Myself (HK Wan), sister-in-law (Doreen Cheong), my younger sister (Lai Ling), my elder sister (Lai Meng), my younger brother (Heng Wan) & his wife (Rina Chee) - Photographs taken on 3 June 2005 at The Statue of 5 Rams, Yue Xiu Park, Guangzhou.
Thanks to the special offer from Air Asia, we managed to obtain 6 (six) cheap return tickets from KLIA to Macau during the mid-terms school holidays. My younger sister, Lai Ling being a teacher was extremely happy that she could joined us on this trip. The Air Asia Flight AK 50 from KLIA was late at night, we arrived at Macau Airport the next morning at approx. 3.00 am. We travelled light with only our backpacks. We stayed at the Macau Airport until about 7.00 am and took the first AP1 bus to Barrier Gate. The price was very reasonable @ MOP 3.30 or approx. RM 1.50 right up to Macau-Zhuhai border. After clearance of the Macau & Chinese Immigrations, we had a nice breakfast of dim sum & noodles at Gongbei, Zhuhai and thereafter boarded a bus to Guangzhou. On arrival, we took the Guangzhou Metro to the Huangsha Station and walked to our budget hotel, Guangdong Shamian Hotel.
After lunch, we took the Metro and visited the Temple of Bright Filial Peity, 6 Banyan Tree Temple, it continued with night shopping at Changshou Lu, the jade market, Xiajiu Lu, the Qingping market until we finally reached our hotel at Shamian Island. At night, we visited the nearby White Swan Hotel with its landscaped waterfall full of colourful Chinese Carps swimming. Later on, we went outside the hotel and watched the scenic night view of the Pearl River.
The next day on 3 June 2005, we visited the Nanyue Tomb which was discovered in 1983 and contained the 2000 years old site of the tomb of Zhao Mo, grandson of the Nanyue Kingdom's founder, Zhao Tuo. Later, we spent almost 2 hours at Yuexiu Park and its various attractions such as Sun Yatsen Monument, Zhenhai Lou - The Gate Tower facing the sea and Guangzhou's landmark statue of Five Rams (see photograph above). In the evening, we returned back to Shamian Hotel, met some American couples who were adopting Chinese babies (usually girls) at the nearby American Embassy. Late at Night, we took a sleeper bus from Guangzhou Bus Terminal to Yangshou in the neighbouring Guangxi Province.
Photograph taken with the Scenic Twin Pagodas at the Fir Lake, Guilin.
We arrived at Yangshou at approx. 7.30AM. on 4 June 2005. As soon as the sleeper bus arrived, there was a mad rush of tours cum travel agents targeting us (as foreigners). We avoided them and checked-in a nearby budget hotel (day-use only) for a rest as well as to keep our backpacks. We had lunch and then book a local tour to the scenic Li Jiang River cruise. Firstly, we took a mini bus from Yangshuo to Xingping - the 1300 years riverine village. From Xingping, we took a hour long cruise right up to Yangdi and back. This was the most scenic part of the Li Jiang River with gorgeous karst peaks and breathtaking sceneries. Even the 20 Renminbi Currency is printed with the beautiful natural karst peaks. If you ever come to Guilin, you should not miss the Li Jiang River Cruise. After the cruise, we returned to Yangshou Town and visited the famous backpacker paradise, the bars and guesthouses of West Street or Xi Lu. Unfortunately, since we had booked 0ur hotel at Guilin that same night, we did not stay there. But, if we ever come back to Yangshou again, we will definately spend a night or two in this peaceful & beautiful scenic town. In the late afternoon, we took our backpacks from the budget hotel and boarded a bus to the nearby Guilin and checked-in at Tai Lian Hotel.
Photograph taken at at Banyan Lake, Guilin
Immediately after we had checked-in, we could not wait for an evening walking tour around Guilin. We visited the Fir Lake with its beautiful twin pagodas and the nearby Banyan Lake. The next day on 5 June 2005, we booked 2 reasonably priced taxis and visited the Reed Flute Cave (Ludi Yan) which contained extraordinary underground sceneries and natural rock formations. We visited other tourist sites like Elephant Trunk Hill, Fubo Hill, Guilin Cultural Village, etc. I n the evening, we took a sleeper bus to Gongbei, Zhuhai.
Photograph taken at The Guilin Cultural Village
Photograph of myself taken on 6 June 2005 at The Ruins of Saint Paul, Macau
On arrival at Gongbei at approx. 7.30am on 6 June 2005, we cleared the Chinese Immigration and entered into Macau. At Macau, we booked a large room at a guesthouse in Rue la Felicidades or Happiness Street. We had a few hours rest and later in the afternoon, we visited some of Macau's tourist attractions, i.e. Ah Ma Temple, Macau Maritime Museum, The Ruins of St. Paul (see photograph above), The Guan Yin Temple, Senando Square, Avenida Almeida Ribeiro or San Ma Lu. At night at approx. 10.30pm we took a taxi to Macau Airport for our 2.45 am flight back to KLIA. We arrived at KLIA at approx. 7.00am on 7th June 2005 - Home Sweet Home.
No comments:
Post a Comment