Guangzhou (01-04 Sep 07)

The main purpose of this trip is to bring my aunties & uncles back to our China kampong (Panyu) for visit. It's been many years for some of my aunties since the last time they went back. My eldest aunt is especially excited and couldn’t keep still for a moment… like small kid. But then, come on, aren't we all like that sometimes ? Haha…

Total number of people = 10 (1st aunt, 3rd aunt, 5th aunt, 5th uncle, FF, PF, my parents, sis and me)

DAY 1 (01 SEP 07 - SATURDAY)

8.05am flight, so we met at the airport at 6.05am. Had BK breakfast. Been long time since I had their breakfast, yummy ! Arrived at Baiyun International airport at 12.25pm. By the time we went through the China custom, collected our luggage, met our local tour guide, Xiao Zhang, and finally checked in at Furama Hotel, it was already 2.15pm. After a bit of settling down, we met again at 2.30pm to make our way to visit our relatives in Panyu.

I didn’t realise Furama Hotel was so far away from the mrt train station (Haizhu Square) till we started walking from the hotel. I think it took us approximately 20 mins (which eventually shorten after a few days of walking cos we walked a lot faster then ! Haha). At the beginning I was still a little skeptical if I could remember the way, but thank God I did and we found our way through the Yi-De Lu bazaar to Haizhu Square mrt train station. Phew !

Next came the buying of tickets for the train ride. Yes, it is similar to our Singapore mrt station where we buy tickets through automated machines. However, the machine only "eat" RMB10.00 and RMB5.00, nothing else. Arrghh… for visitors like us, we would not have any loose change. In the end, after searching in all our pockets/wallets with all the aunties and uncles, we managed to have enough change to get tickets for all 10 of us (actually we could have changed loose change with the station control, but it was empty at that time). Btw, its RMB7.00 per pax from Haizhu Square station to Panyu station.

Finally met up with our China cousin, Ah Meng, at the Panyu mrt station control (3.35pm). 1st aunt was so excited to see him. Soon we were on our way to his house. That took us another 40 mins, arriving at 4.15pm. This time, we met up with Ah Meng's father (Ah Qiang), mother (Sai Wei), and the younger sister (Ah Fen). The last time I visited them, I only met Ah Meng and his mother.

After giving them the stuffs we bought and brought for them, the aunties and uncles caught up with one another while the younger ones (4 of us + 2 china cousins) made our way up to the 2nd floor and 3rd floor (with a big roof top), took photos etc. We also visited the old house which is just round the corner. No one stays at the old house now, the place is in ruins but the place is huge.

We then decided to visit the temple in which my grand-aunt's (my maternal grandfather's younger sister) ashes were kept before the temple closes for the day. We returned back to the house after that and it was time for dinner.

Thankfully prior leaving for this trip, I made some correspondences with my China cousin to arrange for this dinner as I estimated that by the time we met up, it would be close to dinner time. The restaurant is not far from their house, only about 10 mins away. The cooking style of food is similar to what we have back home so we all ate happily, had a couple of drinks, made a lot of noise and soon made our way back to the hotel. Btw, the whole dinner for 14 of us (splitted into 2 tables) costs only RMB515, ie approximately SGD103, which means its only SGD7.36 per pax. And we had like close to 10 dishes (excluding desserts which is actually cherry tomatoes) ! Cheap cheap !

Just when you think the day ended like that… no no no… the oldies wanted SUPPER ! So all 10 of us headed out of the hotel again in search for some more food. We ended up in a small eating joint about 5 mins away from the hotel.

DAY 2 (02 SEP 07 - SUNDAY)

We had breakfast at the hotel at 8.00am. Didn’t know our tour package includes hotel breakfast but it was good ! Save us some money too.. Hee hee..

We were brought to visit one temple (六蓉寺 Liu-Rong-Si) and then a park (with 7 rams statue). Took plenty of pictures ! Saw some elderly dancing in the park too ! Energetic ! I like !
We were then brought to this Beijing Lu bu-xing-jie (北京路步行街). There were so many shops here that with the limited time we had, we couldn’t finish all of them, so we had to choose wisely.. Hahaha.. I bought a handbag for RMB30 (SGD6 only !), my sis and cousins bought various blouses at a reasonable price too.

