21 December 2007
Lost In Translation
We left KL after morning prayers for Canton, or Guangzhou as it is known today. I have always wanted to let my parents experience travelling in the Golden Club class and this time, alhamdulillah, they finally did. There were a few VVIPs in there too besides us the hoi polloi. I ignored them all and concentrated on the National Geographic magazine instead and then watched Stardust.
A brief info on Guangzhou: it is located at the Pearl River Delta and Zhujiang (Pearl River) runs through the city. It is the capital of the Guangdong province and has a population of about 10 million. Legend has it that once upon a time, five celestial beings in colourful robes, each riding a coloured goat holding an ear of grain in its mouth, came down to Guangzhou. They gave the grain to the residents as present, wishing the land free from famine forever. The celestial beings then went with the wind while the five goats left behind were turned into stone. Hence, Guangzhou is also known as Sui City (the rice-ear city), the Goat City (Yangcheng) and Wuyangcheng (City of Five Goats). Guangzhou was also part of the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ that linked Southern China with India, South-East Asia, Africa and the Middle East (Huaisheng Mosque was built following these links with the Middle East).
We arrived at Baiyun International Airport, which next to Hong Kong, is a major hub in Southern China, at 1.40 pm. It was a foggy, hazy day when we landed. We had problems communicating to the cabbie but we finally managed to convey our destination to him. He did manage to take us to the said hotel but it turned out that there were two Landmark hotels in the city and we went to the wrong one! The receptionist wrote out the address in Chinese and we hopped into another cab to the right hotel located in Tianhe Central Business District.
After resting, performing and freshening up, we met up with my friend, David, and he took us to a seafood restaurant about 10 minutes’ walk away for dinner. His wife, Linda, joined us at the restaurant. After dinner, we walked my parents back to the hotel then sat in the lobby. David and Linda then showed me the directions to the metro stations and some halal eateries very near the hotel at Linhe Donglu.
22 December 2007
The Tomb
After breakfast, we walked to the nearest metro station, Tiyu Zhingxin (Tianhe Sports Centre) and took the train to Changshou Lu. We then walked past alleys and narrow roads selling jade accessories until we reached Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street. Then we walked on and on and on until we finally reached Huaisheng Mosque at 56 Guangta Road. Built in 627, this is the oldest mosque in China. Yes, there are still millions of Muslims in China. We had lunch at a Uyghur Muslim restaurant across the street from the mosque where we were served by exotic-looking people and an especially handsome, dashing, tall and exotic-looking waiter.
After a hearty lunch, we walked to Gongyuanqian metro station and took the subway to Yuexiu Gongyuan (Yuexiu Park). After walking up and down the subway (we had to use the underpass connected to the subway station to cross the busy intersection), we found a Chinese Muslim chap who very kindly showed us the way to Abu Waqqas mosque. The tomb of Abu Waqqas was located at the mosque. According to Abah, he was actually Saad ibni Abu Waqqas and he was the one responsible for spreading Islam in China. He is also of the ten whom the Prophet mentioned would go to paradise. We stopped to offer prayers and pay respect to him before heading back to the hotel.
23 December 2007
Rainy Day
It rained sometime during the night as the ground was wet when we woke up for morning prayers. We took the hotel shuttle around Tianhe and got down at the Tee Mall. Then we walked over to the Grandview Mall. There were too many stores and too few salespeople who knew English. The rain must have dampened my shopping spirits too because I didn’t spend much at all. We headed back after 1 pm and had lunch at a Uyghur Muslim restaurant near our hotel, which turned out to be a branch of the one we went to on Saturday. It started raining as we neared the restaurant and the rain continued well into late that night. Dinner was had at a Chinese Muslim restaurant two doors away from the Uyghur restaurant. They couldn’t understand a word we said and we couldn’t understand a word they said and had to rely on pictures on the wall. But boy, do the Muslims there love lamb and mutton. I had to draw a picture of a chicken (and since it had been a long while since I last drew one, I had trouble drawing it then!) to inform them that we wanted chicken instead of mutton.
24 December 2007
Bright Lights, Big City
This morning, we took the train to Hong Kong from Guangzhou Dongzhan (Guangzhou East Station). The journey took less than two hours but we had to endure immigration check before boarding the train. Funny, if you travel in Europe, you don’t need to go through all this: the border police and/or immigration will come aboard the train to inspect your passport.
