Foshan, Guangzhou

Our second day itinerary in Guangzhou started at 8.30am . We travelled an hour to another district called Foshan .
This is Huang Fei Hong memorial hall .

Huang Fei Hong Memorial

Portrait of the one and only REAL Huang Fei Hong

We watched a very commercialized performance of lion dance here by the 'wong fei hoong' trainees .

Frankly, our Malaysian lion dance is better , more youthful & energetic , more lively.

Next, the Ancestral Temple of Guangzhou. It was said that this was the oldest of all temples in Guangzhou. It sat on the center axis too, like most chinese palaces .

the opera stage facing the temple

the fantastic ceramic figurines on the roof tops , so refine .

the second layer is the gold painted wood carvings, awesome 

one of the huge piece of gold painted wood carvings .

devotees left incense in the temple, not burnt

Ip Mun was Bruce Lee's teacher / master

Bruce Lee & Ip Mun

Most surprisngly was the display of Bruce Lee's handwritten letters to his fellow brothers. Very neat cursive handwriting in deed .

look at  the signature

is this familiar ?

There's the Confucious Temple next to it . Many people went make wishes and hang the wishes on this tree.

look at all the wishes printed on red cards

I did too...... I think I have to throw 4 to 5 times to get it done .

must throw hard and get it stayed on the tree

Finally....this piece is mine. Got my wishes on the tree.

So, this was at Foshan suburb.

A short visit to Guangzhou

It 's end autumn .This southern city of China welcomed us in a sunny day.

Buses were not allowed to pick up tourists in front of arrival . We have to walk a long way out , across the street to board the bus .

Boarded , we were to visit the Sun Yat Sen Memorial  and the YueXiu Park.

 

A unique octagon roof top

Portrait of Dr Sun Yat Sen

The interior beneath the octagon roof --- no pillars blocking at all .

A copy of  Dr Sun's writing 

 From the memorial , just across the road not too far away is the Yuexiu Park which has a 5-goats Statue . The park was scenic but too pack with people on a hot sunny Thursday.

5 Goats Statue - symbol of Guangzhou 

The local tour leader seems eager to cover as much spots in the itinerary as possible. Soon after lunch, we visited the Shamian island which was an area leased to British & French those years in history.
Now, it is a beautiful leisure park, a popular scenic spot for bridal photo shooting , we were told. True enough, we were lucky to see the evidence .... many couples were there taking photos .

Different buildings with different architectual designs

young couples at the photo shooting session 

This bride-to-be was seen changing entire outfit there in the open .

Refreshing fountain

Artistic bronze scultures

There's even a primary school in the midst .

We found another interesting thing here in the park ...... it was equipped with fitness exercises tools , all in perfect condition . No vandalism .

Wonder how long would this metals last in our park before the 'collectors ' steal and sell it off ?

Deepavali eve 2011

Tomorrow is Deepavali.

This afternoon, I found that I still have more than half a packet of atta flour , and that gave me an idea of try making chapati for dinner !

I have not checked recipes, but just mix the atta flour with water to get a dough. Then I left it in container covered with wet cloth, for a few hours.

I soaked some dhall / lentils too.

After few hours, I knead & roll out the dough , before frying it on a flat ironcast pan.

The chapati did came out like chapati ....... not sure about the taste , though.
Then boiedl some dhall with carrot and potatoes, with pinch of curry powder.

I like colourful meal, and we surely need some green vegetables, so add in a plate of stir-fried sawi.

Meals seems  not complete without hot spicy curry ! Lucky that I managed to buy some chicken curry .

So, we had chapati for dinner , on a Deepavali eve !

Cake -in-a-mug

Watched a video posted by my daughter about  microwaved  ' cake -in-a-mug ' . I was amazed but was wondering if I can try out the recipe without a microwave. 

Hence , I get ready a mug .

Sieved 2 tablespoons self -raising flour , pinch of baking powder , 1 tablespoonful of caster sugar into the mug. Mixed well. Then break in an egg .

Beat to mix the batter .

Now add in 1 tablespoonful of milk .

Stir , and pour in melted butter.

Stir well , and add in raisins and sliced banana .

Place the mug in the pre-heated steamer , and steam for 10 mins .

And the result is.........

Maybe I should cover the mug with grease-proof paper to prvent water vapour from dropping back into the mug. The recipe allow us to eat direct from the mug , but I scoop it out to see clearer the texture inside .

This is it. Taste alright , but texture not fluffy .

So, this is a trial Steamed banana-raisin -cake-in-a -mug !