Im HOME!
=)
im going to write a thousand word essay on my little trip to guangzhou.
do bear with me. read along!

30.11
I departed from changi airport at about 6 and reached baiyun airport at about 11.
i was onboard airflight SQ804.
anyway,
we took a cab hired by the airport to our hotel, which costed us RMB 300.
that is like, 60 BUCKS.
so much for a cab.
and then, we reached our hotel-
Holiday Inn Shifu, Guangzhou.

here it is. =)
the ShiFu Plaza is directly under our hotel.
our hotel is right smack in the middle of all the malls and districts.
do stay there when you visit guangzhou!

we checked into the hotel soon after.
and the hotel room was, what you call, artistic.


this is taken from outside the toilet.
from the picture, you can see the toilet-obviously, from the OUTSIDE of it.
the reflection from the glass panel shows the bed, and the window.
so, if you think about it, practically, ANYONE can see you bathing in the toilet, be it from the room or outside of it.
LOLS.
fortunately,
there is a blind to block those eyes that pry in.
=D


there is my cousin,
smiling brightly at the cam.
the main objective of this picture is not to show you who my cuzzie is, but to emphasize on the SIGNBOARD.
read it-
OUTLETS- ou lai si.
hahahas.
what a translation.
this is not the first.
i've encountered many more.
maybe i can remember them later.

go out of the hotel, turn left;
walk straight then turn left again-
you'll see crowds of people on this pedestrian mall.

let me show you my favourite shop along this street.
the little hut below the Xin Hua Bookstore Signboard is it!
they sell my favourite snack!
=)
what is it?
*TADA*

FRUITS IN BING TANG.
it originates from the famous candy haw.
so instead of that sour plum, they replace it with fruits!
strawberries, orange, kiwi, grapes!
YUMM.
hahas.
i guess i've already eaten more than 15 sticks in the 5 days.
=)

other than that stall, i have a favourite hideout.

this is the cashier of the restaurant.
i eat my breakfasts there.
sometimes when i'm hungry, i stop by to have a snack too-
they serve the best dishes in the whole district.
=D
i'm not being biased.
i tried out most of the stores along the street already.

at night we passed by a underground market.

they sell fruits, veggies, meat, and dry goods.
a very large market indeed.
haha-

we took the MRT to Pearl River.
there, its not called MRT.
its called Metro Station.
and instead of the Standard Ticket that we purchase,
you get little plastic coins.

it works like the ez-link card.
tap and you can enter.
but the thing is,
you slot it into the machine when you exit.

it was really chilly there, probably because of the land breeze.
my auntie actually managed to talk to a local there,
and she told us that the cruise station was up front.
she even said that for RMB 38, we can get a free meal too.
OBVIOUSLY ITS A GOOD DEAL!
=DDDD
this was the first cruise i saw :

it had a really beautiful upper deck.
tables laid with cutlery and lighted up beautiful cloth lanterns.
imagine the food they would serve!
..
anyway,
i bought the ticket alright.
but the cruise i boarded was much smaller then the one i saw.
not only that.
the 'free meal' turned out to be free BISCUITS with WATER.
add in the amount of wind that kept blowing onto us.
the cold went straight into our bones.
it was terribly cold, and all the pictures i took turned out, like this:

i couldnt hold my camera firmly.
lols.
but i managed to capture the night scene opposite the river.
=)


wooh-
after that, we went back to sleep.
hahas.
of course; before that, i bought a stick of my favourite candied fruits.
=D

01.12
went back to my favourite hideout in the morning for breakfast.
then we went down the market beside the hotel on the right.
it sells animals big and small.
including cages, food, and all sorts of stuff.
=))


walk further up and you'll reach wholesalers for herbs and spices.
they sold all sorts of herbs, INCLUDING snakes.
eeew.


my destination for the morning was Sha Mian Island.
its not really an island, but just simply separated from the districts by a kelong.
it used to be occupied by englishmen.
i think they were isolated there or something.
each building were built in western style and had a oriental touch to it.
there was a park too.

the park is down the lane and all the way to the pearl river.
old folks flood the grounds there.
there is a group singing together with lyrics written on a piece of paper and stuck onto a pillar.
there are also old folks gathering around to play games and dance to music.
oh ya. and guess what music they use!
the theme song from Zoro!
wahahas.
i found a building i love!
not because its nice, but because it has something to do with Korea.
hahahs.





