with us, in the country side, if the first child is a girl, the family may be allowed to have a second child. He also shared with us the saying in Chinese that translates: a girl is equivalent to bath water and can be tossed out with the waste.

We were reminded of home when we spotted and underground Wal-Mart just down the street from the hotel. Although shopping at this Wal-Mart was a wholly different experience. Completely different produce and our local store don’t hang chickens and geese with heads and feet intact in the deli. We thoroughly enjoyed the shopping experience. A little rest and it was time to eat again! We enjoyed a lovely meal at the Tiantian Haiyang restaurant. We are definitely starting to master the chop sticks. After dinner we took in the view of the city from the Jiaxiu Pavilion. The Jiaxiu Pavilion was built during the Ming Dynasty to inspire the local students to study hard and become renowned scholars. After the building the pavilion, Guiyang did receive the honor of producing two number 1 scholars.  The Pavilion is thought to have some influence on their success. The rain had stopped and we had a lovely view of the Nanming River and the city. What a lovely evening.

After returning to the hotel some of us checked out the view from the 40^th floor of the hotel. Guiyang is a busy, bustling city from 40 stories above. Everyone went to rest up for the big day tomorrow. The people and the city of Guiyang were starting to grow on us already.



Jiaxiu Pavilion