Foshan, China 🇨🇳

We ventured to Songtang Village and Xiqiao Mountain for a lovely day trip with Banana Tours in Foshan. Foshan is about an hour southwest of the center of Guangzhou. The day trip was well set up for families and included a gorgeous lunch.

Songtang Village is a quaint place to visit on a Sunday. Many of the older villagers were congregated under the Banyan trees playing Cantonese Opera music. Chinese opera has a very unique sound and it only added to the ambiance of the historic buildings and alleys we wandered about. This village is known for the many scholars who achieved great academic success in ancient China. You can see where many lived and some of the schools that they built.

After lunch we went to Xiqiao Mountain Park. There is a small lake you can walk around as well as visit the Baofeng Temple and statue on the hill. The temple is Buddhist and has many stunning representations of Buddha. Be prepared for lots of stairs!

Huangpu Ancient Port, Guangzhou, China

Huangpu Ancient Port (黄埔古村) was the original port that Southern China used to trade goods internationally. Many families lived and worked in the area creating things to shop abroad and/or working for the ships. Walking down the main road there were tons of vendors selling toys, snacks, and produce. Popular items included mangos, fish skins, chicken parts, and sweets.

Follow the winding roads out of the port area to Huangpu Village and see the well preserved Lingnan style historic buildings. The architecture was quite interesting as all of the roofs had unique designs at the ends that we hadn’t really seen in other parts of China before. There was a small museum that lead you through the history of the area (English and Chinese), which was helpful. Some of the other buildings we saw included the ancestral halls, a school, and performance stage.