So, we took the metro to Tiyu Xilu which looked like it was
in the middle of things. When we came there, we were met by a maze of long underground
tunnels, lined with shops, more shops and… the Chinese love to shop! Every metro station has a shopping mall on
top of it. It feels a bit like a Las
Vegas casino, you come in, it is all glittery and confusing and you have no
idea where the exit is.
Finally, we found an exit and came up to street level… and
were met by an intersection, with lots of traffic and high rise new towers in
all directions, all looking pretty much the same. After some stuffing around,
we finally came up at the north of this large area, cleared up and redeveloped
in time for the Asian Games in 2010 and started walking towards Canton Tower.
Unfortunately the rain has started but we can’t complain – our first rainy day
this trip.Along the way, we bought ourselves a couple of triangular sandwiches and stopped for a mid-morning snack. As we were sitting there, a couple of young girls who were handing out some marketing material stopped by and started to talk and giggle. We finally realised that they wanted to take photos with themselves and us in them. There must have been some 5 photos on their mobile phones before they were satisfied. Unfortunately (or not), we did not take any pictures of them.
Also, underground in one place was this guy playing drums to a pre-recorded beat, with details of how to drum on a display in front of him.
This whole urban revitalisation brings Sydney to a
shame. There is a huge parkland area
right in the middle of town, surrounded by some amazing business towers and
China’s Agricultural Bank which was housed in an old and very majestic
building.
And construction is in progress everywhere. I think we
managed to get some 10 cranes into the next image only…
Lunch break for the workers…
Lunch break for the workers…
The architecture is fantastic. Each building has a distinct
style and is interesting. The library, museum and opera house are all in unique
styles.
Along the way Di was stopped by some uni students studying tourism who had some questions about our tourism experience in Guangzhou. We said we loved the plazas and architecture but not the maps. These places right in the middle of town are not even shown on them.
Finally, we make it down to the Pearl River, on the other,
north side of Canton Tower. A dancing- water display, next to the stadium, is
where the Asian Games of 2010 was opened.Along the way Di was stopped by some uni students studying tourism who had some questions about our tourism experience in Guangzhou. We said we loved the plazas and architecture but not the maps. These places right in the middle of town are not even shown on them.
After all that, with rain coming and going, we decided to
walk westwards along the river on its north side (yesterday we walked eastwards
on the south side). We passed under the freeway in a tunnel that definitely not
designed for westerners.
We had lunch in a
little place which was about to close and we received the bill before finishing
the meal or asking for it. Here is Di there happy anyway because she ordered
chicken wings, via menu and “Pictionary” and got a huge serve of delicious
chicken. One of our better meals but shame Hans’ tummy is not up to it.
We wandered around a bit more and found some lovely parts of
town, with 2 and 3 storey buildings and lots of trees providing shade. For a
long time, we followed canals off the river, or should we say drainage or water
overflows. Most of it looked very nice though, even if the water was dirty.
Finally, we stumbled onto Dongshanhu Park, an area of canals
and islands and parkland which we had loosely targeted before we started. It was a lovely place, filled with families and oldies and men playing card games or fishing and couples playing badminton. They had mechanical horses, which the kids could control by kicking their feet and the usual suspects with paddleboats, but here there were in the form of cars as well.
After the park, we decided to go back to the hotel, but we were nowhere near the vicinity of any metro station, so we decided on the local bus.
For the next bus, we decided to just get on and see where we would go, close to a metro station for example. Well, this bus stopped at our local bus stop across the street from our hotel! Sheer pot luck and we couldn’t help laughing.
Given the state of Hans’s tummy and the state of Di’s blisters on her foot, we decided to have another night in and do room service again. A bit weak, not capitalising on a Saturday night in Guangzhou, but we are out and about most of the daylight hours and tomorrow we are off to Macao and its glittering casino nights. Also the Manhatten Prawn Chowder, served in a bread roll, is really quite good!
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