Sunday, October 26, 2008

China-Macau-Hong Kong Trip 2008 - Day Four (10th Oct 2008)

Today's another day around the region. After having breakfast with Ms Poon again, we went to the nearest attraction, Qing Hui Gardens (清晖园), which is just across the road... Yes, literally across the road.

This is a garden complex that was bought and maintained by 4 top scholars (状元) that came from Shunde. It was revamped and decorated as a very beautiful Chinese garden, which, I also understand, is used as a filming set very frequently.

The main signboard to the gardens

The entrance to the gardens

This is something that looks like a grotto, looks like they also have some interest in rocks and water

You can see how this makes a good filming location :D Very typical of the period dramas that we watch

After this, we met up with Ms Poon's husband, Ah-Feng, who brought us to the neighbouring Chen Village (陈村) which is famous for its flowers, but turned out that this is not the season and we ended up looking at precious "weird stones", which I can't say was very interesting. Moving on, we went for lunch at a nearby restaurant, getting my taste of the incredibly-delicious 陈村粉, which is something like a mix between kway teow and chee cheong fun, but when cooked in the proper manner, is really good!

(L to R): Ms Poon, Ah-Feng, Dad, Me, Ah-Mok

After lunch, Ms Poon and Ah-Feng went home to prepare for the evening, where they have graciously invited us to their home for dinner. We then proceeded to Foshan (佛山) to visit the Ancestral Temple (祖庙), which is a group of old ancestral temples with very intricate statues on the roofs.

This is a very typical wishing tree that we always see in shows
It has a beautiful pond too, the rest of the garden was a little... messy?

No, Confucius is not a local, I'm also as confused as you why there's a statue of him here

And of course, old folks indulging in their past time (mahjong and cards in the background), entry is free for senior citizens aged 70 and above

You can get a glimpse of the roofs now

Definitely a lot of effort was put into carving these individual figures up there, there's so many of them!

We actually found a surprise: The actual Wong Fei Hong memorial (黄飞鸿纪念馆). All along, Dad thought the one at Xiqiao Mountain (西樵山) was the memorial, but here at Foshan, which is what all of us from the Once Upon A Time in China movies (starring Jet Li and Chiu Mun Cheok) remember.

This was what told us that we struck gold!

Yup, can't be wrong this time!

Sorry to disappoint, but this is not the actual medical hall, as fans of you may recall. It was actually burnt down and this is just a recreation of how it would have looked like.

And what do you know? I was so engrossed walking around that I forgot to take photos!!! Even of the statue sitting directly at the door!

After a refreshing drink, we embarked on the hour-long drive back to Shunde, where we went to visit the City Hall (nicknamed "The White House" by our hosts) and Government District. I think this is easily a sign of how rich the Chinese government is.

You can't blame me for looking tired, it's been a long day (as you can see by the photos)!!! Hands Up anyone who thought that's a hotel in my background!

Making a short stop back at the hotel to wash up, we then proceeded to Ms Poon's place for dinner. She was kind enough to prepare a steamboat for us, comprising of shrimp, fish and turtle meat (yes... turtle meat). Leave it to Chinese hospitality to always keep you eating. Our plates were seldom empty and the food prepared was definitely much more than what we could consume. It was a really casual dinner and I really enjoyed chatting with them, although the excessive hospitality did make me feel a little uncomfortable at some points.

The shrimp. Ms Poon thought I liked to eat shrimp, so she bought a bagful from the market

This was the fish. You might want to note that they think the head is the best part and is always served to guests!

And yes, this is the turtle meat

After dinner, we went to a nearby monument for a walk, the Shun Feng Gate Park (顺风山):
This is actually taken from quite a distance away

A closer view, you can see how big it is compared to the people in the picture

The carvings are really intricate! And you ought to note that I had to keep my hand very steady to get these clear pictures at night without flash! (Let me hao lian a bit lah... :p)

Well, of course hands to get tired too...

And that's just the base...

Of course, they only light up the gate from 1 side. Here's the view on the other side, the lake-side

I must say that it is definitely impressive! It's simply HUGE! But here's an interesting piece of trivia for you: it's new. Yes, it's NEW! Built only 5-6 years ago by the local government! Of course, it caused a minor uproar since it was funded using tax dollars, but you have to admit that this is indeed a monument that people can be proud of. I initially thought that it was commissioned by some emperor in some dynasty... Haha!

