.....times of refreshing.....

I guess whenever people heard of Foshan, the first that came to mind is martial art masters like Wong Fei Hung or Ip Man. Yes, finally, I gotta the opportunity to visit Foshan after hearing it since my childhood in kungfu movies and dramas. And, Foshan is not a village like what I seen in the movies but a big province, though to the chinese people, it is consider a small place. I let pictures do the talking in this post.

 First before we reached Foshan, we were around a place called Zhongsan. I guess it was named after Sun Yat Sen. We were actually at his birthplace and what a historical place to visit. There was a museum here with full of stories about his life, his wives, his siblings, his family, his descendants, parents and etc. It took a while for us to wrap up the visit at the museum.

Great to be at the birthplace of this great man after visiting his mausoleum in Nanjing 2 years ago

Map of the museum area

The place where he is born ... his ancestral house. See below.

The houses at his  home village

An indoor museum

Enactment of one of his room

Cuiheng village - His birthplace

Enactment of a kitchen in the village

A statue of Sun Yat Sen

 Next we reached Foshan and visited the Foshan ancestral temple which also called Zumiao. Here they housed  several memorial halls and a Taoist worship temple. I especially like visiting the Wong Fei Hung and Ip Man memorial halls.

Wong Fei Hung Memorial hall

The courtyard of the memorial hall. It seems like those KungFu films where the boxers practise their kungfu here...LOL You can read the history of Master Wong's movies and dramas over here.

We were entertained to a show of martial arts and lion dance

Selfie with the statue of Master Wong

Then, I headed to Ip Man memorial hall.

Yours truly almost want to pose in a typical Wing Chun move but didn't do so out of respect for the Master.

A portrait of Master Ip

We travel to the Ancient Nanfeng Kiln, which is the oldest kiln in Foshan. This is also where pottery originated in Foshan. Nearby, there were a lot of pottery shops.

I like the design of the kiln, it's looks unique !

Inside the kiln

The roots of the tree crawling up the wall... it must an very old tree

An old lane there

Above and below, some of the old homes there, where most of t hem turn into shops

A landscape view of the village there at Nanfeng Kiln

A street in Foshan

All these shops sold pottery, it seems to be a local art and product there.

There it is, I let the pictures did most of the blogging in this post. It's easier to show around my day 3 itinerary. And, the weather got colder as we move north, around 15 to 18 celsius compare to Macau and Zhuhai.

Continuing my travelogue to Macau and Southern China last month in December 2017, where I went to Macau and several provinces in Guangdong. If you miss my first travelogue, please click on this link. :) After we are done visiting Macau, it's time to cross over to Zhuhai, which is just an immigration block away. Yeah, we entered the CIQ building at Macau and leave the building in Zhuhai, thus it's just a building away! hahaha.... Anyway, we were late and were at the CIQ during the peak hour where throngs and throngs of workers and labour leaving for Zhuhai. I gotta hold my kids tight as well as the tour guide had a hard time looking after all of us! It was chaotic! hhahaha...

We felt so relaxed after reaching Zhuhai and started doing some  shopping while waiting for the tour bus to arrive, at a huge shopping centre near the CIQ. And, I like the cantonese speaking staff over there!! Felt so much at 'home'!!! I didn't even have much chance to speak cantonese in SG and JB!

The popular statue of Yunu

We first visited the statue of Yunu , which was near the seaside. I love the cool breeze blew towards us in the morning, though it's a bit hazy on that day. There was a love story about Yunu and Shijing, who has his own statue nearby a hill. Lots of photo taking occurs here including a family portrait below. Next, off we go to Shijing hill, where took a short cable car ride to the peak for sight-seeing.

The statue of Shijing with my wifey and princess posing here.

One of the landscape views I captured at the hill. We had a good look at Zhuhai and Macau here, though it's a bit hazy that morning.

I also snapped some pixs of Zhuhai city centre and like any Chinese cities, the roads are huge with lots of skyscrapers and buildings, not forgetting the lines of obikes everywhere!

Zhuhai city centre

OBikes everywhere!!

Big but clean roads !

After lunch,  we proceeded for some shopping before going to the Yuan Ming Palace, which is the only royal garden in South China. It was picturesque place where we really took a lot of photos around. We were also treated to a live show there about China's royal history.

The Yuan Ming Palace

One of the ancient building there

Looks like an abandoned fort

Yours truly with family and fellow tour members waiting for the live show

Invasion of foreign powers in old China

The fall of the palace

Restoration - beautiful performance by the artists

Some weird looking trees there

And the serene lake at Yuan Ming palace

We had a great evening of street shopping at Zhuhai, which was just below our hotel. In facr, this was a convenient hotel where there are lots of street peddlers and big malls around. Thus, once the tour ended for the day, we have it free and easy. 

Well, once you have stopped blogging for a while, usually that laziness will crept in. This is especially so after some long holidays. I tell myself to write something after I reached home from work and settled down but I ended doing something else. Muahahahaha.... glad I manage to start my first post of 2018. And, oh.. wishing you guys a blessed New Year! Hope it's not too late to wish you!

I got myself a gift too for the new year since my 3 year old Garmin Vivoactive GPS running watch strap was broken. This was my second strap where I bought a replacement last year which cost me around S$50+. I thought it's not feasible to buy another strap again since the watch is obsolete and while its upgraded version cost S$299. I will spent almost S$100+ on the straps alone if I get another one! While shopping for a watch, my colleague recommended me the Amazfit Bip , which cost only S$100 online.

Unboxing my new toy ... it looks like an Apple Watch ! LOL

The watch and the charger. One charge can last 45 days if the GPS is not activated (that's what I read)

The watch packed with a lot of features - Steps tracking, Sleep tracking, Heart rate tracking, GPS for outdoor activities like running, cycling and walking, smartwatch for the phone where it receives notifications, can answer or hang up a call, weather information, compass, alarm and etc. It can be synced to the Mi Fit app which also can configured the watch's settings. To sync to third party running apps like Strava, Runkeeper will required  an alternative app called 'Notify and Fitness' which is only available from Google Playstore currently. I guess for this price, it is an affordable watch.

My new toy

Initially, I had problems getting the GPS signal as it took a while to lock it. However, after I did a factory reset where the firmware was reinstalled, the GPS signal is available within 1-2 minutes. Well, I also bought some bumper to protect the watch and it's on delivery soon.

And, not forgetting I had a simple dinner during Chrismas eve in Vivo Pizza. We ordered main pastas as you can never go wrong with pastas in Italian restaurants.

Mushroom Aglio Olio

Beef Bolognaise

Mushroom carbonara

And a chicken chop for my little princess.

Have a great weekend ahead!!