[DIARIES] 20141222 Day 6 Guangzhou - Baiyun, Haizhu

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Another busy day as I need to cover quite a number of places today for Guangzhou. I segregate the places to visit according to areas, saving on transportation time. I would be spending the day time mostly at Baiyun district, where the famous Baiyun Mountain (translate: White Cloud Mountain) is located, then end the day with a night cruise on Pearl River. 

While dragging my tired feet, I admired how the locals are able to commute to work using bicycle or motor-powered bikes, being both economical and eco-friendly. The weather seems nice today with mild sunshine and cool weather. Looking forward for another adventurous day. First stop, I'm heading to the ZhongShanBa terminal for breakfast before taking the bus to my destination.

This was the electric bus that I mentioned in my previous post for Day 5. GZ city has two types of buses, one is the conventional fuel powered, while another one is electric powered, similar to a tram.

While walking along ZhongShanBa Road, I noticed the news stand is pretty similar to the one I saw back in Shenzhen.

Starving and curious, the boiling steam was very enticing, especially in a cold weather. I bought a few types from a few stalls and have tried Canton style porridge as well as their cheong-fun. To be honest, it's nothing to shout about and merely just to fill your stomach.

The view outside the bus terminal, very clean and peaceful with lush greens. I starting to like China's pedestrian streets more. I'm taking the Tourist Bus Line 1 towards Baiyun scenic area, passing by Luhu Park.

It doesn't take long for the bus to arrive and I paid RMB4 for the ride, not too bad judging that I'm actually travelling from the terminal to the last terminal of this route. Along the way I noticed there are many moral banners on the wall, reminding the citizens on the 16 social core values, being the effort by the government to uphold the civic concious of Chinese citizens in general, to reverse the bad impression done previously. I would say it is a good effort despite not knowing how effective it will be, something done is better than nothing I guess? At least, it's better than where I came from.

I was particularly amazed by the cleanliness of the city as my impression of China would be dirty and less civilized. However, this whole trip has prove me wrong most of the time. This picture above particularly explained why the streets were so clean because there are cleaners constantly picking up rubbish via his mobile trash can. On top of that, I notice the citizen barely litter on the ground. Just take a good look at our own streets and compare to the pictures I took, I felt deeply embarrassed.

The bus route ends directly opposite of Baiyun Mountain's cable car terminal at the south entrance. I was approached by a promoter outside a park next to the terminal, asking whether I'm interested to visit the Yuntai Garden (the name of the park). Initially I thought it would just be a short detour but man I was wrong. Everything in China is huge and nothing but huge. The short detour end up more than 2 hours and I haven't even finish exploring the whole park.

The Yuntai Garden is actually a huge botanical park covering more than 120,000m² with 14 main attractions. After paying the entrance fee of RMB5, I was welcomed back the huge cascading water fall of the park.

Read more about Yuntai Garden via my separate post:
[PLACE] 20141222 Yuntai Garden 云台花园 @ Baiyun, Guangzhou

The park was so huge, you can actually see the route and lane within the park.

I started walking towards the right wing of the park, passing by a green house with tropical plants inside from various part of the world. Quite a well equipped and maintained park I must say.

They also have some fancy lantern and figurines according to themes like country, cartoon charactoer or fairy tales that will light up if you are visiting at night, which is actually the leftover of the previous mid autumn festival event. 

The vegetations are well kept with beautiful flowers and trees. They also have a rose garden with various species of roses.

Then I saw this route uphill next to a man made waterfall, I was wondering where it will lead to and decided to give it a pre-Baiyun hike to explore.

More stairs after stairs, with signboard leading the way to the "viewing platform" so it says. While grasping my breathe, I was thinking should I give up and head back as I have already spent more than an hour in the park itself. Any delay will cause a problem to my already tight schedule. After some consideration, I decided to move faster towards the top without giving up.

After close to 15 minutes climb up, I finally reach the top and was "trolled" by the so called viewing platform which has no view other than the highway below the hill. Greatly disappointed and trolled by the stupid signboard. What a waste of time and energy!

Gasping and panting my way down after the tiring climb, let me take a shadow selfie!

