China Day 14

Off to some hot springs for a day trip! Two hours drive is quite far, and very soon I started to see the surroundings begin to change.

Motorbikes re-appeared; I'm not sure why -- perhaps the legislation only stated the ban of motorbikes in the CBD area(?). Also, a lot less people (of course), which makes sense since we were entering the rural areas of China.

These are the places where you buy fruit fresh from the farms, fireworks are legal, and things are dirt cheap (and also covered with a thin layer of dirt itself).

But honestly, most of China had a thin layer of dirt though...

However, all in all, it seemed more like a small town than a rural area. My parents later informed me that these areas were once super-rural, but with a lot of economical development, they've grown into prospering little towns with technology and appliances, all in a matter of two decades.

 

Kids going to school

And we all spoke too soon. Next we arrived at a factory that my mother's childhood friend now owned. It was in charge of producing materials that later went into the production of electrical wiring, especially for charging wires for phones. We saw the production of insulative rubber found in these wires, which was quite interesting to see.

It was only a very quick stop, and this factory really only produced one component of the wires, but it was interesting to just see it happen and witness a bit of Chinese factory production from first perspective. I can assure you, it was very, very fast and efficient, and required very few workers.

Often we use items like these electrical chargers without much thought into how they're made or the steps that were required to produce them, and it was just nice to see the backstory this time. There's something about seeing the backstory of things that really interests me; finding out how they work and how the final product eventually comes together; all these small individual components forming one product with a single purpose. It just interests me, I don't know how to say it.

Stepping on sodium nitrate.

 Anyway, finally we found ourselves standing at the entrance to the hot springs resort. Apparently it's the highest in altitude in all of the Guangdong area, which would explain why I woke up from my nap with my ears adjusting to the air pressure.

No photos were allowed inside the actual resort, for obvious reasons, so I took heaps outside. Overall, I defs enjoyed myself. I love hot springs.

"The hot spring of Pattra Resort is named 'Mountain High Hot Spring' since its hot spring pools are on the mountain. It is the highest hot spring in Guangdong province. There are 36 hot spring pools of shapes and sizes, 10 classic spa pools and 2 outdoor mountain spring swimming pools, fed by hot spring from deep underground where the water is 75 degrees Celsius, lucid, soft and alkalescent. The hot spring is rich in microelements, such as silicic acid, sodium, copper, and calcium, which can eliminate disease and give you good skin care. Surrounded by the green mountain and the limpid hot springs, you can also enjoy the natural scene, including the waterfall and the Sleeping Buddha Mountain."

Anyway, finally we found ourselves standing at the entrance to the hot springs resort. Apparently it's the highest in altitude in all of the Guangdong area, which would explain why I woke up from my nap with my ears adjusting to the air pressure.

No photos were allowed inside the actual resort, for obvious reasons, but I defs enjoyed myself.

The exotic nature of the various pools; rose ones, red wine hot springs, coffee, ginger, and so on, were interesting. My brother wanted to spend a great deal of time in the 'fish kissing pool', which, for those who don't know, is a pool filled with tiny fish that peck and nibble at the dead skin off your feet.

Yes, it tickles. A lot. I used to never be able to even withstand five seconds of it, but this time I managed. A heed of warning though, don't experience this pool if you have wounds on your foot. There are stories of infections spreading between people, but if your skin is intact, then it should be fine to act as a first line of defence (shout out to VCE biology).

We didn't have time to stay for long; about three hours in total, and thus we had to clean up and leave by 6. Off to dinner we had to go, in order to arrive back home by tonight.

Usually we spend more time at these hot springs; often staying at least one night, but this time we didn't have enough time to have that luxury, unfortunately.

It wasn't the most exotic experiences, especially because it's not the first time I've been, and I didn't have enough time to completely explore the place, but it was still enjoyable and I can still feel the fish nibbling in between my toes. Ahhh.