Excerpt from Heather's Email.....
We travelled up by train early Sunday morning and then spent a hectic 30 hours sightseeing and exploring nooks and crannies. The White Swan Hotel was fabulous, 5 star and set on an island in the Pearl River. Shamian Island has incredible European buildings that were embassies in the early 1900's. Very elegant and gentile!!! Strolling down the avenues it was hard to imagine that you were in a huge polluted Asian city!! The buildings now house art and craft shops, restaurants, tea houses etc. Great shopping, reasonable prices and a wide range of goods.
At 11 am we started at the Chen Clan Learning Academy built around 1890 for the education of the Chen families from 72 counties of the Guangdon Province. There are 19 buildings all artistically decorated with wood, brick and stone carvings, ceramic and lime sculptures, iron castings and paintings. The roof carvings are being restored and it was incredible to see the skill of the painters painstakingly reproducing the original colours. We discovered dining halls, and sleeping quarters that we never saw last time. A must see for anyone going to Guangzhou.
We then went to the Six Banyan Temple, built in 1097, which is commonly known as the leaning tower of Guangzhou. It has been restored and repiled to overcome some of the lean but it is still unnerving as you walk around each floor as the concrete railing is quite low and the path so narrow. The climb to the top is different as there are 9 storeys on the outside and 17 on the inside!!! You fold in half to get through each door and the stairs are steep. Mid way on each level are 6 gold Buddha's set in octagonal halls. The entrance doors get smaller the higher you climb and it was easier going up. Coming down you had to scoot down the last few steps on your bum and remember to keep bend in half until clear of the door way or you walloped your head. Poor Trudi misjudged once and it hurt!! The view from the top was disappointing as the city is so flat but you got a good look at the locals houses.
By this time we were absolutely starving and had no idea where to go but old eagle-eye ....me... had spotted what looked like a shopping centre from the top of the temple so we set out. Gordon and I know that where there are shops, there are food halls on the top floor, and we were right. For Y10(2.50nz) we got a HUGE bowl of BBQ pork, noodle and bok choi!! None of us could eat it all. It was a bit bland but filling. Again we were the floor show and the only white faces around.
Next stop on the Wiggy tour of Guangzhou was the Museum of the Nanyue King unearthed 20 years ago while constructing an apartment building. The original tomb had been 17 metres underground but the construction team had taken the hill top off when the discovery was made. This tomb had never been robbed so all the artefacts were amazing. The tomb was so small compared to the Ming tombs in Beijing but set out in the same symmetrical pattern. Some of the pottery designs were very similar to the Maori koru.
Outside the tomb we were accosted by beggars and they were so persistent that you had to be down right rude. Emma found it quite scary and one woman was right in Anita's face. It is unnerving when you haven't encountered it before.
We again braved the taxis, which are soooooo cheap, and returned to the hotel so Gordon could have a sleep before we went for dinner. The girls went for a swim but quickly changed their minds when the pool was so cold.
We had asked some Chinese guys at the museum where to go for a good local meal and they recommended Li Wan Plaza. So off we went. Up to the 5th floor as directed and there weren't the usual style restaurant but being typical starving Kiwis we asked for a table for 5. We were taken down a long corridor and then shown into a private room with a huge round table, sofa, large TV and...... a bathroom off it. Whoops!! I asked to see the menu as we didn't want to pay through the nose. The meals seemed really cheap so we agreed to stay. No one spoke any English so I pointed to things on the menu and ordered 5 courses. At the moment there is a poultry flu scare so it made it hard as 2 girls didn't eat seafood and so we chose beef and pork!! Our waitress turned on the TV which was quickly turned off!! She smiled a lot and wondered what on earth she had struck with these strange white people.
My goodness the meal was divine. We couldn't eat all they gave us which was washed down with copious cups of Chinese tea. We got the usual complimentary fruit to complete our meal before asking for the bill. Would you believe.....Y149(39NZ)....just over $7 each!!! Unbelievable. What an experience.
The shops were all open so we explored them before finding a night market of sorts. Gordon bought Lord of the Rings Part 2 and the latest James Bond DVD's for Y10(2.50nz each!!) Got home and found 2 of the Lord discs were English and one Chinese!! and the quality of Bond left a lot to be desired but we got the gist!!!
The taxi ride to the hotel was great for G and I but the girls taxi delivered them to the wrong hotel. G and I were a bit concerned when they hadn't turned up after 30 mins but at least they did get back OK.
It was now 10:30ish and we decided to get a ferry over the Pearl River to Bar Street which proved to be very bland despite the magnificent neons but....we discovered a night market. Real local and bought fruit for breakfast. Back on the ferry and crashed into bed at midnight! Boy we were tired after such an action packed day.
Next day we explored Shamian Island shops before Gordon and I crossed the river and discovered the most incredible place called the Qingping Market. The buildings were God only knows how old and were inhabited. Life was happening ......locals buying live scorpions for breakfast, people doing their daily ablutions on the street, small quaint shops selling everything you could wish for....dried seahorse seemed popular or Viper wine with a preserved huge snake in the jar or Snake Penis Wine with...you've guessed it ..about 3 inches of penises in the bottom of the jar.
We rushed back, checked out of the hotel and took the girls back to Qingping. With the way urban renewal is happening in China and they do not preserve the past this magnificent area may not be there for too much longer so we wanted the girls to share this place. In all our travels in Asia this would be the best we have experienced.
We wandered through the alleys and spoke to the locals....our one word Ni hau! They were so welcoming and smiling and we felt privileged to be sharing their lives.
A fascinating thing about the hotel we were staying at was that it is one of the base hotels for American and European couples adopting Chinese babies. Most of the babies are girls who were abandoned at birth. There was a wide age range of the parents but boy were they proud of their new children. Some were there for their second child. There are 1000's of babies available for adoption and it is big business.
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