Read more about Yuntai Garden via my separate post:

[PLACE] 20141222 Yuntai Garden 云台花园 @ Baiyun, Guangzhou

Waste no more time, I quickly exit Yuntai Garden and head towards the cable car terminal. The return ticket of the cable car cost RMB40 including some free vouchers but I don't trust anything "free" in China. For example, free photography and photo, but you have to pay for the frame and it's compulsory. See? Cunning. I just skipped any photography offer and they usually back off when they see I have a DSLR hanging around my neck.

The cable car ride span across 1.6km, taking about 12 minutes to reach the top terminal. Alternative route to go up Baiyun mountain will be either via car or on foot to hike up.

Passing by one of the longest stretch of the cable and through the colourful trees.

After disembarking from the cable car, I move on towards the upper deck which is also known as the Dusk View Spot 白云晚望, which is the direction where the sun sets and you will get a panoramic sunset view of Guangzhou city.

Unfortunately for me, I don't have the luxury of time to stay on until evening due to the short schedule. A glimpse from the viewing deck and noticed the buildings are much further away with the cable car ways at the bottom left corner. Not a very spectacular view to be honest and no "white clouds" are observed due to the dry winter weather.

The hut at the centre of the deck with the viewing platform on the right.

By the way, there are having a Transformers fair during my visit with moving and speaking robots. The locals seemed to like it very much.

On my way down the stone stairs from the upper platform towards the square, I noticed some stone statues at the side. It was a sculpture of Confucius, together his 3 disciples. Besides that, there's also 8 statues of of the famous 中国二十四孝 (24 touching stories of filial children) stories.a few of the famous 中国二十四孝 (24 touching stories of filial children) stories.

After taking a few pictures at the square, I proceed upwards along the roads where the crowd became lesser and the roads became narrower. There are a few restaurants and cafe for visitors on the left. I arrived at a junction thereafter and saw the road sign towards a few scenic spot ahead like temples and view points. I decided to continue ahead upwards to the highest peak along the Baiyun Mountain range, which is the Moxing Summit.

I decided to take the shorter route but requires more climbing, passing through a few scenic spots like the Nine Dragon Spring 九龙泉 as the first stop after some climb. Unfortunately the altar was undergoing renovation and I can only snap a small area of the whole place.

Further up I arrived at this huge arch stating 广州碑林 which means "Guangzhou Monument Forest" as there were arrays of stone monuments erected around the area, some properly placed while some are hidden under trees or at the side of the passage way.

Stone monuments like the one in the picture above, with different style of calligraphy but I couldn't really read or understand the words on the monument or the story behind it.


Right next to it is the 天下第一龙 or "The No. 1 Dragon under the sky" which I don't see what is so great about it. It was claimed that it is the biggest "Dragon" word written in calligraphy. Well, nothing impressive.

Continuing my way up and more stone monuments by the side of the stone stairs. Despite the climb, the chill weather was pleasing and the shade was very helpful.

The stairs are endless but I was determined to reach the top despite exhausted from all the walks in the past 5 days.

More stairs to climb and stone monuments are still found by the side. There are more man made structures now compared to the previous path. However it was strange that I didn't felt as tired before and manage to keep up going up and up, while overtaking a couple who stopped and took a breathe.

The corridor lead me towards this little outpost known as 仙墨轩 which was used to be the gathering spot for many literates during the Ming and Qing dynasty, which stores many of the writings and artifacts of these peoples, hence the name.

It's a small area with nothing much except for some paintings and writings that were on display. There were no people in there except for a guy who is in charge of cleaning.

I move on and continue climbing the endless stairs and the crowd is getting more, most of them panting to grab a breathe after the long climb. I finally saw tar road again, which was the earlier route that I mentioned which is longer but easier. From here I saw the road post stating MoXing Summit towards the right side.

There's still about 200 meters to go from the blue colour sign board. There's military facility on the right side with heavy vehicles moving in and out.

When I was dashing for the final 100 meter, I saw this electric car passed by and I was thinking "I should have bought the ticket for electric car!". Anyway, the electric car facility is to cater for those elderly or simply want the easy way up.

Another shadow selfie when reaching the destination. No, I don't do actual selfie.

So... at the end of the 200 meters is actually the entrance for MoXing summit instead of the peak itself. I almost fainted on the spot when I realise the peak is still way further. But it's too late to back out. I paid the RMB5 entrance fee and proceed my adventure upwards.

