Blogs from Guangdong, China, Asia - page 11

As far as small places go, a cathedral usually does not qualify but, being only slightly bigger than the square footage than the church on Shamian street, the Sacred Heart Cathedral is such a place. It is a beauty of ancient architecture placed in an older section of Guangzhou with a metro station that opens right on the small alley-street that leads to it which shares it’s name with that of the street (Yide Lu). From the old stained glass windows, gargoyle like heads, and the sharp peaks, it speaks of the ancient times when this nearly Gothic architecture was being used around the world. As I do with temples, I refuse to take pictures once I am inside ancient holy place out of respect but with wide open doors, it is easy to get a ... read more

There's a song by TLC called "Don't go chasing waterfalls" and after this adventure it is definitely something I think everyone should live by! Laura and Val had read about a mountain that had beautiful cherry blossoms, gushing waterfalls and fruit you could pick from the trees and eat. The waterfalls, cherry blossom and fruit were all on the same hike path so we decided to do it. We found out where we had to go and met at the tube station. We then had to take a bus. We thought we knew which bus we wanted but a Chinese lady said we needed a different bus. Why wouldn't we listen to her? She's local and knows the area better than we do. The bus she suggested arrived and so we got on. The hike was ... read more

As I stepped out for my lunch and self planning session for where I should be visiting next, I received a text from my deaf guide to meet her at the metro station by my hotel. When I asked her why, she simply said that she was taking me to one of the many places I had on my list. I took a deep breath since it had been nearly a week ago she had last contacted me. This was after 3 failed places to visit including the rainy day in one of the many large parks here in Guangzhou and two closed exhibits. I decided to forgo having a sit-down lunch and grabbed my food to go and headed to meet her. It was a simple ride this time without even needing to change lines ... read more

Once again my guide and friend drags me out early in the morning for a long metro ride and taxi ride to the edge of Guangzhou with very little explanation from my guide. Maybe I should take this opportunity to explain that my guide never “spoke” because she was deaf and mute. She could understand written English and Chinese but would only sign comments when she couldn’t simply type it up on her phone for me to read. It was sometimes hard for us to communicate but it is less difficult than with most Chinese people if I don’t have a Wi-Fi or WLAN connection. This trip did challenge my legs more than any others because of the sheer number of stairs I needed to climb. Arriving to what appeared as nothing more than a string ... read more

Christmas isn't really a holiday over here as we know it in the West. Schools don't shut, there's no before or after sales shopping. We were lucky that our company gave us Boxing Day off so we had a three day weekend. In Sea World there's a lovely Mexican restaurant which the Irish and Malika had never been to, so Christmas Eve we decided to visit it. We went for lunch knowing it would be quieter than at dinner and we would probably eat enough not to need dinner. We started with cocktails and finished with cocktails and somewhere in between there was some Mexican food. We stayed in the restaurant for most of the afternoon leaving at around six. No one but me had been to the Snow and Ice exhibition so as it was ... read more