A Bit of Everything and More on China Trip

Perhaps I was trying to settle down back into my usual routine after the 11-day holiday break in China, I only manged to finish 2 iris-folding kimonos done with fabric tapes on handmade fabric paper this whole week! I tried a few new things on these 2 ATCs: (1) The red circle below the glazed sticker fan is actually a Chinese character in my Chinese name, stamped from a stone craving, and I added a layer of glaze over, (2) A new way to sew the border!

The green piece is going to Annet in the Netherlands.

I was going all WOW seeing every piece of the Alphabet ATCs that came in: Sherry Dreier's (USA) L is for Lace, M is for Mouse, N is for Nine Patch Quilt Block;

and Mari Strydom's (South Africa) L is for Lion, M is for Mushroom, N is for Needles and O is for Owl. I love the idea of the Needles card especially.

Here I photographed them by the alphabet. All the tatted critters on the left topmost are my work :)

Rag doll that arrived from the USA, created by Sherry Collier.

I love the way Sherry punched tiny holes all over the (black) body, giving a sparkling effect. Sherry also punched tiny holes on the head to tie on the hair and on the arms to tie all the rag stripes!

Continuing to part 3 of my China trip: We spent the 3rd and our last full day in Guangzhou (10 Jun, Fri) visiting the shopping belts - Beijing Lu Pedestrian Street (北京路步行街) and Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street (上下九商业步行街).

Kristine wondering what they are looking at?

Beijing Lu Pedestrian Street is a pedestrian street where most stores are open from 9 am -10 pm, but prices are generally higher than shops in Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street. I found a street where shops sells stuff like buttons, crystals, fabrics, wholesale, but no, I didn't buy anything, it's really too much to buy unless I plan to sell them, LOL!

Managed to find a mall selling lots of jades (from pendants and rings to big craved pieces) in stalls which are lined up just like our local wet markets! However, nothing really catch my fancy, and I don't want to risk getting conned for fake jade pieces. So at the end of the day, we only bought an extra luggage bag and more bags, watches, socks and T-shirts for the children.

After an early dinner in Panyu, we moved on to the circus!

It was a pity we didn't have the time to visit the Chimelong Paradise (长隆欢乐世界) or the Chime-Long WaterPark (长隆水上乐园), but the Chimelong International Circus (长隆国际大马戏）certainly made up for it. This was Kristine's and also my first time watching a live circus show.

This is the world's largest permanent circus; the world's largest circus stadium which can contain more than 8000 guests per show, and with the largest circus stage in the world. The stage is approximately 100m wide and 50m deep with more than 11 levels of different floor space settings.

The star-studded cast of more than 300 international performers form the Magic World 《魔幻传奇》, along with 40 species and 500 different animals certainly overwhelmed the audience - interesting animal shows, pyrotechnics and hi-tech flaming and lighting effects which created a mysterious dream world, vibrant colours and costumes. One of the last segment on the penquins (not real penquins though), really leave a lasting impression! Sitting in the VIP seats right in the middle front of the stage on the second row, Kristine was simply delighted to "catch" 3 squirrel soft toys!

On the 4th day (11 Jun, Sat) we departed Guangzhou and took a domestic flight over to Guiyang (贵阳). Here, it is totally different from Guangzhou, the weather I mean. Just like in Singapore, it was hot and sunny in Guangzhou (after we left, storms had overtaken the place!), but it was like going around in a big air-con room in Guiyang.

Guiyang, dominated by mist-shrouded hills, is the capital of Guizhou Province. The climate is mild throughout the year. In Guizhou, the most famous is Maotai Wine (茅台酒), which is China's most famous alcoholic beverage, and one of the world's three most famous distilled liquors. Besides having a large chemical industry, rubber industry and a sizable domestic pharmaceuticals industry, Guiyang also manufactures aerospace engine parts and equipment, industrial and mining equipment, as well as railway vehicles and equipment. DH is working in a factory manufacturing excavators. Guiyang is also home to more than 30 minority ethnic groups including Miao, Buyi, Dong and Hui, etc.

DH is staying in the condo named 蓝波湾 in 都习路, which is very near to the Wal-mart supermarket.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the streets in the area, buying some food and fruits back to the condo. Lots of Chinese Bayberries (杨梅) and small managoes. Came across a fried chicken shop which sells all the parts of the chickens deep-fried, including all the intestines and claws - not at all appertizing to me!

What's Up!

Guess what, I'm on the April issue of "What's Up"! This is a newspaper targetted for students and available in schools that subscribe to it. The article was talking about trading, focusing on the ATC trading and our local trading sessions in Bishan Library.

A lot of mails came while I was away. First of all, another Springtime Button Fairy came, this one from Lisa Alff. She has used her daughter's hair, and it is just lovely. Anyone knows Susan Malacari (PA/USA)? She seems to have just vanished after signing up for the swap, wondering if everything is alright? Barb Glasier's (USA) pair of green ladies for the theme "Shades of Green" - very clever way to match up to the theme!
All the inchies from the Flower Mingle have arrived too. Cheryl Russ' (USA) paper-punched flowers,

and Rae Ann O's (USA)'s hand-drawn flowers. Rae Ann has also generously sent another 4 chickadee (her favourite bird) inchies as an extra treat for me.

There was also a "bumper crop" of alphabet ATCs! However, I'll reserve them for the next post :)

I started on these paper Rag Dolls before my trip and just completed them. I will have to hold on to the doll for Maureen Blakeley who is in Canada, with the current postal strike which suspended all urban postal operations countrywide since mid of this month.

