Photograph taken at Foshan Ancestral Temple or Zumiao Temple.
This was our first travel booking with Tiger Air, Singapore. There were five of us, i.e. my elder sister, younger brother, my younger sister, my niece (Wan Pik Ki) and myself. A day earlier, we drove down from KL to Johore Baru and parked the car at a friend's place. We then took a bus to Singapore and checked-in at Penang Hotel, Singapore.
We woke up early next morning and after breakfast, we took the MRT from Lavender Street directly to Changi Airport, Terminal 1 for our 9.30 am flight to Macau. Upon arrival and after immigration, we took the usual AP1 bus to Barrier Gate, cleared Macau & Chinese immigrations then to Gongbei, Zhuhai. Here, we took the afternoon bus directly to Foshan and checked-in at Chancheng Hotel. At night, we had our night shopping and dinner.
Early next morning on 20 November 2005, we walked to Zumiao Road and visited the Renshou temple built in 1935 - a Chan sect of Buddhism temple. Within this temple was Ruyi Pagoda, a seven-storey pagoda with Chinese style tower with 8 angles. Due to time constraint, we spent about 15 minutes here and then walked to the nearby Foshan Ancestral Temple of Zumiao Temple on the same road. The entrance fee @ RMB 60/person was considered high. It was founded during the Yuanfeng period of Northern Song Dynasty (1078 - 1085). The original building was burnt down during the Yuan Dynasty and reconstructed in the 5th year of Hongwu period, Ming Dynasty (1372). The Zu Miao Temple was an important cultural relic site for ceramics, wood-carving, metal casting and architecture arts of ancient Foshan. If you are in Foshan, you must visit here.
Photograph taken at 61.9Metres high Bronze Statue of The Goddese of Mercy - Guan Yin at Xiqiao Shan, Foshan. (From Left: myself, my younger brother, niece & my elder sister)
Photograph taken at Guan Yin Statue, Xiqiao Shan, Foshan
After visiting Zumiao temple, we hired a taxi to Xiqiao Mountain, Nanhai district of Foshan. Our main intention was to visit the 61.90 Metres high bronze statue of the goddess of mercy, Guan Yin. It was one of the largest sitting Guan Yin statue in the world and constructed at Daxian peak, Xiqiao Mountain. The holy statue was grand and gorgeous and almost similar to the bronze statue of Buddha at Po Lin Monastery, Lantau Insland, Hong Kong. As we were in a rush, we did not visit other attractions at Xiqiao Shan and rushed back to Foshan where we visited Sun Yat Sen Park for about 30 minutes before we checked-out of Chancheng Hotel .
Photograph of my niece, younger & elder sister taken at Sun Yat Sen Park, Foshan
Photograph taken at the scenery of Sleeping Buddha, Seven Stars Crag Park, Zhaoqing - (myself, my younger sister, niece, elder sister & younger brother)
On 20 November 2005, we took the afternoon stage bus from Foshan to Zhaoqing. Upon arrival we checked-in Huaqiao Hotel which was right in front of Zhaoqing's Seven Crags Park. At night we watched the laser light display at the spectacular musical fountain show at 8.00 pm complete with multi-coloured lights and symphony music. If you are in Zhaoqing, you should not missed it. Later at night, the people, the young ones as well as the senior citizens were dancing in the town square (outside the seven crags park) to various musical beats such waltz, chinese classical, fox trot, cha-cha, rock & roll, etc. I have been to various places in Guangdong and this was one of the only rare places where street dancing could be found. The next morning, we booked two motor cycle taxis and toured Zhaoqing, firstly, a round trip to seven stars crags, i.e. seven limestone crags by the Star Lake which was partitioned into 5 lakes of different sizes by the winding green embankment. The seven crags have wonderful limestone karst sceneries similar to Guilin, Guangxi. The most wonderful scenery was that of a hugh sleeping Buddha formed by Apo, Heavenly Pillar and immortal palm rock. However, the scenery of the sleeping Buddha at this time of the year was rather bare with lack of greenery. I was here earlier in July 2005 with my elder brother and scenery was perfectly natural green.
After touring round the Star Lake for approximately an hour, we rode the same motor cycle taxis and spend another 3 hours touring Zhaoqing city and it suburbs. We visited tourist attractions such as the old city walls built during the Song Dynasty and Piyun Tower, The Plum Monastery (built 996 AD) with painting and sculptures relating to Hui Neng, the founder of Zen (Chan) Buddhism, The Chongxi Pagoda, The River View Pavilion, Baogong (Justice Pao) Temple, etc.
We checked-out of Huaqiao Hotel on 22 November 2005 am and took a stage bus to Guangzhou.
Photograph taken at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Guangdong
At Guangzhou, we checked-in at Guangdong Shamian Hotel and after lunch, we went by bus to Mausoleum of 72 martyrs, Huanghuagang hill, built in 1918 in memorial to the martyrs who perished in the Guangzhou mutiny led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen. Beside the tomb stone was a granite monument inscribed with the names of 72 marytrs and on its top stand is a replica of the Statue of Liberty.
We also visited Sun Yat Memorial Hall situated at the southern slope of Yuexiu Hill. It was constructed between 1929 and 1931 in memory of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the forerunner of Chinese democratic revolution by the people of Guangzhou and overseas Chinese. The grand octagon building of typical Chinese architectural style. A bronze statue of Dr. Sun Yat Sen was set up in 1956 in front of the memorial hall.
As this was my niece first trip to Guangzhou, we revisited Yuexiu Park and the famous landmark of Guangzhou - The Statue of the 5 Rams, Zhenhai Tower. As usual, we spend hours shopping at various spots in Guangzhou.
On 24 November 2005, we had early lunch and took a stage bus to Gongbei, Zhuhai and then Macau for our 6.30pm flight back to Singapore.
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