We arrived into hazy Hong Kong after 11 am and found our way to the waterfront and took a ferry to Central. We actually wanted to go to the Masjid Ammar at Oi Kwan Road but after a while, we despaired of finding a tram that wasn’t cramped so we aborted the plan and instead took the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui, yes, back to mainland. Went in search for a vegetarian restaurant at Carnarvon Road only to find it had relocated. We walked back to Nathan Road (and found the Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre) to find our way to another vegetarian restaurant at Hankow Road but were persuaded to have lunch at a halal Pakistani eatery instead. So instead of having dim sum as I originally planned, we had chicken biryani instead... oh well.
After lunch, we walked to the Esprit outlet at 4-6 Hankow Road. Most stores were selling winter apparel, Esprit included, so we didn’t shop much. There were loads of people doing their last-minute Christmas shopping but somehow I wasn’t in the mood. I was similarly disappointed on my first Hong Kong trip: apart from the Esprit outlet and the trip to Stanley, I didn’t find shopping in Hong Kong particularly exciting. And as I disliked the street markets, the inferior things they sold and the snobbish, arrogant stall-keepers, this time we didn’t visit any street market at all. Well, even if we had wanted to, we didn’t have much time.
We then took the underpass to Sogo Hong Kong and I left Mummy and Abah there while I walked to the waterfront. Alas, if anything, the day was becoming even hazier, so there was not much opportunity for those Kodak moments. We then took the East Rail Line train back to Hung Hom for our train journey back to Guangzhou. Dinner was had at the Chinese Muslim restaurant.
25 December 2007
Coming Home
I woke up late this morning and yet still managed a stroll around the neighbourhood with Mummy. We went to the nearby Sky Galleria and then came back to the hotel to check out. Oh, Christmas is not a public holiday in China (just like in Thailand). We reached the airport after 40 minutes (mad cabbie) and went in to the departure area immediately after checking in. We relaxed at the airport lounge before making our way to the gate. The flight took off on time and I managed to finish the National Geographic magazine and watch Stardust (yes, again! I love that movie), we landed at KLIA at 7.15 pm.
~~~~~~~~
Managed to catch glimpses of the Arsenal-Spurs derby clash. Kudos to Almunia for saving Robbie Keane’s penalty and helping make Arsenal Christmas No. 1!
Lost In Translation
We left KL after morning prayers for Canton, or Guangzhou as it is known today. I have always wanted to let my parents experience travelling in the Golden Club class and this time, alhamdulillah, they finally did. There were a few VVIPs in there too besides us the hoi polloi. I ignored them all and concentrated on the National Geographic magazine instead and then watched Stardust.
A brief info on Guangzhou: it is located at the Pearl River Delta and Zhujiang (Pearl River) runs through the city. It is the capital of the Guangdong province and has a population of about 10 million. Legend has it that once upon a time, five celestial beings in colourful robes, each riding a coloured goat holding an ear of grain in its mouth, came down to Guangzhou. They gave the grain to the residents as present, wishing the land free from famine forever. The celestial beings then went with the wind while the five goats left behind were turned into stone. Hence, Guangzhou is also known as Sui City (the rice-ear city), the Goat City (Yangcheng) and Wuyangcheng (City of Five Goats). Guangzhou was also part of the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ that linked Southern China with India, South-East Asia, Africa and the Middle East (Huaisheng Mosque was built following these links with the Middle East).
We arrived at Baiyun International Airport, which next to Hong Kong, is a major hub in Southern China, at 1.40 pm. It was a foggy, hazy day when we landed. We had problems communicating to the cabbie but we finally managed to convey our destination to him. He did manage to take us to the said hotel but it turned out that there were two Landmark hotels in the city and we went to the wrong one! The receptionist wrote out the address in Chinese and we hopped into another cab to the right hotel located in Tianhe Central Business District.
After resting, performing and freshening up, we met up with my friend, David, and he took us to a seafood restaurant about 10 minutes’ walk away for dinner. His wife, Linda, joined us at the restaurant. After dinner, we walked my parents back to the hotel then sat in the lobby. David and Linda then showed me the directions to the metro stations and some halal eateries very near the hotel at Linhe Donglu.
22 December 2007
The Tomb
After breakfast, we walked to the nearest metro station, Tiyu Zhingxin (Tianhe Sports Centre) and took the train to Changshou Lu. We then walked past alleys and narrow roads selling jade accessories until we reached Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street. Then we walked on and on and on until we finally reached Huaisheng Mosque at 56 Guangta Road. Built in 627, this is the oldest mosque in China. Yes, there are still millions of Muslims in China. We had lunch at a Uyghur Muslim restaurant across the street from the mosque where we were served by exotic-looking people and an especially handsome, dashing, tall and exotic-looking waiter.
