Chen Clan Ancestral Hall This ancestral hall is an Academic Temple built in 1894 during the Qing dynasty. The hall is 13200 square meters large and will take a while to completely cover every part of the hall. However, because of the constant influx of tourist crowd, we covered the main areas and left to discover other parts of Guangzhou. To get here, take the Metro to Chen Jia Ci Metro station and walk for a couple of minutes. If you have no clue, simply follow the crowd.
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| Chen Clan Ancestral Hall |
A walking distance away is Zhongshanba Road, which connects into Pantang road where it's the start of plenty of food shops along until Panxi Restaurant, so come in the morning and start eating your way down the road if you can. If you like sesame desserts, this place is along Pantang Road 2 doors down from a supermarket, although I'm not quite sure of the exact location, but you can take away their desserts and it's interesting enough to try. It wasn't mind-blowing, perhaps because we had it after our meal, but it was decent. The whole street is a gourmet street where you will be greeted by the aroma of each restaurant as you walk past them, fighting the urge to succumb to temptation of deliciousness. Telling yourself not to be enticed by the mouth watering smell that's flirting with your belly even before your next meal.
Panxi Restaurant, along Pantang road serves up a good range of local dim sum. They are next to a park so you get to dine with a view of the park and after meals, you can stroll about the compound with some photo points. I recommend going after the lunch crowd and get a table on the second level of the main dining near the entrance.
If you enjoy traditional yum cha session with dim sum carts going around, like Redstar in Singapore. You will enjoy this place as much as the locals do. The environment is very nostalgic and I think for the elderly, they will love the atmosphere alot. After so many clock steps, exhuasted me really had a great time just gulping down delicious tea, pair with interesting dim sum dishes. My only gripe was that my belly is not big enough to contain all that food.
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| Garlic Pork rib |
After our meal, we popped over to the very instagrammable Starbucks across the road from Panxi Restaurant. There's also some photo points here that make this one of the prettiest Starbucks in Guangzhou. We didn't drink tea like we plan to simply because our lunch was too much. The thing about Guangzhou, their portions are huge and if there's only 2 or 3 of you, you are generally limited by the size of your bellies. Order 2 or 3 dishes if you are small eaters.
We wondered around the Fengshui Ji canal (I think) before hopping on a cab to Qingping Road to stock up on traditional dried herbs. This place is owned by my friend's relative and she gave us great service and good prices. I'm told that I should be cautious if I purchase from other shops as the owners may treat you like a carrot. So we were good girls and only bought from her shop because I have trust issues. We were limited by luggage space and, plus, we were heading down to Shamian Island after this, so we only bought dried goods in limited quantity. I silently protested to myself because I wanted to buy the entire shop!
Shamian Island is not exactly an island but it's in the Liwan District. Shamian is another tourist destination, and the area is full of historical buildings. It's a favorite instagram spot, 打卡点, for many tourist. I was told that there's a Starbucks in Shamian that's also another instagram spot. Take time to discover the place and enjoy the peacefulness of the place too. I was pleasantly surpised that the surrounding is tranquil and enjoyable to walk. Even though the place is packed with tourist, everyone seemed to be respectful of other's presence and were not screaming like what we always see in Singapore. After discovering the area, we headed to the outside of White Swan Hotel. I heard that many would go there for picture taking but we didn't go in.
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| Couple taking wedding pictures |
After Shamian, we headed back to the hotel to offload our stuff before heading out again to Beijing Road Pedestrian Street. Its a shopping and food zone and I caution that you need to go with empty bellies to just eat the entire street because everything looks so yummy.
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| Cat cafe |
After an exhausting and overwhelming walk from Beijing road, we were ready to look for food. We walked down to Hui Fu Dong Lu from Dafo Temple. Initially, we took a queue number to another cafe across the street from Dian Dou De, but the wait was too long and confusing that we ended up going to Dian Dou De which was pretty empty. When we settled into our booth, my friends asked what I wanted to order and I casually remarked that anything was fine since I couldn't read Chinese (without Google). Next thing I knew, the staff handed me an English menu. That was awfully sweet of them.
I like this place, it's had good tea and a few dishes that I don't get to try back home. My friends were raving about roasted quail and ordered one for me to try. It was delicious and aromatic. Not to mention bone suckingly good.
We also order pig blood soup which is not available in Singapore because of hygiene issues. It wasn't fantastic but hey, when in Rome. We ordered a few more dishes but, being exhausted and hungry, we just enjoyed ourselves chatting and eating and I stopped taking pictures.
Do not miss out on visiting Dafo temple, The Big Buddha Temple. We went there twice, once before dinner and again after dinner for the light up. I marvel at the architectural wonder of this magnificent Temple. I've never since a temple with so many levels in my life! Visit the inside of the temple during the daytime and you will feel a sense of peace overwhelming you. The place vibe so much of Chinese New Year that I felt like I needed to plan another trip back during the festive period.
Many asked if Guangzhou was fun. I would say that I had such a great time just going around like a local that I want to go back again. There's so much of Guangzhou to discover. Especially if you enjoy food like me. I didn't shop on this trip so I can't comment on shopping, although I hear that prices there are very very affordable. Basically, this trip is about 3 ladies just spending time outside of work, enjoying each other's company. It was enough for us.
Location：
Panxi Restaurant - 151 Long Jin Xi lu, Guangzhou China
Dian Dou De - Beijing Road branch - 470 Hui Fu Dong Lu, Yuexiu district
北京路店：越秀区惠福东路470号
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