Zhuhai Hop Over

Day 5

We took a charter bus to the Macau bordergate to cross over to Zhuhai. The trip to the mainland from the bordergate is more like hopping from one shopping complex to another. Custom clearance was surprisingly efficient & doesnt' take much of our time. Over to the mainland gate, named Gongbei Port, we were greeted by Angela, the tour guide in charge. We booked tis package tour for one day to bring us to the local tourist destinations plus meals. She looked relieved when she learnt we understand Cantonese, her mother tongue as she looked struggling with her grasp of English.

Even unidentified beings need to follow the local regulations

First stop is the Fisher Girl statue, the city's symbol just like St Paul Ruins to Macau. The statue is composed of granite & 8.7 metres high, placed at the seaside. Stopped over at a local seafood restaurant for seafood lunch. Continue with the visit, we went to the great Dr. Sun Yat Sen's Memorial Park in Zhongshan, somewhere outskirts of Zhuhai city. Here stands Dr.Sun's birthplace & one of his many residences around the world. Besides is a memorial museum, with impressive collections of his works & stories of the his entire life. With great, detailed explanation of each significant event of his colourful life, we spent almost 2 hours to travel back in time & browsed thru the stories. Little that I knew Dr.Sun has a Malaysian second wife.

The life-sized statue of a great icon - Dr.Sun Yat Sen

Next is the underground shopping complex, situated just under Gongbei port at the bordergate. There are several hundreds of shops, many with goods targeted at tourists - clothings & shoes, jade & other jewelleries, electronic gadgets, imitation stuffs etc. We was told to bargain at all times & to bargain hard. Thank goodness Cantonese is the first language here, otherwise wonder how am I goin to bargain in Mandarin!!!! Bought some clothes at RMB50 each & only that, cos other stuffs are similarly priced to the one in KL. It's almost dinner time by the time all finished their 2 hours shopping. Brought to tis seafood restaurant nearby with impressive designs from the old Qing Dynasty era.

Entrance to the Qing Dynasty restaurant

Grand dinner served, total of 10 dishes excluding deserts

Finally checked into tis 2000 Years Hotel in the town. No, it's not the age of the hotel but the name is. Comfortable room with great showering experience. Never I've seen a showerhead as big as a human head. Imagine when u have hot water sprayed to ur entire body at full blast and u just need to stand still without moving an inch....Taking shower is never this satisfying!!! The tour guide recommended all of us to undergo sessions of Chinese massage at one of the local health centre to pamper our tired bodies. First hour is a reflexology session. Dad & myself were then brought to a private room for body massage. The natural next thing to do is to remove our clothes. The masseuses stared at us as if we're goin to have a nudist-style sessions. We were then told no clothes need to be removed as they will do it with us fully clothed. I was like"Huh? What the heck?? Massage with clothes on?" Then, the masseuse probably pressed my "sleeping mode" nerve that had me dozing off almost immediately. Next thing I knew is the session was over & total charges for 2 hours of session - RMB80 (great bargain there

Day 6

Checked out early the next morning after breakfast to visit the Royal Meixi Stone Archways. This is built in remembrance of Chen Fang, a local born who's the first Chinese consul in Hawaii. Had one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch the famous Guangzhou face-changing performance. The question of how the heck the fella did it at such fast pace will remains a mystery for long times to come. Too bad the movie file too big to be uploaded into this page. We went off early to avoid long queues at customs bordergate. Once arrived at Gongbei bordergate, came about the typical scene in any Chinese customs office. Thousands of people just stand still queuing up waiting for approval to get across the border. It was Sunday & everybody probably hopping over to Macau for some weekend gambling games. Took us almost 2 hours just to get thru the Macau customs. Rushed on time to the airport for flight back home.

Guessing Game - Jump of joy or Kneel of a worship?

Time is not a factor in places like this