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上下九步行街 Shang Xia Jiu Pedestrian Shopping Street at night

Written by Nicholas Chan on June 4, 2009 – 12:36 am -

A few weeks ago, I wrote about one of the shopping attractions in Guangzhou and it’s the Shang Xia Jiu Pedestrian Shopping Street. Now, I am showing you the same place but with photos that I’ve took at night of this area.

Shops light up at nights with big signboard but then it’s still not as pretty as in Hong Kong. Though, I did feel the happenings of people moving around at there. Some have street snack on their hand while walking on the street. So enjoy.

On the left is a cinema and on the right is a restaurant.

There’s a cinema at Shang Xia Jiu there and many restaurant, all in the old Chinese designed building. The ticket for movie at the cinema is more expensive than here in Malaysia, it’s like at least 40yuan for the normal seat and the price goes up for different seat and room.

I was there during New Year’s Eve night but unfortunately there’s no countdown there. The shop as usual, closes at 10pm during New Year’s Eve. Though, there’s a large crowds of people at there during New Year’s Eve.

One thing I like there is the Famous Australian Barbeque Mutton on a stick. It’s so delicious and it’s 10yuan for 2 sticks. A little bit spicy but still nice. I bought some Chinese books there too. I realise most of the shops don’t give plastic or paper bag, you need to pay an extra 1yuan if you need it. What a good action for saving the earth. Malaysia should learn this.

Tags: canton, China, Event, guangzhou, Happenings, new year eve, Night, People, shang xia jiu, Shopping, street, Travel
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上下九步行街 Shang Xia Jiu Pedestrian Shopping Street in Daytime

Written by Nicholas Chan on May 5, 2009 – 5:47 pm -

This is my brother Yikhung and he is celebrating his 21st birthday this Saturday.

Back to Guangzhou, behind him is the famous Shang Xia Jiu Pedestrian Shopping Street (上下九步行街 Shang Xia Jiu Bu Xing Jie) in Liwan district in Guangzhou. That’s also where the hotel that I was staying is at.

The tall building standing on the right is Holiday Inn Shifu Hotel, the place we were staying in Guangzhou. Nice room and low room rates. Unfortunately, no Internet access.

This is one of the tourist attractions in Guangzhou, a shopping heaven for the shoppers. Comparing this to Beijing Lu Pedestrian Shopping Street (Beijing Lu Bu Xing Jie), this place is more famous to tourist than Beijing Lu. It’s a long stretch of road only for us, human to walk. No vehicles can be driven into this area.

One nice thing is that the buildings here are preserved from the old time till now. Do you know 西关 Xiguan, a very famous place during the old Guangzhou time and this is the place. If you watches TVB series like search 东山飘雨西关晴 (dong san piu yu sai kuan cheng/cantonese)，西关大少 (sai kuan dai siu/cantonese), you will know about this place.

Most of the building and shops are preserved from old times and look gorgeous on the inside. Their restaurant are so nice and there’s elevator in there sending people up and down.

Very cool.

This street is quite quiet in the morning but when it comes to the noon, people started filling the street, mostly window shopping and the voice of promoters standing outside the store shouting and clapping for customer fill the air. The shops played loud Chinese techno music and the store promoter follows the beat and clapping their hand as if they are at a party, which all is just to attract passers by into their store to take a look.

I was standing in front of the cinema.

Shops open early at there too at around 9am and there’s not many customer. The crowded place in the morning is the restaurant where people go there to yam zhou cha (drink morning tea) and eat dim sum. Dim sum at there is a lot cheaper compairing to our local’s.

It was cold in the morning with light wind blowing towards you. There’s sun but it didn’t warm me up. =) There weren’t any Chinese flag when we were there the first few days, but it’s put up during 1st January 2009, New Year Day. Cool.

To go to Shang Xia Jiu Bu Xing Jie/Shang Xia Jiu Pedestrian Shopping Street/上下九步行街  by Guangzhou Metro, you can take the Guangzhou Metro on Line 1 to Changshou Lu Station and walk 10 minutes following the arrow on the road. Do check the local map at the metro for more info.

Tags: Brother, China, Chinese, District, Family, guangzhou, Morning, old, pedestrian, People, shang xia jiu, Shopping, Travel
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Haizhu Square and Wan Lin Toys and Stationery Wholesale

Written by Nicholas Chan on April 26, 2009 – 7:26 pm -

(Guangzhou Metro uses the same token system like in Bangkok and Shenzhen.)

Here’s another stop of me being in Guangzhou few months back. Haizhu Square (Haizhu Guang Chang 海珠广场) Station was a stop that we got off from the Guangzhou Metro.

When we came out from station, it’s Binbin Plaza. It’s not really our destination, didn’t really walk around in there, we only had our afternoon high tea at a restaurant called Cafe De Coral.

Haizhu Square is somewhere near to the river but we didn’t explore that place much. I only know the nearest attraction is the toys and stationery wholesale market.

