Foshan
Richard and I really liked the small town of Foshan. It was much smaller than Guangzhou and did not feel as dusty, smoggy, or busy. The first thing we noticed was how many motorbikes were on the road. There were many more in Foshan than in Guangzhou where cars and buses dominate the roads. Tourists are well catered for in Foshan as well. We found a great map with lots of info in our hotel room and we set off to see the sites.
Liang's Garden was our first tourist stop. It was established in the early 1800's and took 50 years to build. Behind its walls it featured some beautiful old houses, pavillions, ponds, bridges and gardens. The houses were what interested me most. The oldest had three rows with three high ceiling buildings in each row. A building would have sometimes two-four rooms all facing onto a central courtyard, so filled with natural light. Another building featured a series of 3 round doors as you progressed through it. The rooms featured temples, art, furniture and historical displays. The garden is regarded as one of the most beautiful in Guangdong, and while it was small in size, it more than made up with it for its well preserved or restored history.
The Renshou Temple, which we could see from our hotel, was a working Buddhist temple. The place was staked out by more beggars than I have seen in my whole 2 weeks plus in China. They were on boards on wheels, wheelchairs, crutches or canes and would either chase you with their cup and pleading words, or catch our attention by yelling out "Hellooooo". The temple was cool because it featured a 7 story pagoda from 1656!
The Ancient Temple complex had many things to see and do within its walls. Highlights were the temple orinally built in the 11th century which became a Taoist temple in the 15th century with a 2.5 tonne bronze god statute in it. What amazed me was the artform shown of "ridge tiles". These are decorative ceramic pieces that go on tops of buildings. Some at the temple had animals like dragons and lions, but one on show was about 5m long and 1.5m high featuring 3 stories with finely crafted scenes of people, houses, battles and more. So many figures and so intricate! Absolutely astounding craftwork!
Dinner on Saturday night was a treat. The claim to fame of our hotel, the Rotating Palace Hotel, was a huge rotating restaurant on its top floor (18th). My first ever rotating restaurant experience. I get dizzy just thinking about it. I put my handbag down on the window shelf and the waitress had to tell me to move it to the chair or it would get left behind as the restaurant floor spun slowly around the inside of the building! LOL. We had a great dinner Cantonese style, but avoided some of the restaurant delicacies such as "Dog in a Pot", camel hump, snake and other weird animals or their bits.
We were a little late for Dim Sum in the morning, and had only tried 5 dishes by the time we realised they were packing up. It's probably just as well as we didn't need to stuff ourselves again. I hope we can have more authentic Yum Cha while we're here as it looks pretty good. I'm pretty hooked on having tea all the time here too. It's good stuff!
Sunday morning we visited the Folk Arts Research Institute. This building had exhibitions , galleries and small craft shops and workshops showcasing many different things. We went crazy over the "paper cuts" we had admired at Liang's Garden. These are pictures done by cutting intricate designs from a sheet of coloured paper. The craft has been practiced in Forshan for nearly 1000 years. We can show you some of our souvenir ones when we get home. We did buy one picture that has turned out to be too big to fit in the suitcase so it will be a challenge to get home!
We then jumped a cab to the neighbouring town of Shiwan, which is famous for its porcelain and ceramics. There we went to the Ancient Nanfeng Kiln. There are two kilns on the site with the oldest one built in the Ming Dynasty (1506-1521), and still being used 500 years later! The kiln is the oldest firewood dragon kiln (meaning it is long with many side doors) in China and the world. We were rather amazed that we could wander all around the two 30+m kilns and even go inside to see the pots stacked up after firing. The place was pretty well set up with people doing demonstrations pots making, and figurine painting. We also liked exploring the artists studios in the old buildings at the rear of the site. Both RB and I were amazed at how dark some of the rooms were where the artists were doing intricate work. The variety of ceramic objects made in this town is also astounding, with Guilds set up in the ancient times that specialised in different things, be it large pots, vases, red glazes, black glazes, small tea pots and more.
