I had booked a 3-person Regency Club Room, which apparently does not happen very often there, for when we reached the check-in area at the ground floor, we were whisked away by the manager to check in at the exclusive Club area, where I completed the formalities while my parents sipped tea, coffee and an assortment of snacks. Apologies for the quality of the pictures though...
Notice how my parents are sitting apart yet again....
This is the outdoor balcony for Club guests to enjoy their evening meals overlooking the lake. Not so advisable in winter though...
This was our room. It was large and comfortable, with a balcony which, athough not facing the lake, provided decent scenery. Not that I spent a lot of time there, what with the temperature range being 10-15 degrees.
My Mum wanted to stay to watch David Ferrer take on Andrew Murray in the Australian Open, so after settling in, my Dad and I went for a quick walk in the surrounding environs.
This is the stretch of park that leads right out from out hotel.
This is the swimming pool, which when viewed from an angle, gives one the impression that he or she is swimming in the lake. Again, that seems a facility best used in summer.
This is the stone cum...err... cultured tree park abutting the main section of the lake.
Complete with the oft spoken about direct translations of Chinese words into English.
This is the entrance to the lake and park proper. We found out that there was a tourist office, bicycles for rent and tram rides on offer, though they were all closed for the day.
It was then time for dinner but my Mum was really quite engrossed in the tennis match so it was left to Dad and I to do some site-seeing around the place. We were told that it was probably a bit too far and too late to head to the city centre but that we could do a spot of shopping around the centre of the town/district we were in, which was Dalang. Again, there was a more heartlands kind of feel to this area, unlike the glitzy, commercialised centres of the bigger cities.
We had dinner in a fast food joint. Nothing you couldn't get in Singapore - but not in a fast food joint! The meat inside the claypot is goose, by the way.
We then contented ourselves with walking through a stretch of Chinese New Year decorations which we chanced upon.
That was all very nice. But we were freezing, and so headed back for the night.
The next day, after a decent breakfast at the Club, all three of us headed down for the lake to catch a tram ride around the lake. I will say at this point that the lake and its surroundinds were truly beautiful and would have made the trip worthwhile but that the pictures do not do justice to it. Firstly, because I am a lousy photographer, secondly because most of it was seen when we were on a tram and lastly because I was cold so I preferred most of the time to keep my hand and camera in the pocket instead of at the ready.
The tram actually goes one round around the lake but makes a pit stop at a beach with deck chairs and all. One actually has to pay 10Yuan to go in. The winter price was 5Yuan but there were no takers. Pity I couldn't get a shot though.
In addition, there were other amenities and forms of entertainment. One could water-zorb (I made up that word) or fish or rent a paddle boat, which I think is what those hardy people behind my Mum and I in the picture were going to do. Obviously we did none of that.
And that was it for Dongguan, really. For next, we were off to Zhuhai.
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