Note: This will be a long post as I intended to jot down the happenings of the day.
Approx. 130am, in the wee hrs, my uncle knocked on our door, asking if we were up and about. Yes, we were.
A 10 mins drive up the mountains and we were just in time for some hot porridge. The ceremony started at 3am... the wind was strong; it was cold. While waiting, Rachel was so tired she actually fell asleep sitting up. Another relative sat beside her and told us she will watch over the little one.
With the loud gongs and bangs, trumpet sounds and ceremonial chanting, it was a wonder Rachel slept through. There were fire works and fire crackers too. I wondered if the villagers around the temple got a rude shock or not?! LOL.
When we learnt about the date of this ceremonial event, we were like uh-oh... how would we be in time for our flight to Guangzhou? You see, before we flew to Quanzhou 2 days ago, my mil told us that the event was on the 22 Nov morning.. that is midnight of 21 Nov... we thought this event would start on the evening we arrived into Quanzhou, hence we booked our tickets to Guangzhou for the 23 Nov, scheduled to depart at 1040hrs.
Bearing in mind we still have to travel back to Quanzhou.. counting backwards... a 1040hrs flight would mean checking in at 0840hrs. A drive back to Quanzhou is approx 1.5-2hrs ride. So a simple calculation would mean we had to start our journey around 0630hrs.
So if this ceremonial event started on the 23 Nov instead and would last for the whole morning and afternoon, how on earth would be able to take part?
After some discussions with the elders, it seems okay if we missed the am and pm events. My uncle even asked the guide's son to send us to Quanzhou airport. You remembered the guide I mentioned about when we 1st arrived into Anxi? His son offered to send us down.
So at around 5am, we went back to our hotel, checked out and hopped into his car, bound for Quanzhou airport.
Finally, our jackets were put to use. It was freezing when the wind blew.
The ceremonial chanting with loud gongs and bangs.
Fireworks
Inside the temple.
And fast forward to Guangzhou...
Hubs went to Guangzhou a few months back and he brought us to this particular district ( Guangzhou have many districts - I don't even know if you call it district). Anyway, the last time he went, he was at the wholesale market and bought many stuff from one of this particular store.
This time round, he wanted to visit their showroom but upon arrival, we found out it was the office instead. Blur sotong! At this time, Lionel needed the toilet urgently and so Rachel n myself sat by the roadside, on the curb.
Picture this: A mother n daughter, with 1 big luggage and 1 small hand carry, sitting down by the roadside, looking lost and staring into blank space...
Many passer-by stared at us... I felt so awkward... i should have put a bowl in front of us ...
Daddy flagged down another cab and this time, we went to the district where Daddy stayed the last time. There were many nice and cheap boutique hotels there and we wasted no time in enquiring with one and checking in.
We had lunch and Daddy did his "shopping". We ( myself and the kids) knew this was not meant to be our shopping haven but we did not complain. Daddy promised the kids to visit the toys wholesale market if they behaved.
Yay! We went up the Guangzhou Tower and enjoyed the night scene.
There were many colourful lightings all around the buildings.
And we took a slow walk down Zhujiang River. The weather was hot...
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