| China May 2010 part II: Chaozhou |
After a few days in Shantou, we took a bus to Chaozhou, about 40 km north.
From the bus station we took a romantic trishaw to the old town center where Aric had booked a hotel. The hotel was a beautifully renovated old building and at the reception they told us that recently in the same street an annex was opened, in the same traditional style.
Were we interested to book this whole annex for our "group"? As the price was reasonable, we accepted the offer, and so we had our own 'mansion' during our stay in Chaozhou!
After checking in, we went out again, hungry. We had lunch in a famous vegetarian restaurant. Vegetarian means that you have fake prawns, fake chicken, everything is fake, but the taste is delicious!
In the afternoon we explored the town. The main street, Taiping Lu, has been renovated recently, it is now a pedestrian area (but take care about the many bikes). We had a look at Chaozhou's main attraction, the old city walls with their beautiful gates. And we saw the GiangJi bridge, the ultimate Teochew icon!
The next few days we spent visiting the many tourist attractions of Chaozhou. This is really the cultural center of the Teochew region, a very pleasant town. The KaiYuan temple is famous, and the bridge, but there is much more to see.
There is the scenic West Lake and the North Pavilion. And there are many more temples.
The weather was often a bit dull and grey, sometimes rain, but that contributed actually to the atmosphere of the town.
And of course there is food! The Teochew cuisine is famous.
We stayed four nights in our temporary home, then continued our trip to Chenghai, see part III of this report |
 Transport via trishaw
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 Aric's parents enjoying the trip
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 Arrival at our hotel
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 The whole building was ours!
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 One of our 7(!) bedrooms
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 Our living room
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 Our monumental entrance
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 Taiping Lu, the main street of the old town
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 School kids on their way home
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 Magnificent gates
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 Waiting for our lunch
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 A very copious one, NINE courses
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 This lunch is completely vegetarian!
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 Nice house along Taiping Lu
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 One of the guard towers
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 So many characteristic houses!
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 The main gate
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 In the background the GuangJi bridge
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 Enjoying our dinner
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 Notice the RICH oyster soup!
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 Taiping Lu by night
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 The gates are flood-lit
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 Breakfast
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 The famous KaiYuan temple
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 Detail
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 One of the arcades
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 Full of worshippers
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 The iconic thousand-hand Bodhisattva
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 Young devotees
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 One of the many temple halls
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 Detail of a gable decoration
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 One more gate
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 The Yi Yuan museum
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 The GuangJi bridge
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 The old town wall
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 These gates are so scenic!
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 The GuangJi tower
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 The bridge
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 All the pavillions are different
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 The pontoon part has been removed
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 Again the Yi Yuan complex
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 One of the old streets
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 With many interesting facades
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 An old-fashioned dentist
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 What shall we have for dinner
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 The kitchen of the restaurant
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 Delicious prawns and lala
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 Enjoying dinner
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 Amateur Chinese opera
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 Dedicated players
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 Cheong Fan, my favourite breakfast
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 Breakfast
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 One of the many tea shops
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 The West Lake
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 West Lake pavillion
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 Nice architecture
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 The park has many pavillions
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 A small pagoda in the park
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 One more pavillion
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 Feeding the fish
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 A new bridge
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 The North pavillion
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 View from the pavillion
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 More pavillions
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 Detail
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 Decoration of the entrance
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 The famous Hi Rong Quan bakery
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 Lots of different cookies
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 Delicious sweet soup
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 Urban transport
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 Temple transport
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 The Han Wen Gong temple
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 Inside the temple grounds
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 The main hall
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 Different from the usual temples
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 Roof decoration
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 The temple gardens
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 View of the bridge
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 Long Qiu Bao Ta
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 Scenic location
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 Lunch
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 The Feng Huang Shi Yu park
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 Detail
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 Gable decoration
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 The bridge seen from a distance
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 Rain
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 A shop
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 Shopping
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 Inside the Yi Yuan
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 Now a calligraphy museum
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 We visit the bridge again
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 Because the pontoon bridge is back !
2 comments |
 Our last dinner in Chaozhou
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 Shells, sotong, pomfret...yummie
1 comment |
 Back to the bus station
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wrote on Jun 6, 2010:
nice:) wish i could be there.. ;p |
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wrote on Jun 6, 2010:
Does the pontoon bridge sway by strong waves? It would be an experience like walking across a highly-strung suspended bridge. Very interesting sights and photos. Keep up the adventure and picture-taking, Jan. |
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wrote on Jun 7, 2010:
What a beautiful and fascinating place. Maybe I should start tracing my Teochew roots too!! |
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wrote on Jun 7, 2010:
Love your shots.. thanks for sharing.. |
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wrote on Jun 7, 2010:
When we arrived in Chaozhou, the current in the Han river was so strong that they had moved the pontoon part to the river bank. Fortunately, a few days later, when the current was less, they put it back. Even then the pontoon part is still connected with strong cables to anchors upstream |
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wrote on Jun 7, 2010:
Steamed pomfret Teochew style -- the best way to cook pomfret. |
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