*continue from here.

After gobbled down half a dozen tarts at KFC, we were back on track. Initially we want to visit another historical site which looked like a small library but it was closed. But that doesn’t really matter to me as I was busy snapping away with my camera, especially those old back lanes.
We then decided to venture out of the city. We took Metro to Chigang Station and changed to public bus no 262 at Xingang Zhonglu. Their public transports are undeniably fast, efficient and punctual but the drivers’ behaviour (both on the road and towards the passengers) somehow… doesn’t up to expectation.

The journey took about 30 minutes and we finally reach the Xinzhou pier (Xinzhou Matou) in a small village, far away from the city centre. Our destination was Changzhou Island (not to be confused with Cheung Chau in HK or Changzhou city in Jiangsu although their pronounciation are similar in Cantonese), an island located at the mouth of Zhujiang River in East Guangzhou. From the pier, we can see that the village and its surrounding areas are some sort of a ship building or repairing docks, hence the water are quite dirty and polluted (you can see the oil floating on it).

Unfortunately, it started to rain when we reached the island, so we seek shelter at the nearest building which turned out to be the Whampoa Military Academy. Officially opened on 16 June 1924 by Sun Yat-sen and funded by the Soviets, the academy produced many prestigious commanders who fought in many of China’s conflicts in the 20th century. Multiple chambers with drawings of those who persevered or perished in battlefields are on display, with some part of the study rooms, dining hall, dorm and office have been recreated for viewing purpose. We also stopped by the double storey bungalow, where Sun Yat-sen’s stays whenever he came to Changzhou.
We decided to leave early as the weather doesn’t look promising. Back to hostel for good rest.

When night descends, we went out to scout for something light to bite. We actually skipped dinner as we don’t feel like having heavy meal (sounds weird, I know). We decided to stop by this shop at Luju Road, Fangcun, which was not too far away from our hostel and try out the dessert. The crowd seems to be enjoying the food here.

Calvin had the sweet peanut congee (fah sang wu) with glutinous rice balls (tang yuen). The peanut congee was smooth and brimming with peanut aroma, but the tang yuen doesn’t have any filling inside it.

Similar like Hong Kong, most of the dessert menu in Guangzhou are dominated by milk-based beverages. I tried the “Fried” Milk with Chocolate (typo error in the picture) and although it was special, as we can’t find this back in Malaysia, it somehow gave me the feeling that I’m having baby’s milk cereal. Served hot, the milk was sweet, thick like porridge and coarse in texture. Chocolate bits were aplenty in the mixture. Not too bad I would say but still… baby’s milk cereal. Hahaha.

We also ordered some fried sweet potato cakes, which were a bit greasy and unfortunately, soggy as well.
*to be continued…