Guangzhou 3 Days

We left for guangzhou @ 6pm, by the time we arrived there it was already 8pm and dark. We had some problem getting to the hotel because the bus station was just opposite the Liu Hua Road (where the hotel was supposed to be – it’s a darn long road) and taxi refused to take us there (grrr…). In the end, we walked all the way from the bus station crossed the highway (using the subway) and walked part of Liu Hua Road. Taxi drivers had problem finding the hotel and no one wanted to bring us there. Last resort, we called the hotel and asked the hotel recept to speak to the taxi hehehe…and finally we arrived at the hotel close to 9pm!!!

This is definitely a nicer hotel compared to Macau. About 150RM a night, it has just been renovated in July and I read a lot of good review bout the hotel. No regrets. We quickly freshen up and took a hot shower and went for dinner. Yah!! So hungry, gotta go find food first rite. Daddy been to GZ for a couple of times (for business + training), so he’s pretty familiar and know where’s the place for food.

We headed straight to the restaurant (4-storey’s high!!!). It’s a live-seafood-pick-and- choose-restaurant. You go around looking at all the seafood, select the one you want, they will recommend the cooking style and cook for you. By the time you finish your shopping, sit down on your table for a while, food will be served. Syiok eh…Lets see what we’ve got. The one at the bottom with the tail, that’s croc’s meat. Ewww…I’ve eaten that when I was young (supposingly cure cough), but now looking at the real one, aiyo so kesian.

Next, lobsters, snakes, snails (of all sorts), another type of prawn, some bugs (looks like those bugs in the Mummy Movie..yikes!!!) and more prawns.

Various types of crabs (meat crab, roe crab, *tai chap hai*, etc.), that’s the poor croc in the cage, snake soup, chinese sausages, veg…and the crab we ordered. Look it’s more than 1kg!! And how much it cost us, RM30 oni lahh…later you see the inside you’ll faint haha…

This what we ordered. Bamboo clams (huge), kailan stem (stir fried), 1kg Crab cooked with cheese (look at the roe!!!), double boil seahorse + dunno what soup, baked prawns with tea leaves (very refreshing) and dessert…steam egg in orange. And all this for only RM150. Not super cheap, but the crab is really worth. Every single bite is roe, roe, roe & meat, meat, meat.By the time we finished dinner, it was already 11pm+. So we decided to go back to hotel, take a rest and start up early tomorrow. We left the hotel about 9am. It’s so darn cold today cause the wind is blowing strongly. We stopped at McD to take our breakfast before heading to our first destination. The 5 Ram Statue. This statue is located in the park, YueXiu Park, pretty close to the hotel.

Why gotta visit this, cause I read that Guangzhou’s history is somehow related to this 5 rams, so we are there, might as well go. But….this park is so darn huge, It’s probably like 5-6 times TTDI park!!! And to get in you gotta pay, RM2.5. Hahah…yah one funny thing bout China, you gotta pay to go into the park. There were supposed to be a few things to see in this park itself, but by the time we found the Statue, we were already so exhausted. It’s right on top of the hill..pheww!! And there were some shooting happening (some Olympic games thingy) and we couldn’t get a nice angle for pics. Regret lahh..climb so high just to see the statue.

Next we went to the Nanyue King Mausoleum. It’s just opposite the park itself. Actually wasn’t planned, but since we bump into this place, why not LOL. This is a very big mausoleum cum muzium. When we first enter, there are like 3-4 halls, displaying some exhibits of pillows (used in olden days) and pottery. The pillows were very beautiful, all handmade I suppose and so hard, it’s all made of clay / ceramic. How to sleep lah??

Then we went to the mausoleum which was located up the hill, part of the musuem we well. No photos in the mausoleum (sorry eh). But this is really amazing. Nothing as close as Terra Cotta Warriors, but pretty comprehensive. All the bones, the treasures were on display. When the king died, the people made suit for him, made of marble!!! When he was unearth, they remake this suit and showcase in the mausoleum. They even had the actual tomb itself, well preserved and we went in there (this the only place where we could take photos). Ahh…I think next round I want to go to see Terra Cotta Warriors hehehe…

Enough of sightseeing for the day, our next destination is Fang Chun, the tea wholesale. It’s a giant mall, just sellng tea & accessories (incl. tea furniture as well). Rachel, if you go here, I’m sure you pengsan liao hahaha…here you will be spoilt by the varieties. Of course Daddy will never leave this place without purchasing tea. He bought some teapot, cups and tea. Then we went across the street..more tea shop..geezz…and that’s where we spent the rest of the evening there.