Back to my China trip. It was a great one - we went to quite a number of places and tried a fair bit of the local food. While in China, I couldn't access blogspot and a lot of websites. They are restricted there!

Spent the 1st day (8 Jun, Wed), flying over to Guangzhou in a 4-hour flight. A small hiccup when DH's domestic flight from Guiyang to Guangzhou was delayed due to heavy fog, but we spent the time exploring Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Not as big nor as many shops as the Singapore Changi Airport, but impressive enough and I found a nice collector set of <<红楼梦>> ("Dream of the Red Chamber" written by Cao Xueqin and is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels) in a bookshop, which I would have bought had it not been so thick and heavy.

It was pretty late in the day by the time we checked in Baiyun Hotel, we only managed to shop a bit at the Onelink Plaza (万菱广场), which is a wholesale market for a variety of products. Most of the souvenirs we brought back for friends were bought here.

On the 2nd day (9 Jun, Thu), we visited Baiyun Mountain as mentioned in my last post. This was the cable car trip down the mountain.

Then we went to the Canton Tower (广州塔), with a height of 600m (450m high body tower and 150m high mast antenna), which surpasses the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai and briefly held the title of tallest completed tower in the world.

The Canton Tower is in the background.

The highest viewing gallery is at 428m. Here's one of the views from the tower.

A new attraction, the Spider Walk, is located on the external of the Tower, spiraling up the circumference from the 33rd to the 65th storey, between the height of 168m and 334.4m of the tower, with a total of 1028 steps and 1000m in length, and is purportedly the longest staircase in the world. Part of the metal platform is on transparent panels, but personally, the feel and the view was not as fantastic as when I was walking on the transparent floor of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Oriental Pearl has a big sphere which protrudes out and the width of the transparent platform is much, much wider, hence, one really feels very excited to walk on it, and many legs really go jelly. The Spider Walk here is more of a challenge of one's fitness level, walking up more than a thousand steps, but ok, the platform is totally open with only railings on the side, hence it is not for young children and those physically unfit. Walking with my girl, we took about half an hour, with 2 brief rests in-between. I'm not one who exercises much, I almost wanted to give up on the last few flights had it not been my girl walking ahead of me! I guess if one is walking in the night when all the lights are on, the feel might be much better!

Here is my Spider Walk certificate!

Bao Mo Garden (番禺宝墨园) is one of the top 8 signts in Panyu District of Guangzhou. It was built at the end of the Qing Dynasty based on Lingnan architecture - buildings, gardens, hills, lakes and bridges – a place where man-made art sits among nature’s art in the form of sculptures and edifices which boast intricate clay, porcelain, brick, wood and stone carving, all making grand sights.

The place here also records the culture and cases investigated by Bao Zheng, an upright official in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) with a small museum housing life-sized wax figures depicting scene of some of his famous court cases was realistic.

There is splendid water scenery inside running through a one-thousand-meter river, and supposedly more than 30 stone bridges crossing those charming rivers and lakes. The water is clear, the surface of the water is rippling and the trees surrounding the lake are swaying in the breeze, just like a fairy dreamland, nothing lesser!

Millions of carps are swimming and chasing each other in water, splashing around especially when someone throws fish feed in. Everyone enjoyed the feeding session - young and old, fish and us!

And oh, there is a pond with hundreds of tortoises of all sizes, and stream where children can fish, boat where you can sail, restaurants where you can savour Panyu cuisine, and even a swimming pool where you can take a dip. To sum it up, it is a very tranquil place with beautiful scenery of the gardening in South China, a place where one can be totally relaxed and happy to be in.

The Pearl River flows through Guangzhou City. A night cruise on the river is a great way to see the night view of the city. We enjoyed the breeze and lights, which were fantastic, especially the Canton Tower - it was breathtaking, and I just love the colours. Architectural lighting on the Canton Tower was designed by Rogier van der Heide, based on the principle that the tower should not be "lit up" but "radiate a glow" at night. 7,000 LED light fixtures light the rings of the tower's structure each from underneath, to form a continuous glow. The night lights of the Canton Tower surpasses the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower.

This was the most rewarding and exhausting day!

Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou

I managed to finish these ATCs just before I left on my trip last week. Fabric ATCs "N is for Newt". Do they look like newts? I tatted them by modifying Martha Ess' gecko design.

Doll ATCs "Shades of Green" for Karen Bassie in Canada. And more doll ATCs, collage-style background, for the theme "Food, Glorious Food!". A pair will be going to Peggy Bainbridge in USA.

This has to be one of my longest holidays. For this 11-day China trip, we flied to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and later to Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport (mainly domestic flights at the latter airport but flights to and from Hong Kong are treated as international flights).

We stayed in Guangzhou first for 3 days at Baiyun Hotel located in Huan Shi Dong Road. This is quite an upmarket district, the mall beside the hotel consists mainly international luxury brands. As my mother-in-law couldn't walk far, we travelled mainly by chartered car throughout. We started our sightseeing with a trip to Baiyun Mountain (白云山) literally "White Cloud Mountain", taking a park tram up and the Baiyun Cableway down. The name of the mountain derives from the view of peaks shrouded by white clouds in late Spring or when the sky clears after rain, Baiyun Mountain has been a scenic spot since ancient times.

The top lookout point of the mountain offers a good view of the city. On the lush, rolling hills, many of the locals are enjoying nature and holding various outdoor activities there, from just a morning walk up the mountain, badminton, dancing, taiji to group telematches.