Thursday, October 22, 2015

Chao Zhou Old City 潮州古城 0.5: In/Out ChaoZhou 出入潮州

0337 hour, Oct/22/2015

killing time at the airport

after a week away from

Facebook, Intragram, Google, YouTube

 

holy, I even forgot how to

spell Instragram properly

wait a minute it’s Instagram right

okay.. spell it 10x please..

 

was supposed to drop a post before

I left but I didn’t because

was suddenly getting projects

 

I know right

it always happened that way

always such coincidently

 

Chao Zhou / Teo Chew / 潮州

it isn’t in the typical tourist’s map

and the suggested touring day is

usually 1 –2 days and

nothing more

 

previously were simple random thought

my grandpa on my mom’s side is

a Teo Chewist

 

yet understanding of

Teo Chew culture is minimal

they do not even speak the language

 

and at one point of time

I used to have the perception that

Chao Zhou is part of Fu Jian

 

but that misconception is not unfounded

despite being part of

Guang Dong / Canton / 廣東

 

(1) The Teo Chew dialect is similar to

some of the Fu Jian dialects

it is figure-out-able if you know those dialects

sometimes… I mean yeah

if they are not speaking too fast

 

(2) Chao Zhou is near to

some of the Southern Fu Jian cities

such as Zhang Zhou (漳州) and even Xia Men (廈門)

as compared to Guang Zhou and Shen Zhen

 

(2) The earlier Teo Chew folks were

classified into two sects of

those who migrated east-ward from Canton areas

and those migrated south-ward from Fu Jian areas

 

the vague ideas were realized

thanks to this guidebook

I bought at Cheng Du 4 months ago

P1300423

 

I mean if someone can manage to produce

an entire guidebook on this city

it is probably worth-exploring

and the content in there looks good

 

traveled to Chao Zhou via Shen Zhen

similar route can be taken from

Guang Zhou / Xia Men

From To Via
Shen Zhen Bao’An Airport 
深圳寶安
Shen Zhen North
深圳北火車站
  • Bus  + Metro
  • Bus M416 from
    the airport to Hou Rui metro station 后瑞地鐵站
    • direct 1-stop shuttle
    • 2 RMB
    • 5 mins away
  • Metro from Hou Rui to Shen Zhen North
    • 15 stations away
    • transfer at Bao’An Center 寶安中心
    • 7 RMB
    • 45-60 mins
Shen Zhen North 深圳北 Chao Shan
潮汕站
  • High speed rail 高鐵
  • Very frequent
  • 79.50 RMB
  • 2 hours 30 mins approx.
  • watch out for the stop, because it may not be the final stop, but a 3 mins transit station
Chao Shan
潮汕站
Chao Zhou City 潮州市
  • Express bus
  • The terminal is on the right upon exiting the station
  • 20 – 30 mins
  • 8 RMB
  • Goes through major roads
  • Stop by major bus terminals
  • Can hail for a stop along the way

 

This new high speed railway route

started operation back in 2013

runs from Shen Zhen to Xia Men

as one of the stations along

the train is quite frequent

 

yet we waited 3 hours for our train as

tickets were sold out

probably that was a Friday or

most people pre-booked their tickets online

 

reaching Chao Shan station after night fall

was planning to catch a cab

but still went on to try the bus

 

the problem was

language difficulty

I couldn’t really understand

the Teo Chew dialect

it took time to figure out

and the bus was dead packed

standing crowd with luggage and all

 

what the locals do is

just call out to the driver

and he will pull aside for

the person to alight

 

thanks to the reliable

Baidu GPS map with real-time location

it works even without going online

through pre-downloaded city map

 

I managed to track the route of the bus

and how far it is from my hotel

and will alight at the nearest possible

 

while I was deciding when and how to

signal the driver for a pull over

a man shouted for a drop-off

and we just followed him

and the hotel was like 10 steps away

 

City buses in Chao Zhou

It’s quite accessible

at least from where I was staying

a 7 Days Inn along Chao Feng road (潮楓路)

as mentioned above

the bus from railway station drops by

 

despite its name

7 Days Bus Terminal branch (七天汽車總站點)

 

just to mention

the bus terminal 潮州汽車總站

is actually for inter-city express buses

to nearby cities such as

Shan Tou 汕頭, Rao Ping 饒平, Jie Yang 揭陽

as well as other long-distance buses to

 

look out.. despite being on the same road

the bus terminal is a few kilometers away

on the other end… 4 bus stops away

and agoda actually labeled the wrong location

 

buses 1/2/8/12 goes to the Old City

where most of the attractions

are concentrated at

 

a huge Lotus hypermarket opposite the hotel

an ideal landmark to identify

and somewhere to kill time

after night fall

卜蜂蓮花超市 / 潮州  Lotus hypermarket / Chao Zhou

 

besides loitering at hypermarket

there’s really nothing much you can do

besides couching with

the 100+ (local) channels cable tv

but first let me go Lotus and

grab some chips and drinks and yogurt

 

the same clue-less situation

applies to their city buses

there’s no auto reminder or LED display

like the other cities do

you just have to get ready and

tell the driver you want to get off soon

 

The more local method

would be their trishaw

similar to Tuk-tuk in Thailand

some are electric-powered

some are manual cycling

Chao Zhou trishaw 潮州三輪車

 

on our way to the bus terminal

in order to catch a bus to train station

OMG.. going on reversed direction

lorries were coming and

there was another trishaw too

Chao Zhou trishaw 潮州

 

previously when the new Shen Zhen airport

came into operation

saw threads on Weibo about

how it is being a threat for people with

Trypophobia 密集恐懼症

can’t agree more

I guess the whole concept is about

eco-friendly, bee-hive-like for

both exterior and interior design

Shen Zhen Bao ' An Airport 深圳寶安機場

 

Chao Shan high speed rail station

Chao Shan being

Chao Zhou and Shan Tou 汕頭

a coastal city 1 hour away from Chao Zhou

潮汕站 高鐵 Chao Shan high speed rail station 

 

looks like the security at

high speed rail station has been

furthered strengthened

 

(i) Buying ticket with valid identity proof

(ii) Ticket and identity verification (NEW)

(iii) Bag scanning security-check

(iv) Auto-gate ticket check-in (15 mins b4 departure)

(v) Boarding ……… Alighting

(vi) Auto-gate ticket check-out upon arrival

 

but no worries

everything is conducted under perfect orders

even while waiting at the platforms

it has been labeled on the floor

with the specific coach number

 

so that you don’t have to run panic

looking for the right coach to enter

when the train pulls in

3 minutes later

it’s off accelerating at full speed again 

 

0600 hour

time to freshen up and walk around

before heading home at 7