Guangzhou (China) |

A 2D1N visit to Guangzhou

My first visit to China (a business trip).

Truth be told, I was eager to see for myself, the reality, of one of the world’s most popular countries.

Instead of flying from Singapore directly to Guangzhou, we flew to Hong Kong and immediately transited to the Airport’s SkyPier for a speedy 1 hour ferry ride to the Zhongshan Pier (in Guangzhou). There was no need to check-out at the immigration customs, very convenient! The ferry was spacious, clean and provides a good view of the passing vessels and the coastline towards the Pearl River Delta. Pleasantly smooth sailing.

Since I was there for a business trip, without any time for sightseeing, I shall just narrate my en-route observations:

Zhongshan is one of the prefecture-cities within Guangzhou. Whilst driving along the well maintained highways, I saw vast expanse of agricultural land, dotted with buildings in the yonder. Nearing the urbanized areas, there was an interesting juxtaposition of old and new; many old zinc roofed, single level shop-houses flanked by modern skyscraper apartments. Interestingly, most of the apartment units appeared cramped (and crowded) and yet each building maintained clusters of vacant ground -level shops.

The weather in September was pretty hot (approx 32 Degree Celsius) and humid. We enjoyed the occasional relief from the strong winds and rainfalls which were likely the effects from Typhoon Kalmaegi which swept past Hong Kong during the same period.

The main language of Guangzhou is Cantonese, which is similar to that of Hong Kong…. and I barely understood a word!

We stayed at the Panyu Hotel (番禺宾馆), the new building/wing, within the Panyu area of Guangzhou. There is good access to all the shopping and restaurants around. I was happy to find a Starbucks Coffee in the lobby, perfect for a morning cuppa to charge up. Staying in the newest section of the hotel may arguably be one of your best hotel experiences in the Panyu area. The rooms are clean, well presented and elegantly furnished. The hotel also offers a bus service which brings you all the way from Guangzhou to Hong Kong in 3 – 4 hours, traffic permitting.

Our return ferry trip to Hong Kong was cancelled because of the typhoon. As an alternative, we bought train tickets at the Guangzhou East Station and jumped on a 2-hour high-speed train to Hong Kong. Fast & clean, the interiors of the train reminded me of Japan’ s bullet trains. Highly recommended for the busy commuter.

Culinary experience

Dinner:

Pls see the 1st photo for the name & telephone number of this steamboat restaurant. It serves seafood (with yummy huge fresh oysters) along with the mainstream meat (duck, chicken, pork, beef) and the exotic (pigeons, turtle soup, an animal which was described to be a mammal with feathers & a beck (what?!) and others…..which I didn’t dare to probe further). We decided to only eat the mainstream meat, aka “eat what we know”, coupled with a steamboat filled with piping hot soup boiled with fresh fish, vegetables, mussels and abalone. Check out the photos.

Breakfast: Dim Sum Restaurant within the Panyu Hotel (番禺宾馆)

We had breakfast within the hotel for convenience. The dining space is modern with a slightly grandiose atmosphere and causal dining crowd. Accordingly, if you arrive past 9.00am, there would be a long queue. I find the Dim Sum to be average.