Our journey to Macau and Kaiping was officially an end. On the last day, we tried a different route and took a coach from Kaiping to Lo Wu, Shenzhen. Then, eventually take the MTR back to Hong Kong. We did learn a lot in this trip by visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in both places. If you would like to know more tips for our budget travel this time and what we liked most of this journey, check out our latest YouTube video!
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After the trip to Majianglong Village, we continued our journey to Jinjiangli. The main reason why we came here is to see the Kaiping's First Diaolou (開平第一樓), Ruishu lou, which is the the tallest diaolou in the area. We took the local bus No. 613 at the bus stop where we got dropped off earlier. From Majianglong Village to Jinjiangli Bus No. 613 Start Point: Majianglong Road Entrance End Point: Jiangjianli Road Entrance Bus Fare: ¥2 RMB Duration: 10 mins Walk around 1.5km to the Jiangjianli 錦江里 where the UNESCO diaolou cluster is located Jinjiangli was populated by the Wong’s family. There are 3 dialou there. They are Jinjiang lou, Shengfeng lou and Ruishi lou. The normal ticket allows access to Jinjiang lou and Shengfeng lou. Ruishi lou is privately owned, if you are lucky, you may be able to join a private tour for 20RMB/USD3 to check out the inside. The first diaolou of our visit in Jinjiangli is called Shengfeng lou 升峰樓. It was built in 1928 using reinforced concrete. It was built by a wealthy Chinese migrant to the US. It is a 7-storey building and it featured a fusion of Indian and South Asian architectural styles. The next diaolou that we visited was Ruishi lou 瑞石樓. It’s the tallest Diaolou in Kaiping. We were fortunate that someone from the owner’s family was there, who was willing to open the door for us with a fee (20RMB/USD3) . With 9 storeys at a height of 25m, Ruishi lou 瑞石樓 was built between 1923 to 1925. The owner was a Hong Kong businessman with a surname Wong. The private tour at Ruishi lou was very fruitful. The descendant of the owner, Mr. Wong, gave us an introduction of his family tree. Then, we were free to walk around the every floor of the tower. The best thing was you could stay as long as you want inside the tower. Mr. Wong also shared a lot of Feng Shui* stories about Ruishi lou to us. We thought this private tour was worth more than USD3, not only for having time to check out every detail of the tower, but also hearing all kind of history from a real descendant first-handed. *'Feng Shui': literal translation is 'wind & water' "Feng shui is an ancient Chinese art of arranging buildings, objects, and space in an environment to achieve harmony and balance." www.nationalgeographic.org
You could immerse yourself with the private tour at Ruishi lou by watching the latest YouTube video. Enjoy! Day 1 of our Kaiping journey was a fruitful one as we could get away from the tourists' crowd and had our own little adventure. The best part of every vagabonding is communicating with the locals. If we didn't meet the gate attendant at Chikan Ancient Town on Day 1, we would not have known some of the non-touristy sight-seeing spots :) Our second touring spot in Kaiping, China - Majianglong Village 馬降龍 In the morning of Day 2, we continued our adventure to Majianglong Village, Kaiping. Again, unlike most of the tourists, we took the local bus to the area. The transit system in Kaiping was not too complicated. Once you have figured, it's actually quite smooth to use the local bus to get around the UNESCO World Heritage sites in town. We took the local bus No.616 from the closest bus stop near to Milan Hotel to Majianglong Road Entrance (¥6 RMB for a 45 mins bus ride). The morning commuter bus was very crowded, but it meant that more locals will be helping us on the bus. Start Point: Milan Hotel (closest local bus #616 station, Sanjiang bridge 三江橋頭） End Point: Majianglong Road Entrance 馬降龍路口 Bus Fare: ¥6 RMB Duration: 45 mins Walk around 2km to the Majianglong Village 馬降龍村, where the UNESCO diaolou cluster is located  After getting off the bus no. 616 at Majianglong Road Entrance, we walked 2km to the Majianglong Village, where the diaolao clusters are located. About Majianglong Diaolou Cluster Majianglong Diaolou Cluster Situated on the flatland along the eastern coast of Tanjiang River, the Majianglong Villages are under the jurisdiction of the Baihe Township Which are composed of five villages: Yong'an and Nan'an Villages of the Huang family and Qinglin, Hedong and Longjiang Villages of the Quan family. Yong'an Village was established during the Qianlong period *1736-1795*. In the early years, it was known as 'Fengsuilang', which bears the symbolic meaning of 'good harvest year after year'. After 1948, the township renamed the place 'Majianglong'. A large number of the villagers emigrated to the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. The several Diaolou and eight villas in the village were constructed in the early 20th century. In June 2001, the Majianlong Diaolou was designated by the State Council as a National Cultural Heritage preservation site. In June 2007, the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed Majianglong Villages on its World Cultural Heritage List. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1112/
 There are around 10 Diaolou clusters in the area. At the time of the visit, there were 2 of them (Junlu Villa & Lin Villa) open for public to visit. We didn't realize that we actually need a ticket to enter the Majianglong area until we were stopped by a ticket officer when we tried to enter inside Junlu Villa. Apparently, since we were taking a local bus and walk the 2km, we didn't pass the main gate (where they sell the tickets). We were actually entering the village at the back door. Since Chris wouldl ike to check out the inside of Junlu Villa & Lin Villa, we went back to ticket office to purchase our tickets. Ticket price of Kaiping Diaolou Area: The Kaiping Dialou areas comprise 4 areas • Zili Village • Liyuen • Majianglong • Jinjiangli All-in-one package price (valid for 2 days): ¥180RMB Individual area ticket price: • Zili Village: ¥78RMB • Liyuen: ¥100RMB • Majianglong: ¥50RMB • Jinjiangli: ¥50RMB We went into the 2 diaolou and check out what were inside. Both of them were quite similar in set-up. But it was interesing to see the old ancient furniture mixed with western style renovation, especially the floor pattern. It made each floor of the building very colouful.
