Four of us decided to make a walking-eating Rendezvous (WAR) to Guangzhou, China.(Guangzhou is the capital city of Guangdong Province)
With Tony be the advance party - attending to his personal matters days early in Guangzhow, booking hotel and marking out our road map, Susan flying in from Singapore and us from Kuala Lumpur, we met up in Guangzhou Baiyun airport at the early morning of July 10.
We checked into our Pearl River fronting hotel at about 3:30 am.
With hardly 3 hours of sleep, we started our WAR at 9:00 am.
It was a hot summer in Guangzhou with day time temperature reaching 35 degree, we, the tropical residents, were sweating profusely ... my shirt was soaking wet throughout the day.
The first place of visit was just across the Pearl River. We boarded a ferry to cross over to the other side, and it cost RMB 0.50 ( 50 cents RenMinBee).
It was my dream came true to visit the Sacred Heart Cathedral of Guangzhou. Our Kajang former Cathecist, the late Lucy Leong was from Guangzhou, and frequently mentioned this beautiful "stone house)" in her home country.(It was popularly known as The Stone House because the church was built with stone blocks)
The construction of the Cathedral started in 1861, and took 26 years to complete.
Two foundation stones were blessed and laid on each side in 1863 by a French Bishop, with the word "Roma" and "Jerusalem" engraved respectively.
One kilogram of soil from Rome and a stone from Jerusalem were laid under the foundation stones respectively.
It is a grand and beautiful church.
After our visit to the Cathedral, we went straight to have the famous Cantonese Dim Sum for breakfast.
We went out the whole day, exploring the city and food - by foot, ferry, Metro and public buses.
( More pictures in Facebook )
我们四人决定到羊城（广州），来个“步行吃喝游”。
东尼 (Tony) 是我们的先头部队 - 他提前几天来的广州，处理一些私人事务，然后定下酒店，安排我们的数天的行程。
苏珊(Susan) 从新加坡起飞，我们则从吉隆坡飞来，在七月十日的凌晨，大家在广州白云机场回合。三时半左右，我们进驻了珠江河畔的酒店。
虽然只有三个小时的睡眠，但我们在早上九时，就开始了广州游的第一天。
正值是夏天，这里的气温达到35摄氏度，对来自热带动我们来说，也是酷热难顶，全身汗如雨下。我的衣服一整天都是湿的。不过，热天好过下雨天，我们还是怀着愉快的心情，享受这里的一切。
我们要去的地方，就在我们酒店的江对面，所以，我们乘搭渡轮过江，只需两分钟，票价是人民币五角钱。
来到了广州“石室”圣心主教座堂，是我们梦想的实现。记得我们的已亡传道员梁姑，她常常向我们提起她家乡这座美丽的『石室』教堂，另我非常的憧憬。
这座主要以石块建成的法国式教堂，在1861年开始创建，用了26年的时间，才得以完成。
教堂两边的大柱，有两块奠基石，分别刻上了ROMA （罗马）和 JERUSALEM（耶路撒冷）两个字，表示了天主教会的根源及扩展。
ROMA 的石块下，埋放了一公斤来自罗马的泥土，JERUSALEM 的石块下，则放了一块来自耶路撒冷的石头。 这两块奠基石是由法国的一位主教，在1962年祝圣及安放的。
这是一间深居历史性的美丽教堂。
参观了教堂后，我们就到一家茶楼“饮茶”。（广东人所谓的吃点心）。
接下来的就是更多的步行观光及享受美食。
我们外游了一整天，体验了乘搭渡轮，地铁及巴士等交通工具。
（更多照片Facebook）
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