A break in the weather allowed me to explore this delightfully
different country. It is old yet modern, conservative yet up to the
minute, frantically busy yet peaceful. I dawdled around this vast city,
which was downright placid and beautiful in the absence of the
masses, who all seemed to have gone home to their families for the
holidays.
It appeared that this normally atheist nation is incredibly open to the
"opium of the masses". Religious stats are a tad of a slippery fish.
Still, approximately 30% of the adult population followed Buddhist,
Taoist, Christian, Islam or other beliefs and the remaining 70%
considered themselves atheists. It must've been a highly active 30%
as a temple appeared around every corner. The many temples
weren't surprising as I always thought China was the cradle of
religious philosophies like Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. These
three philosophical teachings clearly played a significant role in
shaping Chinese culture.
Although a big and modern city, I assumed it would have an old part
as Guangzhou had a rich history dating back to the ancient Silk Route
days. As expected, it didn't take long to find narrow, winding streets
revealing small, dark and dusty workshops where coppersmiths were
bent over their work, oblivious of me.
I operated in low gear as I suspected the Garmin would take a few
days to arrive. I strolled past antique shops sporting exquisite
ceramic vases, beautiful furniture and jade carvings. Still, I sauntered
along tree-lined canals and past old colonial buildings, constructed by
the British and French in the 19th century after being granted
permission to set up warehouses.