India

With much worries, fears, I went on a journey to India tracing the footsteps of the Buddha.India was a colourful , mysterious place to me.

Nevertheless, I prepared myself physically and mentally before going on the trip, to face whatever circumstances to come .

Everything was fine at the starting point. Our flight departed on schedule and I found myself landed in the chaotic Delhi , Dec 2011 .

The airport gave not too bad a first impression of India. I learned from friend that the airport has improved so much compared to 5 years ago.

Nice interior decoration @ arrival hall ,Delhi Airport .

However, as we moved away from the airport, the surrounding gave a different view . Each day as we moved from town to town, place to place , we found different words to describe her .........

Unmistakably India .........

Snake charmer by the roadside

Fascinating  India ......

Dawn @ Holy Gangga , Varanasi

Incredible India .......

Trishaws outside Mughal Sarai Railway Station

Typically  Indian ........

Shaving service

even disgustingly .........

Indian men urinating everywhere , anytime, even on busy streets.

Before we started on the journey following the Buddha's footprint, we visited the  Taj Mahal &  the Ganges River at Varanasi . However , these places didn't make much impact on us , surprisingly .

Nanyue Tomb Museum

There is one more place of interest in Guangzhou that I wanted to highlight here - Nanyue Tomb Museum.

We went there by metro. There is a metro station right next to the museum.

The museum is in front of the actual excavation ground. Public can visit the excavation site before looking at the exhibits in the museum.

stairway leading to the excavation site .

excavation sites , labeled.

In the museum, it was a surprise to see the amount of articles excavated & exhibited. Of course being a tomb, the most important exhibit was the coffin of the owner of the  tomb. 

Here's the coffin of the master of the tomb ........ 

Tomb owner was buried in this Jade Suit

It was a good place to visit .       

Pearl River Cruise

The most important river in Guangzhou is the Pearl River. Hence the Pearl River Cruise is one of the attraction of Guangzhou.

There are many companies operating the cruise . Most ferries are three-tier  - ground floor &  roof-top passengers were served a cup of Chinese tea & ; fruits, while the first floor passengers are served buffet food. Of course, the tickets are more costly.

The jetty

Look at the other boat

crowds walking out from the boat

Both sides of the river is brightly lit up. The neons on the bridges are colourful , even the roof of highrise buildings are colourfully lit.

beautifully lit river banks

The Guangzhou Tower

The cruise  was  an enjoyable experience.

Xi Guan , Guangzhou

From Shunde, we travelled back to Guangzhou . We have one more place to visit before dinner - Xi Guan .

Xi Guan , a west gate , it was an ancient port of  trading . The rich businessmen stayed here with their families , where the daughters don't have to do anything and the sons have money and power.

Along the river, as we can see , are the shops ( though rebuilt ) selling local snacks, fans, etc.

scenic view

There is this Xi Guan Xiao Wu that is opened to tourists to have an idea of the houses here.

the elaborate design of the house

nice views upstairs

the house plan gives a glimpse to the  interior design  

The house normally is not big in area, but complete in all aspects. Interestingly , our fore fathers' houses here also have quite similar layout . 

Another uniqueness of the XiGuan house is the ceramic garter and the painted glass windows. 

On the exterior wall , lays the garter, top to bottom, all ceramic 

beautiful painted glass window in the house 

Imagine now, in this little house , the daughters dressed up beautifully, sat near the balcony upstairs, merchants sail in boats along the river. 

Those were the days !