By 5pm it was time to jump one on the buses that left for Guangzhou every 15 minutes. We had no trouble buying the ticket thanks to the note in Chinese from our hotel staff. With only minutes to spare we found the waiting room and entrance to the bus platform. We made it onto the bus, and the ride back took just over 1 hour. It dropped us off at a huge bus station we didn't know existed, about 500 m up the road from the Guangzhou train station. Our trip to Foshan was a success! :)
Liang's Garden was our first tourist stop. It was established in the early 1800's and took 50 years to build. Behind its walls it featured some beautiful old houses, pavillions, ponds, bridges and gardens. The houses were what interested me most. The oldest had three rows with three high ceiling buildings in each row. A building would have sometimes two-four rooms all facing onto a central courtyard, so filled with natural light. Another building featured a series of 3 round doors as you progressed through it. The rooms featured temples, art, furniture and historical displays. The garden is regarded as one of the most beautiful in Guangdong, and while it was small in size, it more than made up with it for its well preserved or restored history.
The Renshou Temple, which we could see from our hotel, was a working Buddhist temple. The place was staked out by more beggars than I have seen in my whole 2 weeks plus in China. They were on boards on wheels, wheelchairs, crutches or canes and would either chase you with their cup and pleading words, or catch our attention by yelling out "Hellooooo". The temple was cool because it featured a 7 story pagoda from 1656!
The Ancient Temple complex had many things to see and do within its walls. Highlights were the temple orinally built in the 11th century which became a Taoist temple in the 15th century with a 2.5 tonne bronze god statute in it. What amazed me was the artform shown of "ridge tiles". These are decorative ceramic pieces that go on tops of buildings. Some at the temple had animals like dragons and lions, but one on show was about 5m long and 1.5m high featuring 3 stories with finely crafted scenes of people, houses, battles and more. So many figures and so intricate! Absolutely astounding craftwork!
Dinner on Saturday night was a treat. The claim to fame of our hotel, the Rotating Palace Hotel, was a huge rotating restaurant on its top floor (18th). My first ever rotating restaurant experience. I get dizzy just thinking about it. I put my handbag down on the window shelf and the waitress had to tell me to move it to the chair or it would get left behind as the restaurant floor spun slowly around the inside of the building! LOL. We had a great dinner Cantonese style, but avoided some of the restaurant delicacies such as "Dog in a Pot", camel hump, snake and other weird animals or their bits.
We were a little late for Dim Sum in the morning, and had only tried 5 dishes by the time we realised they were packing up. It's probably just as well as we didn't need to stuff ourselves again. I hope we can have more authentic Yum Cha while we're here as it looks pretty good. I'm pretty hooked on having tea all the time here too. It's good stuff!
Sunday morning we visited the Folk Arts Research Institute. This building had exhibitions , galleries and small craft shops and workshops showcasing many different things. We went crazy over the "paper cuts" we had admired at Liang's Garden. These are pictures done by cutting intricate designs from a sheet of coloured paper. The craft has been practiced in Forshan for nearly 1000 years. We can show you some of our souvenir ones when we get home. We did buy one picture that has turned out to be too big to fit in the suitcase so it will be a challenge to get home!
We then jumped a cab to the neighbouring town of Shiwan, which is famous for its porcelain and ceramics. There we went to the Ancient Nanfeng Kiln. There are two kilns on the site with the oldest one built in the Ming Dynasty (1506-1521), and still being used 500 years later! The kiln is the oldest firewood dragon kiln (meaning it is long with many side doors) in China and the world. We were rather amazed that we could wander all around the two 30+m kilns and even go inside to see the pots stacked up after firing. The place was pretty well set up with people doing demonstrations pots making, and figurine painting. We also liked exploring the artists studios in the old buildings at the rear of the site. Both RB and I were amazed at how dark some of the rooms were where the artists were doing intricate work. The variety of ceramic objects made in this town is also astounding, with Guilds set up in the ancient times that specialised in different things, be it large pots, vases, red glazes, black glazes, small tea pots and more.
By 5pm it was time to jump one on the buses that left for Guangzhou every 15 minutes. We had no trouble buying the ticket thanks to the note in Chinese from our hotel staff. With only minutes to spare we found the waiting room and entrance to the bus platform. We made it onto the bus, and the ride back took just over 1 hour. It dropped us off at a huge bus station we didn't know existed, about 500 m up the road from the Guangzhou train station. Our trip to Foshan was a success! :)
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