Yupps!
The Economy and Trade Representation of the D.P.R of Korea in Guangzhou, China.
D.P.R of Korea means Democratic People's Republic of Korea-
which simply, also, mean North Korea.
H.H.H! (Hip Hip Hooray!)
=DD

then we took the MRT to The Chan Clan Temple.
they are supposed to be rich, i suppose.
we stopped by for lunch, which was wanton mee.
hahahs.
this is how the temple looks like from the little canteen.


and this is the HUGE signboard outside it.



the entrance of the temple looks empty, but the place was rather crowded.
why?
because i'm a good photographer!
hahahahs.
no lahs.
but i actually waited for the crowd to clear out so that i can snap it.
poof.
so, im a dilligent photographer.
=)

this is really good.
not the picture, but the craftmanship.
it is supposed to be carved into the rock, and not models stuck on the wall with glue- like what we always do.


this is one of the many entrances apart from the main one.
it looks deep because of the many many pillars and the long passageway.
maybe, if i dont tell you that its taken by me, you would think that i stole it from a professional photographer's album.
=DDD

then there was the exhibition of the carvings from mammoth's ivory.
mammoths, are of course, extinct.
but these carvings remain till today because they have been passed down from generations to generations in China.
it is a rare collection,
so rare, it can only be purchased and used in China.
if you bring it out, you'll be charged.
hahahs.
this is one beautiful one carved from ONE piece of ivory.



this is how it looks like close up.
there are people, windows, pillars, lanterns and dangling bulbs all carved from the piece of ivory.
the windows can move too.
interesting huh!
=D
if these looks amazing,
theres another one i found pretty much mindblowing.

The Tang Emperor Visits the Moon.




you can identify the emperor by his headpiece and the umbrella that never fails to hover above him because his servants are behind following.
its so detailed and precise that you'll never believe a human did it.


this is the roof of one of the halls.

it is another carving (but of wood) of houses and people and many other things.
a work of precision and patience.
a beauty.
=)
we walked to YiDe Road, where wholesalers are all located there.
from stationarys, to toys, to food.
they have it all!
but before that,
we passed by many roads and alleys.



we even passed by a market that sold snakes?
i think i almost slipped on a snake skin.
obviously i freaked out and ran.
hahahs.
my cousin was even more afraid than me.
WAHAHAS.
there was, also, 3 old folk on the street playing chinese instruments.

they were loud and clear and obviously powerful!
they kept playing from dusk to dawn.
lols.
we reached the wholesalers eventually.
spent about more than half a day going round.
i didnt take any pictures because i was too busy shopping!
=)
then we went to Beijing Road, another pedestrian mall.
it was crowded.


yupps.
we walked back to our hotel.
and on the way, we passed by a event hall surrounded by shopping malls.
there was this gigantic bottle of King Ninjiom PeiPa Kou.

you might think i zoomed up on one.
but no.
i took about 20 steps back to get this bottle to fit into my camera screen.
lols.
i didnt bother about the shopping mall, because i was a little tired.
my arms were aching from carrying all the shopping bags.
=D
but!
we passed by this LONG shop that sell goods like chameleon.

it is not chameleon lah,
it is mei lala, if you look closely.
my cousin bought lots of earrings from there.
=)

the beautiful evening sky from the street looked too tempting, so i snapped it down.
=)

03.12

breakfast was as usual.
then we went to take a train.
our first stop was a tourist attraction, The Museum Of The Nan- Yue King In the Western- Han Dynasty.
the entrance was marvellous.
when i entered, my aunt and cousin wanted to visit the toilet.
so i went around myself first.
i saw a group watching a video in a video room, so i went in.
well. the ang mohs thought i was an alien-
then i found out why.
because the video they were watching was in French.
it was darn embarrassing.
god.
so i ran out.
lols.


this is the layout of the tomb from above.
the tomb inside is empty and dark, so i didnt bother to take any pictures inside.
they extracted all the remains and placed it inside the air-conditioned museum.
there was, however something that they left behind.
the remains of a concubine- one of the four that was buried together with the king when he died.
read again- CONCUBINE.
another woeful tale of everlasting love.
hahahas.
so much for beloved concubines.
no photography is allowed in the museum.
so... too bad.
something to mention.
the imperial seals we see on tv dramas are usually huge and gigantic!
but in real life, the seals are made of pure gold, and are really small.
about the size of an eraser.
=)
and i guess the only reason why the people buried had no remains was because they believed in the wrong thing.
they believed that jade would preserve the body.
so they loaded the king's corpse with jade.
they clothed him with a jade armour sewn with silk and gold.
they even placed jade discs all over him, below him and around him.
...
rich kid.
hahahas.