We then went back to Ms Poon's place for the desset, Double-Skinned Milk Pudding (双皮奶). We got back to the hotel close to midnight, and I needed the energy for the last phase of the trip, the one that actually left a stronger impression on me than the past few places I've been to.

Photobucket: Qing Hui Gardens (清晖园)

Photobucket: Foshan (佛山)

China-Macau-Hong Kong Trip 2008 - Day Three (9th Oct 2008)

Today's one of the key highlights of this trip: A visit to my grandparents' home villages in Shunde (顺德). Firstly, we had breakfast with Mr Yau's branch manager in Shunde, Ms Poon. Let's just say that when he's not around, he definitely makes sure that someone else is. He even tried to convince us to let his cameraman follow us around to film our trip (I'm not joking... a cameraman with a digital camcorder) not once, not twice, but SEVEN TIMES!

Anyway, cameraman aside, Ms Poon is the branch manager of 1 of Mr Yau's shops in Shunde, so she's tasked to take good care of us. She met my parents before, but this is the first time she's meeting me.

After a good, hearty breakfast (a typical demonstration of the overeating on my trip), we set out to my grandmother's home village of Shui Teng (Mandarin: 水藤村, Cantonese: Sui Tang). We did a stop by her aunt-in-law's place (whom my parents have also met), since they were living in the same village and my dad prepared gifts for them. Following which, we walked around a little and went to see the only landmark that my grandmother could recall, the stone bridge:

The stone bridge

That's the name of the bridge: 玉麟桥


So this is the photo that I'm supposed to show Grandma: That I came here

I thought Dad took a rather comfortable candid shot of me
And this is what you see on the side of the bridge. I hear the water used to be clear... Haha!

After this, we went on to my grandfather's home village of Ma Jiao (Mandarin: 马滘村, Cantonese: Mah Kau). Nothing much there except the village signboard, and nothing to confirm too, since Grandfather's no longer around.
That's all 4 of us: (L to R) Me, Dad, Ms Poon, Ah-Mok (our driver for the entire time in China)

After lunch, we then proceeded to Xiqiao Mountain (Mandarin: 西樵山, Cantonese: Sai Chiu San), a nature reserve mountain near Foshan (佛山). There are a few tourist attractions there, and the ticket basically allows you to see everything.

First stop: Wong Fei Hong Lion Dance and Martial Arts Museum (黄飞鸿狮艺武术馆). This is a martial arts centre set up by the famous martial arts master to take in young delinquents and train them to focus on something that can benefit their lives. There are lion dances and martial arts demonstrations performed daily by the current students, many of them very young.

This is the main entrance, notice the signboard?

Stepping through the main door, a statue of the folk hero greets you

And there's also a memorial to the famous actor, Kwan Tak Hing, who played Wong Fei Hong in the old Hong Kong movies. Here's something interesting: He's an actual disciple of the Master himself!

This is the view of the courtyard. That's the largest lion-dance head in the world!

2 lion dances on both sides of the courtyard, each with different set of poles, and thus different obstacles

After a rather good lion dance, we then went to see the 4-sided bamboo (四方竹). It's basically bamboo that is square-shaped, with rather distinct edges, than the round ones we typically see. The edges were rather hard to capture as an image, so you'll have to take my word for it. I did, however, manage to feel them.

Like I said, you're gonna have to take my word for it... Haha!

Moving on to another nearby attraction, a 62m-high statue of Guanyin (观音), which is the 16th-tallest statue in the world (as compared to the Statue of Liberty at #24 and Sentosa's Merlion at #36, according to Wikipedia). It's definitely huge and awe-inspiring, and to think that I actually told Dad that it's comparable to the Giant Buddha statue in Hong Kong (which only clocked #41 at 34m high, even below Merlion).

This is actually from quite far away, about a 7-min drive?

To be honest, if you ask me, I think the photo does it injusticeThis one does give you a better appreciation of the size and scale of it, but you really have to be there to feel the size for yourself

And this is what the statue is overlooking: a huge plaza and a majestic overview of the mountain

Following this was a walk around the area, then off to have a "Dirty Chicken" (污泽鸡) dinner back in Daliang (大良), Shunde, where our hotel is, which turned out to be quite tasty! No pictures as we got lost for 2 hours on the road trying to find our way back, not to mention getting stuck in the horrible China traffic.

Photobucket: Xiqiao Mountain (西樵山)