Beyond the sunny island: Guangzhou Trip

Due to some issues with my cancelled AirAsia flight to Penang for Chinese New year, I ended up using the credit for a flight to Guangzhou instead. I was actually contemplating between many destinations, e.g. Thailand or Chengdu. Eventually, I decided upon Guangzhou as the weather was less cold compared to most other parts of China and transport in Bangkok may be slightly affected by the demonstrations.

My first leg of the flight was to fly from Singapore to KL with a 3 hour buffer to the next flight. Fortunately, I had a comfortable buffer otherwise the long immigration queues might have given me some problems. From KL, I flew to Guangzhou and reached at 8pm+. After exploring around the airport a little, I bought a prepaid SIM card for ¥100 and took the metro to the city. From 公园前地铁站, it was very easy to find my hotel after about 5 to 10 minutes of walk. In fact, I found the hotel before I was even seriously looking at the address. After checking in and settling down, I prepared my day pack for the next day before I took my rest.

It was still a rather rainy day on day 2, so I decided to play around with my itinerary a little such that I stay indoors as much as possible for the day. I started by heading to 流花粥城 for my breakfast. It seems that they serve congee and also dim sum in the restaurant. It was really a very heavy breakfast to start off my Guangzhou trip.

After my heavy breakfast, I walked 西汉南越王博物馆 and spent 1 to 2 hours in the museum.

Next, I took the metro and went to 六榕寺 followed by 光孝寺 which is not too far away.

After the 2 short visits, I went to 陈家祠, which is a beautifully decorated clan house.

I spent quite a bit of time in 陈家祠 and it was already noon by then. So, I went to 上下九商业步行街 to look for my lunch. After walking quite a while along the shopping district, I settled for my lunch in 陶陶居酒家 and it was dim sum yet again!

After my dim sum overdose, I decided to make my way to Shamian Island. It was certainly a pleasant walk in Shamian Island and seeing all the beautiful buildings that are European-influenced.

After leaving Shamian Island, I walked along Pearl River and also visited the beautiful 石室圣心大教堂. Pearl River isn't as pretty as I had expected, so I guess the river cruise wouldn't so worthwhile to go on. However, a walk along the river would be better as there are some beautiful old buildings along the shore.