Christmas Trip in China

I took this Christmas holiday to visit Chaozhou (The trip called “南澳島、汕頭市、饒平土樓、潮州古城聖誕節三天遊”). On the way, many wind turbines to generate electricity were observed, indicating that China needed more renewable energy.



We passed the Shantou Bridge.



Then I arrived at Raoping Earthen Building (饒平土樓).



Buildings were built according to the rule of Eight Trigrams (八卦). It used to defense the invader.



We stayed in Chao Zhou Hotel on 25 Dec 2011.



Next day, we went to Chao Zhou Ancient City. The guide explained the city model.



I took a photo in front of the House of Ancient Scholar (進士第).



The guide said scholar’s house was very luxury so that roof of house used many Tile (瓦片).



Moreover, there were many guide stations on the roof.



After that we visited the one of four Ancient Bridges in China called Xiang Zi Bridge (湘子橋).



The photo for night scene of that bridge



The special characteristic of that bride was the movable part in the middle of the bridge.



We went to Chaozhou Guangji gate tower (潮州廣濟門城樓).



The photo for night scene of that tower



Then we had a vegetarian lunch. The food was similar to Abalone (鮑魚).



The other food was similar to Squid (魷魚).



After the lunch, we visited the Ancient Temple called Kaiyuan (開元寺). (More than a thousand year!)



There were two Buddhism trees (培提樹).



This sculpture was corroded for a thousand years.



The guide explained why a wooden fish was found in every temple. It was because fish eyes were not closed, implying hardworking.



After visited the temple, we travelled the village by tricycle (三輪車) which used electricity rather than manpower.



The first day activities were completed. We went to Nanao Island through ferry.



Arrived the island, we visited Shantou Nanao Song Well (汕頭南澳宋井).



The sculpture memorized the last king of Song Dynasty.



I took a photo in front of the hotel in Nanao Island.



The photo showed the incomplete Nanao Bridge. After the bridge built, it could be driven to the island.



Photo of ferry



We went to the Garden of the Heaven Temple (天壇花園).



We took a cable chair up the hill.



And then we drove the roller coaster down the hill.



The video was taken.

Before the end of our trip, we had lunch in the restaurant called China Travel Restaurant. The most famous food called “Chaozhou 18-style meals(潮州十八式風味餐)”



潮州十八式風味餐
四小碟：潮汕酸咸菜、潮汕萝卜干（菜脯）、南姜咸欖、潮州烏欖
兩甜品：金瓜甜芋泥、清甜綠豆爽



六大菜：月浦鹵水鵝、新鮮烏頭魚、汕頭煎蠔烙、白灼游水蝦、生炒合時菜、郊外靚菜煲



六特色：牛魚丸湯、猪頭棕片、干炸果肉、糯米桃粿、煎茨殼粿、蕃薯米粥



It is a very good Christmas Trip for relaxing.