Where to: Guanzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Kaiping

With whom: Sam

When: April, 2017

How much: 3/5 $$$$$

Guangzhou is an industrial city that was grown dramatically over the last few decades, there’s not much tourism in the city or around the larger Guangdong province. By being there for a couple days and walking around, you get the feeling that there’s a lot of business going on and there’s a lot of people living there; but these are people who are not used to interacting with western visitors and speak very little if not absolutely no english. That made us feel more like outsiders (which we obviously where and which is fun and challenging and different but there’s always this small desire of blending in and being unperceivable while traveling abroad).

We left Guangzhou the next morning after we got there, heading to Hong Kong using a direct bullet train, but knowing we would be back to get a real glimpse of the city and not only this wet touch and go we had.

Our first impression of Hong Kong was that it seemed more friendly with english speakers and it all  looked considerably cleaner and well organized. We walked around Tsim Sa Tsui until we found the tiny room in the tiny hotel with a brilliant location we had booked. Not cheap and surprisingly small, but we had read about dense population and overpriced real estate in Hong Kong so we knew what to expect.

Hong Kong is impressive, exotic and beautiful. What struck us the most were the tall buildings everywhere, always in sight, going up towards the sky looking like they had no end, all in a tropical, humid ambiance, full of green mountains and trees everywhere, like nothing we had ever seen.

We did what we knew we would do; walk around from park to park, stopping in every other antique store, museum, landmark or temple. And the few days we had there flew by. Heavy rain and heavy clouds where a problem on the day we decided to ascend to the Victoria Peak for what promised to be the most beautiful view of the island and to stroll around the trails, but apart from that we managed just fine wearing our very comfortable outfit of short shorts and rain jackets.

Our last full day there we decided to do some hiking around Lamma Island so we packed light (swimming suit, light towel, camera, snacks and rain jacket) and spend the whole cloudy day there, walked from Yeung Shue Wan through the beaches, kamikaze caves and beautiful views and finished in Sok Kwu Wan where we ate in the Rainbow seafood restaurant, picking our meal from the tanks full of fresh water displaying an amazing variety of live creatures. The meal included a ferry  ride back to Central Hong Kong.

Next morning we took an hour ferry to Macau including the drag of border crossings and arrived to a very eccentric mix of cultures. Macau was a Portuguese colony until 1997 so most signals in the streets and stores are in both Chinese and Portuguese and all the social and architectural influence gives this place a very strange and interesting mix. It's also full of casinos, none of which we entered.

Next stop was Kaiping, back in Mainland China, but first we had to do the most complicated border crossing of them all, again, nothing impossible but difficult for sure. The best we could do was go with the flow of walking people and try to be intuitive about when and where to go. It didn’t end when we crossed into China cause we had to walk to a nearby bus station that was all signaled in Chinese, so I had to use a map on my phone to try and communicate where we wanted to go. It all worked out well and on that same day we hired a driver that took us to see the Watchtowers in different villages around the region.

We went to Zili which is a traditional village with 15 towers and to Chikán, that is a small town with small streets with shophouses lining the river. The experience was mesmerizing for sure, the towers are like nothing I had ever seen before, old displays of cultural influences rising from the green scenery, we were able to climb a couple of them and enjoy the cloudy but still beautiful sights.

That night, we got a good rest at the PanTower Hotel, “the place to stay in Kaiping” we had read, and it all made sense: we stayed on the 29th floor of a very tall building with neat service, comfortable beds, good amenities and very affordable prices.

When we got back to Guangzhou we weren’t feeling like complete strangers, we stayed for one more night there. Walked around Shamiàn Island, streets and parks (including Yuèxiù Park), visited the Mausoleum of the Nányuè King, and The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees amongst others. One of the best experiences we had before going back home was trying a traditional Dim Sum dinner at the very originally named “Guangzhou Restaurant”.

Foodwise

The region has a great reputation. Cantonese food is spice driven and has had a lot of influence from other parts of China and the world, based on its port location; so seafood is fresh, tea is everywhere and new things to eat or new ways to eat the old things are always an option. The simple things like Yuenyeung (coffee with tea) and street food, were great to try and enjoy.

Overall

The amount of people and the organization of buildings and living, struck me the most. Even living in Mexico City, I’m not used to the quantity and grandeur of these apartment buildings, it was impressive. Neon signs are trying to be replaced by cheaper fluorescent LEDs, but anyway there’s still a lot of light beaming while you walk the streets at night. Since we visited an industrial part of China, we had the feeling that they’re not used to having visitors and if they do they’re from other cities in China, so the way to relate and communicate with a western visitor is limited and can feel a bit hostile at times.

Would I go back?

Probably not. It was all new, interesting, different and fun, but apart from Hong Kong we came back feeling like we saw and did enough. So unless we come across another too hard to resist airline offer, we would prefer to visit all of what northern China has to offer,  before going back south, so we could get a complete look and a  well rounded opinion on our experience in the country.