DOWNTOWN GUANGZHOU ARCHITECTURE

I was pretty impressed today as I went for my first walk with a camera in downtown Guangzhou. Guangzhou is the ninth largest city in the world, though most people in the US have never heard of it. The architecture here is world class. The third picture is of the opera house designed by Zaha Hadid, a really fascinating building. The 4th picture is the newly finished library, designed by a Japanese firm. The last photo is the Canton Tower, the second tallest tv tower in the world. It is probably the most iconic building here in Guangzhou though it was only completed a few years ago. 

THE SEXIEST TOLIET AD I'VE EVER SEEN

TURTLES AT THE FANGCUN PET MARKET

Calling Fangcun a pet market might be a little misleading. The dogs, cats, and fish sold there are in fact intended to be pets. The turtles unfortunately are mostly sold for consumption. Chinese believe that eating turtle meat will increase their longevity. Though most everything we buy in the US is made here in China, a large percentage of the turtles for sale at this market in Guangzhou are bred in the US. Who says we don't have a healthy bilateral trade partnership with China?  

CAN YOU FIND THE MISSING NUMBERS?

These are the elevator buttons in our apartment building. There are no 4's on any floor. It is an unlucky number here because the Chinese word for "4" sounds almost identical to the Chinese word for "death". In a related story, cell phone companies in China allow you to chose your cell phone number from a list of choices, each of which are priced according to the amount of lucky and unlucky numbers they contain. I went for the cheapest option. My number is 134 4444 4444.  

MY FIRST SHOT FROM CHINA

This is the view from the deck of our apartment outside Guangzhou, China. I think pollution and large amounts of air particulates actually make sunsets better here. Our apartment is very nice, though I still get mild vertigo looking out the windows. More photos to come soon.

I GOT MARRIED!!

More pictures and stories to come shortly, but here is one of the first photos I received from my buddy, photographer extraordinaire Patrick Cavan Brown of Julie and I's wedding. She was a gorgeous bride. This was taken inside the Bentley her sister Jessica rented for us.

AUCKLAND SKYLINE