There’s so many “motorbike taxi” in Guangzhou, I wonder why not the real taxi instead of going for the motorbike. Motorbike is always so not safe riding on the road. But it’s like everywhere in Guangzhou.

The toys and stationery wholesale centre is located on Yide Lu. Just walked along the road and you will find it after a few blocks.

It was new year time and the shops there were selling a lot of Chinese New Year related things, there’s decoration lantern, a lot of designed ang bao (red packet) and greeting cards. Mom bought a lot of ang bao back home. The number of designs were like WOW, there’s so many for you to choose from until you don’t know which to get, of course the price is low too, it’s not expensive. Buying more will be cheaper. However, people tend to say that we have to bargain in China, but at Guangzhou, anywhere at the wholesale place, they don’t really do bargain, it’s most probably minus 10 yuan, the fixed their price and is already selling in bulk/wholesale pricing instead of retail.

Cross a road and you will find the Wan Lin Toys, Gift and Stationery Wholesale Center. There’s so many small thing to find in this building and all are selling at wholesale/bulk pricing. They don’t tag their item but instead will ask you how many you want to buy first. There’s furniture, home accessories,  toys and lot Chinese made gift like those you can find in the gift shop here like SnJ’s.If you go to SnJ, most of the products can be find here.

It’s a business center, selling in bulks and also a piece. There’s many shops selling the same thing too, so it’s competition around the mall and it’s better to go walk around and do some survey for the price before buying. Unfortunately, we were there late and this wholesale center closes at 6pm daily. So we went back again the other day. =)

To go to Wan Lin Toys and Stationery Wholesale, you can take the Guangzhou Metro on Line 1 to Haizhu Guangchang/Haizhu Square Station, then walk along Yide Lu.

Tags: canton, China, guangzhou, haizhu, Many People, Metro, Shopping, toys, Train, Travel, wholesale
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陈家祠 Chen Clan Academy (Guangdong Fold Arts Museum)

Written by Nicholas Chan on April 23, 2009 – 9:38 pm -

I am not really a fan of museum but then the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum which is also known as Chen Clan Academy/陈家祠 (Chen Jia Ci)/Chen Family Museum is not a building built to become a museum, it was the Chen Clan Temple and had turned into a museum. Moreover, how could it be for not visiting the place which my ancestor might involved in this thing.

Yup, we are the Chan’s. Chan or Chen is the same. When it goes reading in Mandarin, it’s Chen, but when I write my name, it’s Chan. It’s our family name.

We went there by the Guangzhou Metro from Huangsha Station to Chen Clan Academy Station, it’s just a few stations stop.

This place is one of the tourist attractions in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is not really famous for travelling but there’s still a few place to visit though.We had to pay to go inside, it’s 10RMB per ticket which is around RM5.

The building is old but not old enough to amaze me yet. It’s built back diromg the 1890s. I want to see something older than that, perhaps I need to go to Beijing for it.

Inside is quite simple, but I am amazed with all the artworks were everything done by hand. The carving on the pillars are so artistic, nice. Salute to the old Chinese artist.

Although there’s nothing much to see inside, quite boring, but it had took us an hour in there.

There’s East Asians Arabians selling food outside. It a little bit like during the 1800s when the Arabian travels to Canton/Guangzhou to do their business.

Then we went out to look for a cab to go to somewhere else. We had a long walk to somewhere far and we found no cab, and in the end, we had to go back to the Guangzhou Metro station to take the train to our next destination. I got to tell you that it’s not easy to find a cab here. Don’t go to far.

To go to Chen Jia Ci/陈家祠/Chen Clan Academy/Guangdong Folk Arts Museum/Chen Family Museum, you can take the Guangzhou Metro on Line 1 to Chen Clan Academy Station.

Tags: chen, China, Family, guangzhou, museum, old, Temple, Travel
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Jisheng Wellborn Furniture City in Guangzhou

Written by Nicholas Chan on April 16, 2009 – 11:31 pm -

(Changshou Lu station is the nearest Guangzhou Metro station to our hotel, Holiday Inn Shifu.)

I or we didn’t know about Jisheng Wellborn at first. We wanted to go Panyu Square which is a far east of Guangzhou and is the last station of Guangzhou Metro. Taking a taxi to there would be faster than the Metro but we went for the Metro to save cost. Estimated time was 45 minutes because there’s like 10 stop and each stop is like 3-4 minutes including making the interchange from Line 1 to Line 3.

Panyu Square was not on my travel list too. It’s mom’s idea to go to this place as she said that there’s some shopping area there. We didn’t really know what’s there too, we were just exploring.

However, our plan changed while we were on the train. We got off at Hanxi Changlong station which is 2 stations before Panyu Square. One thing good about the Guangzhou Metro is that there’s a voice telling about the nearest attractions and buildings to each station in the train before reaching the next station. So we heard “Next station, Hanxi Changlong. Jisheng Wellborn, ChimeLong Resort, Xiangjiang Safari Park.”