After a hearty lunch, we walked to Gongyuanqian metro station and took the subway to Yuexiu Gongyuan (Yuexiu Park). After walking up and down the subway (we had to use the underpass connected to the subway station to cross the busy intersection), we found a Chinese Muslim chap who very kindly showed us the way to Abu Waqqas mosque. The tomb of Abu Waqqas was located at the mosque. According to Abah, he was actually Saad ibni Abu Waqqas and he was the one responsible for spreading Islam in China. He is also of the ten whom the Prophet mentioned would go to paradise. We stopped to offer prayers and pay respect to him before heading back to the hotel.
23 December 2007
Rainy Day
It rained sometime during the night as the ground was wet when we woke up for morning prayers. We took the hotel shuttle around Tianhe and got down at the Tee Mall. Then we walked over to the Grandview Mall. There were too many stores and too few salespeople who knew English. The rain must have dampened my shopping spirits too because I didn’t spend much at all. We headed back after 1 pm and had lunch at a Uyghur Muslim restaurant near our hotel, which turned out to be a branch of the one we went to on Saturday. It started raining as we neared the restaurant and the rain continued well into late that night. Dinner was had at a Chinese Muslim restaurant two doors away from the Uyghur restaurant. They couldn’t understand a word we said and we couldn’t understand a word they said and had to rely on pictures on the wall. But boy, do the Muslims there love lamb and mutton. I had to draw a picture of a chicken (and since it had been a long while since I last drew one, I had trouble drawing it then!) to inform them that we wanted chicken instead of mutton.
24 December 2007
Bright Lights, Big City
This morning, we took the train to Hong Kong from Guangzhou Dongzhan (Guangzhou East Station). The journey took less than two hours but we had to endure immigration check before boarding the train. Funny, if you travel in Europe, you don’t need to go through all this: the border police and/or immigration will come aboard the train to inspect your passport.
We arrived into hazy Hong Kong after 11 am and found our way to the waterfront and took a ferry to Central. We actually wanted to go to the Masjid Ammar at Oi Kwan Road but after a while, we despaired of finding a tram that wasn’t cramped so we aborted the plan and instead took the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui, yes, back to mainland. Went in search for a vegetarian restaurant at Carnarvon Road only to find it had relocated. We walked back to Nathan Road (and found the Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre) to find our way to another vegetarian restaurant at Hankow Road but were persuaded to have lunch at a halal Pakistani eatery instead. So instead of having dim sum as I originally planned, we had chicken biryani instead... oh well.
After lunch, we walked to the Esprit outlet at 4-6 Hankow Road. Most stores were selling winter apparel, Esprit included, so we didn’t shop much. There were loads of people doing their last-minute Christmas shopping but somehow I wasn’t in the mood. I was similarly disappointed on my first Hong Kong trip: apart from the Esprit outlet and the trip to Stanley, I didn’t find shopping in Hong Kong particularly exciting. And as I disliked the street markets, the inferior things they sold and the snobbish, arrogant stall-keepers, this time we didn’t visit any street market at all. Well, even if we had wanted to, we didn’t have much time.
We then took the underpass to Sogo Hong Kong and I left Mummy and Abah there while I walked to the waterfront. Alas, if anything, the day was becoming even hazier, so there was not much opportunity for those Kodak moments. We then took the East Rail Line train back to Hung Hom for our train journey back to Guangzhou. Dinner was had at the Chinese Muslim restaurant.
25 December 2007
Coming Home
I woke up late this morning and yet still managed a stroll around the neighbourhood with Mummy. We went to the nearby Sky Galleria and then came back to the hotel to check out. Oh, Christmas is not a public holiday in China (just like in Thailand). We reached the airport after 40 minutes (mad cabbie) and went in to the departure area immediately after checking in. We relaxed at the airport lounge before making our way to the gate. The flight took off on time and I managed to finish the National Geographic magazine and watch Stardust (yes, again! I love that movie), we landed at KLIA at 7.15 pm.
~~~~~~~~
Managed to catch glimpses of the Arsenal-Spurs derby clash. Kudos to Almunia for saving Robbie Keane’s penalty and helping make Arsenal Christmas No. 1!
|