From Hong Kong we caught a comfortable express train to Guangzhou-there were only three people in the carriage so it was very peaceful! The locals love their cellphones and use them anywhere and everywhere so it was a relief not to have dozens of them yelling into their phones.
Guangzhou main stationJohn had some tense moments at the Chinese border as they examined his passport under fluorescent light and had several senior officials with magnifying glasses checking it over. I was on the other side of the border and was told to stay there! As we have been carrying our passports and other valuables under our clothes they are starting to get a bit battered looking and the lamination on John's is crinkled and starting to lift. Let's hope it manages the next 12 months!
We booked into a very clean and comfortable hotel with 2 double beds and free internet connections-so nice after the 'Hong Kong cupboard'. This hotel provides clean towels daily, toothpaste and brush, soap, shampoo and body wash, shower hats, cotton buds, a sewing kit, shoe polish mitts, and disposable slippers! It is not a flash international hotel but a small local Chinese hotel and we have a standard not deluxe room- they have lots more things. We are enjoying such pampering as most backpackers hostels don't even have toilet paper or soap let alone all these other goodies.
A steetman with his worldly goods and 2 cats.While in Vietnam, we met Qui Zhi Min from Guangzhou and met up with her here and went to a local very popular Chinese restaurant for a meal. She is a great traveller and we had great fun sharing photos and travel stories and we hope she will visit us in NZ in the future.
In 1983 some excavations unearthed the tomb of Emperor Yue from 100 BC. It had never been discovered by grave robbers so it had some amazing relics. The museum is built over the tomb and is facinating- it shows he was buried with his concubine, cook and musicians. They were all sacrificed for him for the afterlife.
We hunted down several 'tourist' offices but could not find a map of the city in English- thank goodness for the Lonely Planet guidebook that has some basic maps of the most visited sites in the city!
The metro system is almost complete and we were able to find a guide in Chinese and English and could find our way around that to visit places of interest.
Springtime in the parks!Many of the buildings are lit up with neons and coloured fairy lights at night so it is lovely to stroll around the parks and see the night lights.
Guangzhou is an international exhibition city and we passed one centre that had displays of advertising products.
The old Chinese bikes are so strong! This water bottle deliveryman lost his load avoiding pedestrians while riding on the footpath.
Shamian Island was the first part of Guangzhou settled by foreign traders. Today it is s lovely area of avenues and there were many Americans with Chinese baby girls in strollers. they have to stay a month in the city before taking the babies home.