We were then brought to have lunch. Food was good, not too oily or salty as I expected. The vegetables were unlike the ones we have back home that are "slimmer" in their stems, the ones here are much "thicker" and "bigger" in diameter. Very crunchy too.

After lunch, we were brought to a place selling silk. We were introduced to silk-worms, how they look like etc etc. There were silk pillow-cases, silk mattresses covers, silk material blouses and also plenty of different types of teas. Nothing interesting there … boring.

After all those silk-worms, we were brought to a chinese medicine hall where they chinese physicians try to sell us their medicines for aches, pains, burns etc etc. This is where one of my aunt and uncle brought medicine which costs them SGD330 (ie approx RMB1650), only later to find out that the medicine had expired and had to go through much trouble to get them ex-changed for new ones. Sigh. To each his own I suppose.

As it was only early afternoon by the time all the above itineraries were covered, we were given about 3 hours free time to wander on our own before dinner. My 2 cousins, sis and myself quickly went to order some stocks for my aunt's store. She already gave me a list of items to buy from the various stores.

We met again at the hotel lobby for our dinner at this famous, supposedly one of the best restaurant in Guangzhou, Lian-Xiang-Lou (莲香楼). It is situated in this stretch of busy shopping street called “Shang-xia-jiu-bu-xing-jie" (上下九步行街). Vehicles are restricted from entry from 6pm onwards, thus allowing plenty of shoppping space. We decided that we had to come back here to walk around one of the days !

After dinner, we were ushered to take a ferry ride across the whole Zhu-Jiang-river (珠江河). It is actually made up of 3 different rivers. We passed by at least 5 big bridges which were all beautifully and lighted with bright neon lights. Took many pictures at the top deck (open-air) of the ferry too. Thank God the weather was good and skies were clear that night ! It was just simply picturesque ! The whole ferry ride took us close to 1 hour and we stopped at 2 stops to pick and alight customers before we finally alighted at the 3rd stop.

By the time we made our way back to our hotel, it was already close to 10.00pm. However, the oldies are hungry again ! So off the whole troop of 10 in search for food ! This time we went to another one of those small little joint that were still open. I much prefer the food we had in the first joint on the previous night. But its ok, everything also try out then can know the difference and what you prefer right ? Hee hee..

Couldn’t sleep well tonight as I was plagued with worry. Worry about what ? Money no enough leh.. My aunt didn’t pass me enough money to buy the stuffs she wanted. I was getting worried that I would not have enough money to pay for the stocks I ordered. There is nothing I can do, but to pray really. I pray that God will somehow just multiply my money to make it enough to get the stocks. And mentally I had started to "ration" my money out to fully maximise what I have to get. Stress..

DAY 3 (03 SEP 07 - MONDAY)

Time flies quickly, its already the 3rd day. Brought the oldies to walk around at the Yi-De Lu and we splitted up to look at what we are interested in. Its diffficult to walk together (all 10 of us). So we decided to split up and meet again at a designated place & time for lunch. I quickly went around with my sis and cousins to source for the stocks I need to get, followed by the collection of the stocks we ordered the day before. God really did multiply my money. Somehow I had enough to pay off all the stocks I wanted and still have leftovers ! Praise God. He really took care of us.

After much shopping in the morning, the oldies were tired.. So we made our way back to hotel, washed up a bit.. Then decide to go to the Shang-xia-jiu-bu-xing-jie (上下九步行街) for more shopping + dinner. My aunts and uncles, and my parents bought shoes, blouses and pants. We then pop into one of the many restaurants there for dinner. It was cheap still. Only approx RMB356 (approx SGD7.12 per pax) for all 10 of us. Cheap cheap !

A little saga happened here before we had dinner. I was angry and upset cos I feel I am not in the wrong yet had to take the blame. Nevermind.

DAY 4 (04 SEP 07 - TUESDAY)

Today is our last day in Guangzhou. We decided it to be free and easy for everyone. The tour transport bus came and picked us up from the hotel at 3.00pm and we were off to catch our flight at 7pm plus. Prior to that, we had a little misunderstanding with the hotel concierge though. They were careless and threw away the message & contact number that was left by the tour agency for us, yet they were so rude at us, refusing to offer any help, as if it was our fault. This is really bad service ! I will not want to stay in this hotel in the future.

That rounds up our short Guangzhou trip. I look forward to the next one soon !