We went back to hotel to shower, then our next destination at night, Up Down Nine Street (direct translate to Cantonese :P). This is where the shopping place is, like our BB Walk, but it’s probably like 10 times longer than BB Walk!!! How we knew bout this place hahaha…we made friends with the waitresses in the restaurant we ate in the 1st day and they told us this the place for shopping. We see a lot of local there, not so many foreigners. There were 4 huge malls, right in the center, and along the streets are just shop after shop…so long that we couldn’t finish and complaining it’s too long. The 3rd photo is me with the huge *Pei Pa Kou* replica hahaha…some red packets they were selling, pretty cool..it has so many designs, 1 pack for RM2. And we spotted this with the surname on the angpau, we sapu-ed all available :P. Daddy purchasing some caramelised fruits (ping tong woo lou – cantonese). Nice but not for kids as the caramel is very sharp. A man dressed in chicken suit, selling some tit bits I think.

Since we didn’t finish all the shops, we decided that the next night, we will go here again. Next day, again we left quite early. Took a pic at the Exhibition Hall, this is where the exhibition is when there’s trade fair. There are so many exhibition hall and all are huge. And the 2nd pic is actually a brand new hotel, Dong Feng. Looks very nice, I’m sure it’s expensive and 5 star. Our next destination, Chen Clan Ancestral Temple. This place is rated as one of the World Heritage Site by UNESCO and supposingly one of the 8 wonders of China. There was this guy selling piping hot chestnut. There were some statues outside of the Temple, so we took the opportunity to take some shots…Look, we are advertising for Pepsi hahah…should go ask some royalty :P. And why are we advertsing Pepsi, cause earlier we had breakfast in KFC. We had roasted chicken burger as breakfast..yum yum..and fried prawns..yah, KFC sells prawn, cool eh.

This is definitely a place worth going. It has a lot of carvings, pretty well maintained…Just enjoy the place lah…Very big. According to the history, this place is built for the Chan ppl that travels to Guangzhou for the Exam during those days..You know lah, Chan is the most popular surname in Chinese, so I guess their people also donated the money and build this place. It’s something like our Chinese Assembly Hall in KL, but many times bigger and more beautiful.

Look at the door…so huge!!! Some parts of the Temple and we took some photos. The weather is just nice, not too cold. So we enjoyed the place while eating chestnut haha…

We took pic of Daddy standing next to the main entrance, the door so big, Daddy so small :P. The drawings on the door is pretty scary. They say is to scare the evil spirits away..got some story one lah. The middle bottom pic, that’s where they put all the ancestral *san chu pai* (dunno what you call in English). So many ehh..but they didn’t display there, just the worship place only.

After this place, our next destination, Children’s clothing wholesale. We saw the place yesterday on our way to Fang Chun, but not sure what’s the place call. So just had the map with us, ask around, walk walk walk..almost gave up and finally found it hahaha…This is another huge mall, only selling kids clothes. There were so many shops, if you want to get back to the first shop to get some clothes, you’d probably not find it. The clothes were cheap, one piece like RM7-10, but the trick is you have to buy in bulk, at least 100 pieces (cursing @(*@)(#*). And because it’s winter, most clothing are too thick for Malaysia use. We bought a few clothes (on those shop that allows 5 pieces) for the kids. Look at the variety of CNY clothes they have..better than here lerr..

We left the place pretty early, cause no more RMB hahaha…went back to hotel, took a nap. Then left for up down nine street again..this time we start buying all the stuff we wanted after the survey the previous night. At about 11pm, we went for dinner at the same restaurant that we went on the first day :P. Yup, they open very late, till 2am!!! This time we ordered baby abalone (live ones), lala siong tong (didn’t like it, too peppery),* tai chap hai* (didn’t like it also, too difficult to eat) and a few more non seafood dishes. The bill came up to RM150 also..which I think pretty worth since got 4 abalones. in KL, one abalone already cost Rm40!! Abalone was very nice, steam with garlic.That’s the restaurant that we had our dinner…A must go if you visit GZ. So it’s the last night in GZ, we went back, pack our stuff and went to bed. Next morning, we check out and had breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. They serve pretty good dim sum here. The one I like is the 2nd pic, it’s a dessert made of coconut milk and the middle it has corn.

We left GZ around noon, took a bus to Zhuhai…the bus ride was like taking forever goshhh..and this the place where I suffered :(.