Field trip weekend, part II

The whole weekend in China was very busy, it was pretty much a package trip when everything is planned beforehand and the time schedule is tight, the restaurants already booked, and we couldn't really walk in the city at all, since we were in a hurry the whole time. But to be honest, I don't really mind, because I don't find Guangzhou and Shenzhen too fascinating. I've never really heard any especially good things about these places, just about them being boring, cheap, and dangerous.

But if you need a reason to visit Guangzhou, here's one: the Chimelong International Circus.

First of all, I wouldn't call it a circus at all. I'd call it an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, MIND-BLOWING, CAPTIVATING, EXCITING, ECSTATIC ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EXPERIENCE. Those of you who have been to circus sometime, it might have been one of these tents that change location twice a week, the only animal they have there is an old pony, and the acrobatics they do are semi-entertaining, but your head didn't really explode. The Chimelong is everything but that.

The show is on an arena built especially for the circus. There is for example many dimensions of the stage and they can move the parts up and down, which makes changing the setting a lot faster. Around the stage you can see a pool, which was a part in some crazy acts, for example someone jumped to the pool from the ceiling (which you can see is very high - probably around 15 meters, and the pool is so narrow!!).

The seats are slowly getting filled, in the end almost the whole arena was full.

Verline & Connie

Look at the dude hanging from the ceiling! Just another day at the office...

Dumbos dancing

First there was 3 motorbikes, and I was impressed.
Then there were 6 and nothing would surprise me anymore.

Fireworks, wheel of death, motorbikes, 7 elephants on the stage at the same time, bears, swans, most amazing acrobatics I've ever seen. Colorful costumes, super witty and fascinating visual tricks with the digital screen. I'm still most amazed by the people and how much they must have been training. I never knew human bodies could do such things?? The cast / staff was very international, many Russians, but also a Columbian guy, Chinese women, Americans... And they were all so professional and superb. Useless to even write about it, because there are no words to describe how cool those two hours were. So if you ever get a chance to see this circus, take the chance and be amazed (with less than 30 euros)!! But actually our local classmates were not too excited about it, because they had seen something similar before. It is not easy to impress Hongkongers... It's funny how I'm so impressed and amazed and overwhelmed about everything, my classmates laugh at me for being such a tourist. :D

When the circus was over we went to check in at our hotel and around 10PM went for some Chinese BBQ food with some classmates. Before my exchange in Hong Kong I didn't even know how big thing barbecue is in Hong Kong and China, but there are so many BBQ places everywhere that I'm slowly starting to realize it. When thinking of Chinese food, I used to think of sweet & sour things, noodles, rice, Beijing duck, spring rolls... But nowadays barbecue as well! And the BBQ food is so good and they use a lot of garlic. My favorite dishes are grilled mushrooms, lamb chops, oysters, and eggplant with garlic. We ate a LOT and had some beer as well, and it cost about 5 euros each. China, BBQ heaven!

Better than McDonald's by far.

5 liters of beer, next to my tea cup.

We tried frogs for the first time. A bit of a disappointment, to be honest. Tasted a bit like chicken, but more like NOTHING.
And there's not much to eat - I wouldn't recommend spending your money on these!