First building to visit - Junlu Villa 駿蘆 This villa was built in 1936 by Guan Chongjun on his return to China from Canada. This building is named after him. It’s 4 storeys high and offers some great views. The floor plan inside is just like a normal home with common rooms, bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen. The decorations inside fusion Chinese and various Western architectural styles. Second building to visit- Lin Villa 林蘆 Our ticket also included a visit of another building in Majianlong, which is called Linlu Villa. This Villa was built by Guan Dinglin in 1936 when he returned to China from Mexico. Not to our surprise, this villa is also named after the builder. We went inside and it looks very similar to the Junlu villa. it’s a three storey building. The villa is full of ancient Chinese style furniture but the floor pattern on each floor is very western stylish, which makes the whole interior very colorful. We did not take a lot of photos inside the two buildings as we were busy taking footages for our YouTube video. This YouTube video has recorded our journey to Majianglong Village! If you would like to follow along our journey, don't forget to subscribe our YouTube Channel (@worldvagabonding). There are different types of traveling style. Some people like going to resorts while others enjoy going to fancy dining place or exploring different cuisines from around the world. For us, we like to keep our travel budget low and spend only on the experience. That's why we like traveling by mass transit, it usually won't cost much but you capture the most memorable and valuable experience. When we were planning the trip to Kaiping, China, we were a little bit confused as there is not much information online about taking local buses to the UNESCO Diaolou areas. Luckily, one of us can read Chinese. It makes planning a trip in China a little bit easier. Even so, the information on the internet in Chinese regarding the local buses in Kaiping is scarce. Anyhow we figured out eventually and once you are at the spot, it is actually not very difficult to tour around Kaiping, China with local buses. We spent 3 days 2 nights in Kaiping, China by using public transport and here is the part 1 of how we did that. Where did we start our journey? We started our journey in Zhuhai (after touring around Macau). We stayed in the a hotel which was very close to the Zhuhai Gongbeu Bus Terminal. At 8am in the morning, we took a charter bus from Zhuhai to KaiPing. Start Point: Zhuhai Gongbeu Bus Terminal 珠海拱北汽車客運站 End Point: Kaiping Bus Terminal No.28 Xijiao Road 開平汽車總站 （西郊路28號） Coach Duration： 2.5-3 hours Coach Fare: ¥70 RMB, requires identity/travel document to purchase ticket Where did we stay in Kaiping? We stayed in a 2-star hotel called Milan Hotel 米蘭酒店 (No.16 Xijiao Road 西郊路16號). It is opposite to the Kaiping Bus Terminal. Please stay tuned in later blogs for the hotel review. Our first touring spot in Kaiping, China - Chikan Ancient Town 赤坎古鎮 When we settled down in Kai Ping, it was almost noon. While we still had the whole afternoon to ourselves, we decided to start exploring. Our first spot is called Chikan Ancient Town 赤坎古鎮. We took the local bus No.606 to Chikan Ancient Town (¥5 RMB for a 30 min bus ride). It was the last stop of local bus No. 6060, so you won't get lost easily. Starting Point: Milan Hotel (closest local bus #606 station, Sanjiang bridge 三江橋頭） End Point: Chikan Ancient Town Entrance Bus Fare: ¥5 RMB Duration: 30 mins  Full access to town sites requires a ticket, however we only toured the non-ticket zones (town under refurbishment and quite touristy). We spoke to a very helpful gate attendant when exiting, who gave advice on where to find sites less-travelled. He provided us a landmark of the local Municipal Government Building to help us find another spot with interesting brickwork and where the UNESCO Research Centre is situated. (Note: This building cannot be located on Google maps, but you may find it on a Chinese map app - type in 開平市赤坎鎮人民政府). Following the instruction from the gate attendant, we walked to his recommendation. The nearly 1.2km walk was totally worth it. On the way, we got to see some hidden diaolous and talk to the local to understand more about Chikan Ancient Town.  After visiting his recommendation, we walked back to where we got off the local bus No.606 and took the same bus back to Milan Hotel, getting off at the bus station Sanjiang bridge 三江橋頭. For details of our part 1 journey, check out our #worldvagabonding Youtube channel! |
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