On Thursday May 3 we went to Bai Mo Garden. The school arranged for us to have a driver and van. We went with a teacher, Autumn and two of our students, Angie and Yu-Mi. Autumn also attends our classes.
Before going to the Park we had Morning Tea with Dr. Fang and David. Morning Tea in Guangzhou is a very large meal. Dim Sum from honey buns to several shrimp dishes were served. Either as an honor to us or because of Dr. Fang’s rank we had a private dining room. The bad part is that included a high minimum charge. So the food just kept coming. At the meeting both sides expressed a desire for Marsha and me to do the teaching again next year.
With Dr. Fang we got to practice a custom we learnt from the students on Wednesday. Tapping the table three times with two fingers is a shorthand for saying Thank You. The custom started when foreigners controlled the Chinese and the people were not allowed to kowtow to the Emperor.
The Garden is around 45 minutes out of town. We expected to see some beautiful flowers. Like everything it was almost what we expected, it is beautiful but there are no flowers. In China, anything with a lot of green is called a garden. Bai Mo does have a lot of trees. From previous reading I knew Bai means precious. I learnt that Mo means ink. So it is a precious ink garden. More precisely, a park with beautiful calligraphy as the main exhibit. In addition, it had many ponds and other exhibits from different dynasties.
The most photogenic event was some dancers from another province. See below.
Before going to the Park we had Morning Tea with Dr. Fang and David. Morning Tea in Guangzhou is a very large meal. Dim Sum from honey buns to several shrimp dishes were served. Either as an honor to us or because of Dr. Fang’s rank we had a private dining room. The bad part is that included a high minimum charge. So the food just kept coming. At the meeting both sides expressed a desire for Marsha and me to do the teaching again next year.
With Dr. Fang we got to practice a custom we learnt from the students on Wednesday. Tapping the table three times with two fingers is a shorthand for saying Thank You. The custom started when foreigners controlled the Chinese and the people were not allowed to kowtow to the Emperor.
The Garden is around 45 minutes out of town. We expected to see some beautiful flowers. Like everything it was almost what we expected, it is beautiful but there are no flowers. In China, anything with a lot of green is called a garden. Bai Mo does have a lot of trees. From previous reading I knew Bai means precious. I learnt that Mo means ink. So it is a precious ink garden. More precisely, a park with beautiful calligraphy as the main exhibit. In addition, it had many ponds and other exhibits from different dynasties.
The most photogenic event was some dancers from another province. See below.
Angie, Marsha, Yu-Mi and Autumn 
Wall ceramic.
Wall ceramic.
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