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Despite being awake for 24 hrs. straight I was actually pretty functional when I got off the plane in Zhanjiang at 5 pm. It was raining fairly heavily as my family and I hailed a cab to head out to Leizhou. After 15 min. of waiting it finally arrive and we piled into a VW Jetta which was converted to run on - I think - propane or natural gas.
We took the slow route into Leizhou which was originally built by the French when they colonized the area in 1898. While driving through traffic in Zhanjiang I found it quite remarkable how many different makes and models of cars there were on the roads. Toyota, Honda, Lexus, Acura, Audi, BMW, M-B, Ford, and some domestic brands (Greely?). Quite a change from 20 years ago where the variety of vehicles was much, much, less. Just goes to show how the major automakers in the world have succeeded in getting into the Chinese market and how the Chinese middle and upper classes now have the earning power to buy the luxury brands.
Once we got out of Zhanjiang, the rural character reasserted itself and showed that despite all the rapid urban change, the rural areas have remained the same. Tractors and simpler vehicles predominated as we drove past farmland and occasional truck stops on the route south. The people living here were also clearly not as affluent as their city cousins just 20 min. to the north.
The rain originally started out heavy with occasional peals of thunder but then started to clear up. The Leizhou Peninsula is named after "thunder" and apparently the region is one of 2 notable thunder regions in the world (the other being Java). The local legend states that the Thunder King and Thunder gods were the original settlers in the area. During my brief stay there were, indeed, thunderstorms although they were very brief.
When I visited 20 years ago, Leizhou was just a tiny rural village surrounded by farms on the road to Hainan island. While still just a brief stop on the highway it has developed significantly and can be considered a town now. Multiple 10+ story buildings have been built and the town buzzes with activity at night. We pulled into the "2nd best" hotel in town and I dropped off my luggage. We headed out by rickshaw for a quick dinner at a local restaurant and then headed back to the hotel where I crashed for the night. Fortunately, we had air conditioning and I was able to sleep quite comfortably. Leizhou has a sub-tropical climate with high-20s/low-30s during the day and 24-25C at night with high humidity.
Hotel room with my (L to R) sister, mom, brother, family friend, and dad.
We ate at this restaurant multiple times. Another family friend is talking to dad.
2 comments:
Hoi, what language do they speak in that area? Cantonese?
They speak Leizhou dialect and while they should also be familiar with Cantonese - my personal experience has been that they may be more likely to speak Mandarin (I'll comment on that later). Leizhou is a minor dialect and I have yet to meet anybody in Canada who speaks it aside from my father's side of the family. -- HKL
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