Read more in detail about MoXing Summit in a separate post:

[PLACE] 20141222 Moxingling 摩星岭 @ Baiyun, Guangzhou

The pathway lead up to an open space with a big wishing tree. There are a few "photographers" offering photographing services for "free" but as I said, nothing comes free. Red ribbons are for sale for about RMB5 to RMB10. A few stalls offering drawing and sketching services, as well as souvenirs for sale.

However this climb is totally different and rewarding with very nice views and scenery from every angle. Spotted this white hut from afar and zoomed in to frame a contrast between the modern and the traditional; civilised vs nature.

That's the first junction and I'm welcomed with such scenery, can't wait to go further up. Another stone arch and more stairs to go!

The view from the opposite side of the stone arch on the way up, captured using my ultra wide angle lens.

After another few minutes climb from the previous view point, I arrived at a wider area with a convenient store. I spotted a radio tower behind it and I guessed I must be close to the peak.

There's a stone monument stating the altitude of 382 meters above sea level with Beijing being 1,900km away from the current location.


From here, I have an almost unobstructed view of the whole Guangzhou city but too bad there isn't any unique landmarks or buildings in this view and the iconic Guangzhou Tower is miles away from the mountain. The clear blue sky indicates that there is no sign of cloud during this winter season, unlike what the name suggested as the White Cloud Mountain.


I continued walking away from the peak towards the north side of the mountain just to realise that the peak is only a small part of the whole mountain range. I stopped at a point, overseeing HuangPo Reservoir. Took a few frames and decided to head back instead of continuing the whole journey. I realised everything in China is BIG, BIG and BIGGER.


Going down is much easier than climbing up and not long after I followed my original path back down, I'm already in the cable car cabin heading down towards the terminal. Without me realising, it's already late in the afternoon and my stomach is grumbling. The journey to BaiYun area took longer than my expectation and I have missed my lunch hour.



I decided to explore the nearby street known as HengZhi Gang Street 横枝岗 and noticed there are quite a number of food stalls and fruit stalls. But nothing special in particular to be honest.


Some common noodle stalls, buns, cookies are available and this particular stall above is selling pickled fruits and vegetables.

I settle down by trying the Spring Onion wrap 葱油饼, which is some sort of thin dough wrapped with spring onion and pan fried until crisp. A very common snack in China and Taiwan. Flavour wise was so so but not expecting much to begin with and just wanted to fill my stomach. They sell this snack by weight instead of pieces.

I walk towards the Lihu Park after filling my tummy. I noticed most of the trees around the city, including those in SZ as well are painted white at the lower end of the trunks. I believed it was intentional and when I went back, I googled the reasons and discovered that this is for winter protection against pests. Not sure how true is it.

The LuHu park is a popular spot for recreation and for a walk especially the elderly.



The golden rays of the evening sky has tainted the lake water, as if the calm lake is a big piece of mirror reflecting its lights. The trees also having a yellow cast on the leaves, making me felt like its still autumn.

Apparently the LuHu lake is also a popular fishing spot with a few anglers casting their lines but didn't notice anyone with any catch.

There was this funny incident where a middle eastern guy was holding his phone and recording while keep saying "Ni Hao" 你好 (How are you?) to everyone he met and even followed a couple around, causing quite a havoc. Notice the guy second from right, holding a phone? That's him.

There's this 白云仙馆 (translates: White Cloud Courtyard) at the opposite side of the road which looks like quite an old house but still well maintained despite no visitors. It was actually a place whether poet and literates gather during the old days by the side of the lake. There's a 对联 saying "香火千年祖庭瞻仰 云山四面仙客栖迟" which roughly translates to "burning joss sticks for thousand years at the ancient courtyard, surrounded by mountain with clouds with guest returning late" which basically means honored guests and visitors are attracted by the beautiful scenery and majestic of the courtyard, until they are reluctant to leave. Hope my mandarin level is good enough to interpret.

While there's nothing much inside the courtyard, the backyard however is a beautiful bamboo garden with tall and thick bushes of Chinese bamboo and a big lotus pond at the side. However, it's winter and the lotus pond is basically dried and empty.

