Touring Guangzhou

Today we had no official duties; we are just waiting for the visas.  Poor little Avery is still having issues with the rash and the diarrhea, but she was a trooper on all the outings.  Our guide Jocylin had arranged an outing for us to see a famous Buddhist Temple, Temple of the 6 Banyon Trees.  It was crowded because it was a special day on the Chinese lunar calendar.  Many were lighting insense sticks and worshipping.  China has four main religions:  Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christian.  Within the temple area, there was one female Buddha figure representing Compassion in a smaller structure, but the main attraction was the three 20 foot high golden Buddha figures representing the Past, the Present, and the Future.

Kristie, Anya, and Avery in front of the elaborate jade boat sculpture

We also visited the Chen House and Academy which showcases the 4 arts and crafts of the province:  jade sculpture, ivory carving, porcelain, and embroidery.  This was a very ornately carved building used by one family of the province for their family affairs, but later donated to the government due to  prohibitive maintenance costs.  The government operates it as a museum.  The examples of the fine work were amazing, but we were especially interested in the bed.  We had heard about the White Swan hotel being notorious for hard beds, and indeed the beds are hard (however, if you are exhausted, you do not notice).  We found out the traditional Chinese bed has NO mattress and this example used porcelain blocks for pillows!!!

You can see a bit of the intricacy of the carvings on the roof.

We also got to shop for some fine things today with this part of China being known for jade and pearls especially.  Anya selected some pearls and had them strung for a necklace while we were there.

"Shopping Street"

Anya at the Pearl Market