~ Shantou-Jieyang (汕头-揭阳) - Day 2 (Part 1) ~

2nd June - Our second day and we'll be travelling to Jieyang (揭阳) for relatives visiting. Breakfast is buffet at Longhu Hotel and there is a spread of food. The only thing is it is not really to our taste. Most of the bread are harder and some of the food is quite salty. Nevertheless, the children LOVES buffet as they can pick whatever they want and eat all you can. :)

After our breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and head on to our next destination. Along the way, we realised it's pretty hard to find fast-food resturants here! We only manage to see McDonalds, KFC and Pizzahut  located (together) at one place in Shantou! That is why we saw an extremely long queue outside the 3 outlets yesterday (Children's Day) as parents took their kids out for a special treat. Our tour guide mentioned that they are even willing to wait for hours just to let their child happy! Oh My!

We all know the chinese name for McDonalds and KFC (i.e. 麦当劳 and 肯德基)...But do you know what is the chinese name for PizzaHut?? I never had that question in my mind and it never occurs to me that it is called 必胜客! ("Sure Win" Customer? hehehehe)

As per weather forecast before we arrived, today is going to be a Rainy Day... and true enough, it has been raining for the entire day throughout the journey. It's a good thing that we came here well prepared (with our umbrellas). ^_^ Due to the rain and wind, it is very cold.. (Probably about 22-24 degrees) The children put on their jackets to keep them warm and shelter them from the rain.

Inlaws went to visit an old neighbour's relative home and we stopped by for a short visit. The house is BIG! (about 3 storeys high). I lost count on the number of rooms inside but it is very spacious.

We kept ourselves entertained by taking photos. ^_^

After visiting, our tour guide suggested taking us to 古龙泉岩 which wasn't in our itinerary initially. It is a big temple and with it's strategic location and awesome view, it is 朝圣的风水宝地.

Within the temple, there are 观音阁, 大雄宝殿, 望仙桥 等. The pillars of the temples are beautifully sculptured with dragons and there are more carvings on the roof.

There is a flight of stairs to take in order to reach 古龙宫 and the view from the top is great! ^_^

Denver & Gladys with their cousins

The spring water (泉水) flows down to the dragon mouth from the top for the tourists/visitors to drink.

From here, there is another flight of stairs going further up.. but due to the rainy weather and slippery roads, we did not proceed as per safety guidance from our tour guide. As we took the stairs down, we saw another temple, 孔子庙 in construction (on the left side) and in the meantime, they are also gathering donations to build 妈祖庙 which will take a couple more years before the actual works will begin.

After prayers, it's time for lunch! Today's lunch is not included in our tour package and hence our guide recommended an eatery nearby and we ordered the dishes.

Oyster omelet, steam egg (a bit too salty), squid, steam fish, chicken etc.... common ingredients but cooked very differently. Interesting flavour that we do not normally get to taste in Singapore. :)

Read on for Shantou-Jieyang - Day 2(Part 2)