China/Hong Kong: Bao Mai Palace
Another longish trip from Guangzhou-- 2 hours to Bao Mai Palace, which is a recreation of the Summer Palace near Beijing. This particular recreation is dedicated as a tourist trap, but this time that means it's exquisitely maintained, and filled with other historically-significant recreations. The rooms inside filled with jade items, ceramics, simulated displays of important persona and events in Chinese history, even the exterior artwork of myths and legends, they were all very impressive.
The rose garden, the zillions of fat koi fish in the ponds, the bridges... very cool. And yes, of course, turtles. Several archways, a room filed with a large gong and scrolls, it was actually a bit much to take in. Statues of several goddesses were also scattered around the Palace, including one very large one that probably would have been more impressive during the peak season. (aka, the artifical lake around that one had been drained... not exactly picturesque.)
And surprise surprise, another place with well maintained bathrooms. Far beyond what I was expecting. :-p
Outside, we did a bit of shopping, and we found that the tiny dumplings we had at one of the restaurants inside were being made right there. The card you see in the picture is approximately the size of a 4"x6" index card. o_0
Next stop was University Village, where they have a modern recreation of the traditional village on campus. We also passed by the school of engineering within the University (I forget which) itself, which looked brand-new and shiny.
Finally, off to Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park within Guangzhou proper. We didn't go inside the actual memorial hall, but we did go into the smaller exhibit on the side, which explained the history of Guangzhou and Dr. Sun Yat-sen's actions. Pretty nifty, even if we were tired as heck by now...
The last dinner of the tour followed; the food was mostly mentionable by the fact that instead of steamed shrimp (which they'd been constantly serving), they fried it this time. *shrugs* Hey, it was different and tasty. That and the room stank of carpet cleaner or something. Ick.