We were not going to the zoo or the theme park. Dad wanted to go and take a look at the furnitures so we got off to take a look. By the way, dad’s business is about furnitures and interior design.

It’s a very quiet station, not many people got off from the train. Since like not many people goes to the zoo and theme park at that time. I didn’t know about the Chimelong Resort Theme Park too but the Xiangjiang Safari Park is famous.

I was surprised when we got out from the station. It’s ulu which literally means rural because there’s no building and little people was around. Jisheng Wellborn Furniture Exhibition Centre is no where to be found too. There’s only public bus parked there which we don’t know how to take.

There’s also these motorbike taxi which parked there waiting for passengers.

The Chimelong Resort and Theme Park can be seen from here. There’s a roller coaster. =)

Then we found the sign about free shuttle bus which takes us to Jisheng Wellborn. We waited there for like 15 minutes until the bus arrive. At first, there’s only us but later than, more and more came to fill the bus.

It’s just a 5 minutes ride from the Hanxi Changlong Guangzhou Metro station to Jisheng Wellborn. It’s near but it’s not accessble by foot because it’s separated by a few highway.

I didn’t take photos in there because camera is not allowed. Briefly speaking, Jisheng Wellborn Furniture Exhibition Centre is a big place with a lot of furniture shops of branded furnitures from the Europes and the States ranging from European/American Antique, to Chinese Antique, to Comtemporary style. There’s just so much to walkabout for a furniture hunter and lover but the please bear in mind that the price is not cheap. It’s a very big furniture city.

How to go: Guangzhou Metro: Line 3, Hanxi Changlong station. Wait for the Free Shutter Bus which will ferry you to Jisheng Wellborn.

Tags: canton, Daddy, expensive, Far, Father, Furniture, guangzhou, Hanxi Changlong, Shopping, Travel, Ulu
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Walked to Huang Sha Yi Yuan Stationery Wholesale from Shifu

Written by Nicholas Chan on April 16, 2009 – 12:14 am -

On the third day of my Guangzhou trip during the New Year, we went to the stationery wholesale market at Huang Sha. We have decided not to take the taxi but instead have a morning walk to Huang Sha. Thanks to the map application on my phone which had successfully guided us to our destination successfully.

It’s quite a long walk like 30 minutes. It’s always nice walking on foot because you can see a lot of things, you can feel local too.

We started off our walking trip to Huang Sha Yiyuan Stationery Wholesale Market from the back of our hotel along Shibafu Bei Lu （十八甫北路）

It was like 10 in the morning and the area was like a little market with stall set up on the road side selling stuff like vegetable and food.

We turned into Tiyun Dong Lu. It’s not really a very crowded place although there’s still people walking on the street. It’s quite quiet with a few cars passing occasionally. The place that we walked past was definitely not a tourist area. It’s local.

They sell animal like snakes and scorpion. The local told us that it’s used for making some sort of Chinese soup and it’s good for health. I got no idea how to make it. They all lies in the cages. It’s seems like the business was not so good, I didn’t see people buying it while I was there. Wrong timing I guess.

There’s also ugly skinned goat hanging just by the roadside preparing to be chopped into parts. You can seldom see it here in Malaysia. We probably have an enclosed area for working on these.

(My brother, Yikhung.)

We were trying to walk till the end of Tiyun Dong Lu and then turn into Datong Lu, but then the end of the road was blocked due to construction of building.

Then we found a little wet lorong (alley) which connected us to the main road (Liu Er San Lu) which will then lead us to  Huang Sha.

If you see the Huang Sha Zhan Metro station, means that you are already on the right track. The whole walking trip was guided by me and my phone. =)

It’s a big main road on your left which is also the Nei Huan Lu (Inner Ring Road). Walked along it to the west and you will see Huang Sha Da Dao and then Huang Sha Hou Dao. If you still got no idea about where are you and how to go, you can always go into the metro station and check out the map at the station.

Mom said she would never walk into this alley because the local there hangs their underwear out there and she wouldn’t want to walk under it. She said it’s pantang. Haha, I’ll remain commentless with that.

We reached Huangsha Hou Dao 黄沙后道 after some times of walking. You will notice a lot of shop lot selling stationeries and office products.

Yiyuan Stationery Wholesale Market was where we went into. It’s known to be the oldest stationery and toy wholesale market in Guangzhou but later it had became a standalone stationery wholesale market. Toys wholesale market is near to Haizhu Plaza which I will talk about it in another time.

Stationery wholesale market, Huangsha.

Mark this place if you are looking for lots of pens in wholesale price. It’s a good place to seek for stationery supplies, for business or yourself. We bought like a lot of pens and calculator for dad’s office.

*Chung Ling student, if you are looking for cheap black gel pen, I am selling at RM1 each. There’s also correction pen for RM2 each. Look for me at 5SA1.

Tags: canton, Cold, Far, guangzhou, huang sha, Market, Morning, pens, People, Shopping, stationery, Travel, walking, wet
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