Foshan - A Tribute to Ip Man and Wong Fei-Hung

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Thursday, 28th March 2013

I was awakened by the sound of rain this morning as we welcomed the first rays of daylight over Guangzhou city. From the 22nd floor of our apartment, the views of Tianhe District were clearly represented. The morning started with our breakfast encounter in Ascott. It was filling even though there were certainly better selections around.

Armed with a metro map, we ventured straight to the city of Foshan to pay a tribute to Ip Man and Huang Fei-hung, two of the finest pugilists who lived in recent times. With the opening of the Guangfo Line, getting to our destination was a breeze. From the MRT station, the Zumiao Temple was another 5 minutes walk.

For us, we were lucky in that the rain managed to pause during the time when we were at the temple compounds so that we could take in a couple of shots on our cameras. The memorials of Ip Man and Fei-hung were housed in two separate buildings, each with their own distinct identity.

After lunch, we headed back to Guangzhou, stopping by at the charming Shamian Island which itself was a short walk from Huangsha Metro Station. It was raining heavily by then and we were happy to chance upon a free museum to learn about the history of Shamian while waiting for the rains to go away. A former European enclave, the island probably contained the most number of neo-classical buildings of the bygone years within a small district.

After our pit-stop at Starbucks cafe, we spent the rest of our day at the Beijing Road Pedestrian Street and the Walmart Superstore at Wanda Plaza. Personally, I'm always looking forward to a trip to a Walmart outlet. Since I had yet to have a chance to visit the USA, our trip to the outlet in Guangzhou certainly helped to satisfy the curiosity I had about the world's largest retailer.

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