Busy day in Guangzhou

After our visit to the factory we had lunch with the factory owner and his family.

Then we went to the Chen Clan Academy. It was built from 1888 till 1894 and it’s one of the oldest preserved buildings in the region. It used to be a clan temple but it server as an academy of arts now.

The temple was being renovated when we visited it.

Watch the Bamboo scaffolding.

After visiting the Chen Clan temple we wanted to go to another temple which is situated in a shopping street. In this street you can only find shops that sell Jade gemstones. Jade was known in China as 'yu', the 'royal gem'. In the long history of the art and culture of the enormous Chinese empire, jade has always had a very special significance, roughly comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West. It embodies the virtues of wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage, yet it also symbolises the female-erotic.


Back to the temple, it was closed…

So we decided to go to the restaurant. It’s called ‘Made in Kitchen’ and it’s a sort of fusion restaurant. One of the most noticeable features of Made in Kitchen is the large open kitchen, allowing you to watch the chefs make and prepare your food. Every time when you go to the table, you need to pass the long runway making you feel like a model on a catwalk (for better or worse!)

Factory visit

The view from our hotel. There is a lot of smog in Guangzhou, as you can see.

Today we went to a factory near Guangzhou.

It was like we went back in time.

Our visit started with some tea. And then we went to took a look in the factory.

Even one of the largest banks in the Netherlands found this factory.

Shop 'till you drop!

It's shopping time!

Yao took us to Mouse market, a copy market. Guy bought a belt, so did I. And I bought a t-shirt. I wanted to buy some shoes, but offcourse this was impossible with my size.

Manon en Toine left earlier with Yao. The rest of us went to the shopping mall and the music store.

After that we went to the restaurant. It's a Brasilian steakhouse. We really had a great time!

Seafood @ Guangzhou

Last night we went to a seafood restaurant near our hotel.

We had a seperate room in the restaurant. Zhu and Luo took us downstairs to pick out some food.

Mr. Zhu ordered for us. And the fish goes, still alive, to the kitchen where it's prepared. You can't get it fresher than this!

Last call for Guangzhou!

We arrived at the airport. We had some time before we needed to board the airplane. So we sat down in a bar. Our boarding time was not yet available, but we figured we had enough time.

When we wanted to go, Manon heard the speaker saying that it was the last call for our flight, so we had to hurry!

We were in time. And we stepped into the bus that would bring us to the airplane. Niki told us in Amsterdam that she wanted to board the airplane with stairs that you see on television. And now we had stairs to board our plane. Only there was not enough time to take a picture from her.

We had a bit of a delay, no idea why. The flight was not that long, luckily. It was a small plane, and it was very warm inside. I slept a little and read in my book: Marley and me. (Great book by the way)

And after two hours we arrived at Guangzhou. Luo and Mr. Zhu came to pick us up.

They brought us to the Riverside hotel, where we will stay for three nights. In a few minutes Luo and Mr. Zhu are taking us to a seafood restaurant. Mr. Zhu's wife Yaou is already waiting for us. Tomorrow I will tell you how it was.