then we walked to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall.
they built a humongous building just to commemerate a revolutionist.
i've read about them before.
they fought for the change of China to be what it is today.
=)
but this is WOAH.

it looks magnificent.
in front of the statue lay a large garden filled with blooming flowers like roses.


the pillars can prove to you how tall it is.
=)


why i put up this tree here?
BECAUSE IT ALMOST COST ME MY LUNCH!
this is an ancient magnolia tree.
my aunt said that if i couldnt find this tree or the Kapok tree, i couldnt have lunch.
WHAT A THREAT.
fortunately, i found both.
want to know how a kapok tree looks like?
stand straight, and stretch your hands out.
imagine you have a bush of leaves on top of you head.
well.
your body is the trunk, your arms the branch and head, the leaves!
...

we had KFC for lunch lah.
had the family meal.
it costed us RMB 60.
after that we went to LiuRong Temple.
obviously we walked there.
=)))
we bought the cheapest ticket which permitted us to walk about but not to climb up the pagoda.


this is how tall the pagoda is ok.
and there is NO WAY i'm going climb it.
hahahs
=)

this is, of course, the man himself; Liu Rong.

we took the MRT, again, back to our hotel to start packing.
then for no reason, i started taking pictures of the MRT station and the MRT.
=D


the evening peak hours.
=))

the last picture i took, before i went up to our room, was a shop that sold SNAKE WINE.
blahhhh-
you can practically puke when you see the jars of snakes soaked in alcohol.
EEEW-


after that we went up to pack.
went out in the night to get some food.
not exactly some.
i bought lots of candied fruits.
i tried their takoyaki, their 'roti prata' (which tasted good!), their stewed squid, corn and the most popular dish of all, stewed beef and radish in dark sauce.
its popular not because i like it, but because LOADS of people queue up to buy it and there are many many many stalls selling it.
hahas
it tasted horrid, to me.
especially beef lungs.
YUCK.
luckily i had strawberries in the hotel room to remove that taste.
hahas.

04.12

it was our last day.
so we had our sumptous breakfast at our usual hideout again.
we bought approx. 5 plates of food.
=D
then we talked about the funny stall names and brand labels we encountered.
there was COCK DICK, MEI DICK, BISHENG KE(Pizza hut), and many many more.
so funny i almost laughed my ass out.
hahahs-
we took a cab to the airport.
this time round, the cab fare was only RMB 100.
...
so we had lots of extra cash because we thought it would be RMB 300 again.
i spotted the Korean flag amongst the many hung there!

hahs..........
korea seems so near, yet so far.
lols.
=DDD
when we cleared customs,
my cousin was thought to be smuggling drugs.
the security camera spotted a packet of black powder.
guess what it is?!
black sesame.
hahaha-
XD
so funny.
we stopped by at a Cafe to have a cuppa.
=)
something made me laugh even more.


Saloon Coffee.
hahahs.
combine hair and coffee!?
YECK-
hahahahas


my aunt's mocha looked really nice- and cute.
only if the lady did a better job with the mouth.
=))


my cousin's fruit waffle.
=)

i couldnt take my honey waffle because i gobbled it down already.
hahahs.
but that was our last meal there.
=))

we boarded SQ 803 after MANY MANY announcements made to chase us up.
then we indulged in salmon!
=D
and i played lots of Pokemon Gold.
hahhas.
so fun!
=D

after we touched down,
my aunt and cousin shopped at Madame Butterfly (by Chomel).
so i went to use the telephone.
its alrght to take advantage of it.
ahahahas.
free outgoing local calls!!!!!
but it didnt get through though.
lols.
then we hired a cab back.

back in hougang i was.
i went there with a plastic bag of clothes and home with a luggage full of goods.
hahahs.
amazing.
=D


now.
i'm sick.
=D
i suppose im not used to the warmth here yet.
my nose is runny-
lols
happy hols my friends!
i hope you had as much fun as i did!
=)))

Sylvia. Syl. And someone you'll never expect me to be.