Hey!

One awesome week has gone again. Language studies were a bit difficult, but because we are only eight persons in our class, luckily the teaching is very individual. This week we were very lucky and were able negotiate us three day-weekends for the whole semester! On Fridays we were suppose to have only 2 hours lecture and nothing else. Our friendly teacher was only happy to postpone the Friday morning lectures to Thursday afternoon, so we could travel and she got free Friday morning. So, immediately we wanted to take advantage of this great opportunity to travel.

On Friday six of us eight went to the Zoo and Ocean World in Guangzhou center. I am not sure if I can recommend visiting the zoo, because as you can imagine, most of the animals didn't seemed too happy out there. For example the two kangaroos we saw, were such a bad condition, that they weren't able to move. They were only laying there in the cage and even had defecated under themselves. Also the panda seemed very poor. It couldn't move more than a little bit and there was no food or anything in the cave. Its leg didn't seem to be healthy either and it was limping all the time.

But the Ocean World otherwise was very nice. It was very modern and clean and there we could see the amazing results of Chinese technology in amusement usage. I cannot really describe for example the floors, but there were placed that it really seemed like you were walking in the water. The floor reacted to our steps. Also there were escalators which went through a very massive aquarium. While we were standing on those, we traveled through sharks, RAUSKU and tens of different colorful fishes.It was amazing! In the Ocean World there were also three different shows to watch: Mermaid show, dolphin show and shark feeding show. Last two we went to see. Shows were nice and in the dolphin show there were also very funny sea lions and belugas.

On Saturday and Sunday me and the four friends of mine decided to go and see what kind of life in Guangzhou surroundings there is. It is always a bit slow to go out from the campus, but after two hours drive in Saturday traffic jam we finally got ourselves to the Eastern Railway Station of Guangzhou. The train to our first stop, Foshan, took only 30 minutes and 3,50 RMB (about 0,40e). In Foshan at first we went to see the famous temple complex. It was a very beautiful place and there was also a nice Chinese show. After the temple complex we walk to the old street called Dongshua Lane. It was in the middle of building area, but still had its spirit straight from the Qing-dynasty times. It was very fascinating and definitely worth of seeing!

Foshan was like a miniature about Guangzhou, but even cheaper. All the people in the streets were staring at us like we were the sightseeing and not the temples. But it was a nice place and easy option for one day trip also. We wanted to stay there over a night. There is a small town called Shiwan right next to Foshan. Taxidrive is only about 10 minutes from Foshan to Shiwan. We found a hotel easily right beside the sights we wanted to see in the morning. When the morning came we were starving and our hotel breakfast didn't seem to be too delicious… So, we decided to go to the park to look for cafes. In the park there was no café but a very sweet old couple who came to talk to us. Well, of course I couldn't understand a work but luckily we had our French friend with us who can speak Chinese very well. The old couple knew a very nice place to have a proper Chinese breakfast and walked there with us. It was a buffet breakfast and cost only 2 Euros each. After the breakfast we went to the big and beautiful park to walk around. Beside the park there were one temple and also Nanfeng Ancient Kiln area.The temple was quite commercial one compared to other temples here, but Nanfeng Ancient Kiln area was amazing and the museum was decorated in such beautiful way. There was also a hall where we had a possibility to try to make our own potteries. It was so much so fun! :)

After the Ancient Kiln area we traveled back Guangzhou by bus. Buses leave every 15 minutes and it costs about 2 Euros. Foshan and Shiwan were both very nice places to visit, but it is also very easy to see those during one day trip.

Pros and Cons

+ Easy and inexpensive to get there and back home

+ Cheap price level to eat and shop

+ Ceramic city and pottery workshops were very interesting and different compared to Guangzhou sightseeing

-The city was too similar to Guangzhou

-Cities were bigger than we expected and more boring as a whole

-Way too many beggars in the city