Took a bus back from Luhu Park and noticed another community message on the side of the road reminding the people to be mindful of the social responsible as a citizen. The government is really serious about revamping the public image.

Sky turns dark after close to an hour bus ride back to ZhongShanBa station. Today is winter solstice and many people are closing up early for celebration. Most of the restaurants are fully booked as well. However, there are still some hardworking people, staying late to earn a penny or two. Shoe polishing service is pretty common in China, but not so in Malaysia.


I walked towards the back alley of the station and found rows of shops at both sides of the road with busy human traffic. This picture is particularly quiet because it's away from the main street.


A traditional tea shop, selling various type of Chinese tea leaves.

I simply packed a packet of rice and head back to the hotel for a rest before moving on for my next destination later.


After a good meal and a bottle of beer, I head back to the bus terminal to catch a bus to the XiTi pier (West pier) because tonight I will be taking the ZhuJiang (Pearl River) night cruise! The river bank is a very wide pedestrian street with many couples taking a walk, especially at night to enjoy the nice night view under the chilly winter weather.


The pier is located just next to the ShaMian island, which was a British colonial terrority back in the days and the western architectural influence is strong here.


People commutes to and fro the ZhuJiang river by these ferries everyday. However, my night cruise will be in a slightly better ferry than this.


Briefly checked the ticketing counter for price and schedule. Cruise time is about 80 minutes but actual cruise might be lesser. The ticket price starts from RMB48 up to RMB108, depending on the grade of seats. The higher the deck, the better the view, the more expensive the ticket will be.

Read more in detail about MoXing Summit in a separate post:


I bought the cheapest ticket at RMB48 with complementary snack and a bottle of water. My ferry departs at 8:40pm so I had some time to walk around and took some night shots of the surroundings.


There are actually a few piers offering the same night cruise service and operated by different operators, with different type of boats. While waiting for my ferry, I noticed a few different ferries passing by. Some with fancy design like a traditional boat, while some are modern cruise with pub and dance floor.


After about 20 minutes wait, my No. 18 ferry is finally here. My deck is the lowest, closest to the water, and the view will be blocked by the railings. Well, beats me to it.


Since I'm not getting any good view in the deck, I decided to stay at the rear deck for the whole journey, enjoying the whole cruise via the buttock view.


Saw the condominiums that I passed by yesterday after my dinner.


The ferry slowly cruise towards the HaiZhu district where the CBD and GuangZhou tower sits. The colourful buildings lit the dark sky and is very eye catching from a far. Took me a few shots on the boat to capture a sharp image without motion blur.


Another cruise boat pass by with very loud music. These fancy boats have a theme each. I wonder how much does these cruises cost.


My night cruise ends at the Guangzhou Tower where the cruise makes a U-turn and heads back to where we depart. The whole cruise took about an hour instead of 80 minutes. It was a nice experience to cruise along the Pearl River for a price of RMB48.

I walked to a nearby bus stop and slowly read the route map to find a bus back to my hotel. I waited for more than 10 minutes for a bus that will pass by my hotel area and board the night bus. It was an exhausted day with all the walk and hike, I guessed I will call it a day.

Read more about:

Day 1: [DIARIES] 20141217 Day 1 Hong Kong - Lantau Island, Tsim Tsa Tsui, Mong Kok
Day 2: [DIARIES] 20141218 Day 2 Hong Kong - Wong Tai Sin, Central, Victoria Harbour
Day 3: [DIARIES] 20141219 Day 3 Hong Kong - Jordan, Mong Kok
Day 3: [DIARIES] 20141219 Day 3 Shenzhen - Luohu
Day 4: [DIARIES] 20141220 Day 4 Shenzhen - Nanshan, Luohu
Day 5: [DIARIES] 20141221 Day 5 Shenzhen - Futian
Day 5: [DIARIES] 20141221 Day 5 Guangzhou - Haizhu
Day 6: [DIARIES] 20141222 Day 6 Guangzhou - Baiyun, Haizhu
Day 7: [DIARIES] 20141223 Day 7 Guangzhou & Zhuhai - Liwan, Yuexiu, Gongbei
Day 8: [DIARIES] 20141224 Day 8 Macau
Day 9: [DIARIES] 20141225 Day 9 Macau