LURE OF GUANGZHOU

Talking about China, people will always know the great wall of China as one of seven wonders, which one of the entrance gate is located nearby the capital city of Beijing. However, China does have a lot attractions to visit, not only in Beijing. For this time, I have a chance to visit one of biggest city in China, namely Guangzhou. It is not as famous as Beijing or Shanghai for tourist destination, yet it is indeed also interesting to be visited.

Guangzhou City

Located on the southern China about 120 km to the northwest of Hong Kong and 145 km to the north of Macau, Guangzhou plays a vital role as the main gate for foreigners to travel within the Mainland. It is also located on the Pearl river, which has been known as the main transportation hub for long time. The city was well-known as Canton before the Chinese government change its name to Guangzhou.

Baiyun International Airport

Landing at Baiyun International Airport, the airport which serves Guangzhou and surrounding, I was amazed by the modern and futuristic architectures. It is huge airport, yet it is easy to find out some information that I need. After passing the immigration check, I walked outside airport just to feel the fresh air of China. It was cold and a bit windy at that time and my friend told me, the temperature was about 9 degree Celsius.

The airport has been integrated by the Metro system, it is located not so far from the arrival hall and just walk about 5 minutes, you will find the Guangzhou Airport South Metro station. The Metro system in Guangzhou has 9 Lines (it will be upgraded up to 21 Lines) and it connects some main points of tourist's attractions in Guangzhou. It is better to travel around Guangzhou by Metro system than by bus. It has been provided with some information written in English in each station. The Metro system also offers different type of tickets. Since I would be in Guangzhou only for 3 days, so I decided to buy the 3 days pass ticket which costed me about CNY 50 (USD 8.00). That ticket can be used for unlimited single journey within 72 hours from the first entrance. I recommend to you, if you only visit Guangzhou for short visit (less than a week), you better buy either 1 day pass ticket (CNY 20 = USD 3.20) or 3 days pass ticket (CNY 50 = USD 8.00), rather than you buy for single journey ticket, which cost different depends on how far your destination station, the farest destination will cost about CNY 14.

Our first destination was going to Beijing Road (Beijing Lu), the famous shopping pedestrian area in Guangzhou. Hoping that we could find Halal Restaurant for Muslim and also some cheap stuff for souvenirs. It is easy to reach Beijing Lu by Metro, just stop over at Beijing Lu station (Line 6) and it will end up by walking about 10 minutes to Beijing Lu. Yet, at that time, we could not find the exact Beijing Lu pedestrian area, so we ended up at Halal restaurant, namely MintLeaf. This restaurant owned by Chinese but they provided Halal food certified by Muslim Chinese Organization and also their chef is from Muslim India.

The main entrance to Huaisheng Mosque

Slogan to promote the Harmony in Guangzhou at the wall of Mosque written in Chinese and Arab

Huaisheng Mosque modeled on Chinese architecture

The main door to the praying hall of Huaisheng Mosque

After having lunch, we decided to go either to the ancient Mosque or Cathedral, but I suggested to go to Mosque since we had to pray also. From Beijing Lu, we simply went by Metro and stop at Ximenkou station (Line 1). Walking down the street about 5 minutes, we found Huaisheng Mosque. The mosque is unusual, it was modelled on chinese architecture and was believed as the first Mosque in the mainland China, built during Tang Dynasti. If there is no Arab calligraphy written on the wall, the building will be assumed as the old Chinese temple. Many people come to visit and do prayer, most of them are Hui Chinese and Uyghurs who live around the Mosque. Around the Mosque also, there are some halal shops and restaurants. I will write another story for it. The sun almost set on the west, so we decided to go to Pearl River area to see the Canton Tower and central business district of Guangzhou city.

Praying hall at Huaisheng Mosque

Praying Hall at Huaisheng Mosque

The downtown of Guangzhou will offer you with a wonderful awesome view. It is exactly located along the famous Pearl River, there stands a lot of buildings which has modern and futuristic architectures, one of them is Canton Tower. It is the tallest building in the city and it becomes the landmark to mark the center of the city. During the sunset and nightfall, the panorama along the Pearl river change suddenly become more beautiful. The lights from all skyscrapers play significant role on changing the atmosphere become more live and colorful. The light from Canton Tower was the one that caught my eyes. It plays with colourful LED light and keeps changing for every 2 minutes. The time also seems like to start over, where many people walk down the street, gather at the park, or jogging along the river. The Pearl River bank has become the center of activity during the daylight and also the nightfall for all people in Guangzhou.

Central Business District at Zhujiang New Town during Nightfall

Canton Tower spotted behind Guangzhou Opera House

A bridge to Canton Tower

The enchanting Canton Tower at Nightfall

The next day, I decided to go alone to explore Guangzhou. Looking around for interesting place to visit, I ended up at Haizhou Square. It is a park where people spend and waste their time from the routine. A head from the park, there is a shop pedestrian along the street. Unfortunately, it is not Beijing Lu or Shangxia Jia Lu. The shops along this street mostly sell some Chinese ornaments that use to decorate the house during the Chinese New Year's eve, such as Chinese Lantern. Yeah, Chinese people will soon celebrate their new year on 18 February. I kept walking through the small gang and suddenly my eyes caught unusual building stand at the end of the street. The building is not like most Chinese buildings, yet it is similar to most European building. It is a Cathedral or known as the Sacred Heart Cathedral. This cathedral was built during opium war. The architecture of this cathedral was a French architect and he modeled the cathedral as Basilica Saint Clotilde in Paris. There are two unique marks on the both side of the entrance gate, one on the west written ROMA 1863 and another on the east written JERUSALEM 1863. People said, it is to mark that the Christian came from east in Jerusalem and grew up widely to the west by Rome empire.

The facade of Sacred Heart Cathedral

The corner side of Sacred Heart Cathedral

Guangzhou really offers different atmosphere to visit, where you can find some interesting places to visit from the old heritage building till the modern and futuristic buildings. For a shopping holic, this city also is the best place to waste your money, because you will easily find some branded stuff with low price unexpectedly. Next story, I will tell about the Uighur and Muslim community and also Shopping heaven place in Guangzhou. So, subscribe this blog to get early update for the upcoming story.