My favourite structure here was the remnants of the Soviet Union consulate. It was a red (hehe) building with a crumbling brick-lain facade, and decidedly not photogenic. Established in 1918, it was a little piece of history that we chanced upon, forgotten by the rest of the world. It was definitely not maintained in the least, though I wondered if the land was still technically Russia's. The other buildings, more celebrated online, were ...  unremarkable. They weren't noteworthy enough to justify the effort of extracting my iPhone from my pocket - and that says quite a bit. 

I'm not going to link to the many many blogs online lauding Shamian as a wonderland of European architecture, but for future travelers planning on coming to Shamian, a shot of reality is required - if you're expecting European structures in the majestic style of Gothic architecture, or am seeking the elegance of Renaissance-style structures, or sweeping buildings of the Baroque period, you're going to be disappointed. Shamian's architecture can be found in any country that had been colonised. There's a heavy use of stones and concrete, alongside the rounded arches of the doorways suggested a (I want to say pre-Gothic?) medieval style, perhaps where the colonisers don't feel entirely secure, and wanted buildings that can be fortified against a mob.   

This isn't a slur on Guangzhou - there's a hundred and one things I love about Guangzhou, hence the reason why my family keeps coming so regularly. But Shamian really isn't what every tourist-blogger plays it up to be, and clueless exaggerations made by these folks come back to bite Guangzhou in the butt - one eventually assumes there's nothing more exciting in the area than (insert an insipid location bloggers hype about to make their trips seem fun). It is what it is, and perhaps Shamian remains standing today less for the admiration of tourists, but more for the locals as a continual reminder - 'never again shall we be humiliated like this'.

沙面岛 (Shamian Island)

Closest metro is at 黄沙站. Cross the overhead bridge and follow the signposts. 

PS. Speaking on tourist-bloggers, don't even get me started on that Redtory structure; there isn't enough Photoshop in the world to make that construction look good. 

We split ways after Shamian, my dad and I to 上下九 (shang xia jiu) - (see Part 3 for a quick word on this area), and Miss XS and my mom to 动漫新城. We met up in the evening before heading over to Pearl River at night, for our nighttime cruise with the rest of the family. A number of different cruise companies are in the area, and we booked ourselves on GZ Star (广州之星游轮有限公司). Security was tight in Guangzhou, and we had to show proof of identity before being allowed to purchase tickets. (I assumed that the additional information would be useful in the unlikely event of a ship capsize, and they needed to track the number of people on board?) 

The nightview was rather charming, but we stood on the frigid deck for all of thirty minutes before heading back down below-deck, where it's warmer. Post-cruise, we headed off to Minghui Haiyun Restaurant for supper at 10pm (who knew that they even opened so late!), and had their signature fried carrot cake, which was astonishingly good. Sigh. 

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Our last day in Guangzhou was wistful - where did all the time go! I was intrigued by the 功夫茶 (kungfu tea) at dim sum the other day, and our relative offered to bring us to the Fangcun district to browse Yixing clay teapots. Before I knew it, he mobilised his personal friend, a tea connoisseur with over 300 tea pots in his collection, to help me pick one. Gulp.   

Seasoning Your yixing Teapot 

This is a four-step process meant to prep the teapot for optimal tasting notes in future brews. The addition of tofu counteracts the 热 or 'heatiness' from the clay. Sugar cane permeates the porous clay and sweetens tea in future brews. The last step brews the tea leaves of your choice in the teapot. Unlike porcelain tea sets, zisha teapots absorb the fragrance of tea that they are exposed to, and the builds up the fragrance of tea with each subsequent brew. On the flip side of the coin, because of how porous the clay is, tea connoisseurs only dedicate each teapot to one type of tea: one for pu-er, and another for oolong. Different sub-groups of oolong can hesitantly share a teapot, though purists might still prefer not to.

STEPS

1) Set the teapot in a rice cooker pot. Fill the tea pot and rice cooker with room temperature water, and let cook for 20 minutes.

2) Drain all the water, and fill the teapot with tofu. Submerge the teapot again in the rice cooker filled with room temperature water, and cook for 20 minutes.

3) Replace the tofu with chopped sugar cane. Repeat as per step 2.

4) Replace the sugar cane with the tea leaves that you're planning to use the tea pot for. Repeat as per step 2.

5) The pot is now seasoned. Avoid brewing different varieties of tea leaves in the same pot.