Guangzhou

We got the train from Shenzhen to Guangzhou and spent a couple days exploring Guangzhou.

Ruby was complaining there was no "Welcome back to the PRC" sign, but then we found this. 

We got to our hostel, which was just across the street from the river and had a really nice view!

We needed to walk about a mile to go find and ATM that would accept Visa, so we found some food nearby. We ended up with a pretty weird dinner that I didn't enjoy that much. We realized we knew nothing about Cantonese food and so it was hard to order and know what we were going to get.

We also got the most insane portions of the dishes we ordered. Hand for reference.

That evening we walked along the river - so pretty!

We also found this funny notice in our hostel. The line that really got us was the one warning us about our belongings being cheated pornographically?

The next morning, I found some barbecue pork buns for breakfast. They tasted exactly like I imagined steamed buns would taste before I went to China for the first time.

We then took the ferry across the river for 1 RMB.

We visited this park, which had kind of colonial looking buildings

The park was really lush and there were amazing old trees.

We also found this weird shop with communist memorabilia and some interesting signs: "personality of the hat."

Also this statue?

We then rented bikes and cycled to this big temple. 

The temple was really nice and still active.

We were told that if we went to this temple, we should go to a nearby vegetarian canteen. There was one just around the corner. It was a buffet and you also paid whatever you wanted. It was like an honesty box. I've never seen anything like that in China. Also the food was so nice and fresh.

While we were eating, it started pouring down with rain. We wanted to go to a shop around the corner, so we walked around that neighborhood, which was cool. 

We then went to this street with all these cafes and bars. The only one that was open was this not-as-nice-looking one. They did sell beer, which is what we were after. They were the most expensive Coronas ever, but that's all they had. It was worth it. The lady there was really nice. She gave us some free french fries!

She also was putting on a movie and we asked if she could play Mulan - she had never seen it! It was  shame the volume was all the way down so she couldn't get the musical experience.

While we were there, my friend from Guangzhou messaged me and recommended this dim sum place  Dian Du De 点都德 (apparently Guangzhou dim sum is superior to Hong Kong dim sum).

We got all kinds of things. We got spring rolls and veggie dumplings. 

We got more of the shrimp dim sum with crab roe on top that I liked in HK, tofu soup, and the sausage ones (which have a fried dough inside in Guangzhou). 

On the way back, we casually saw these men burning papers. Seemed like it was related to tax evasion.

From there, we went to the center to see the Canton Tower. I love how it's lit up rainbow. 

We then walked down the river, picked up bikes, and cycled to the metro station further into town. It was a nice way to see a bit more of the center city area. I think I could live in Guangzhou - it's a very chilled out place. 

Back at the hostel, we decided to try the local beer, which is named after the Pearl River that runs through Guangzhou. 

The next day, we were a little fed up with touristing, so we first went to get a gel manicure, so we would have painted nails for graduation. It was relatively cheap and we had a good chat with the ladies there. 

Afterwards we went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch, then went back to the same mall where we got our nails painted because there was a movie theater there. We went to see Incredibles 2, which was somehow screening in English. I really had a great time having a girly day with Ruby.  Then we went back to the hostel. We got our supplies for our overnight train and then went to the train station in the late afternoon. 

Just like that we were leaving Guangzhou and I was on my way to Shanghai!

I'm always surprised by how different different parts of China are. Guangzhou was the first place where I really felt most people wouldn't understand Mandarin, where I didn't know at all how to order food, and where I couldn't read the signs (they use traditional characters a lot). It's really interesting to try to get around. I would really like to go back to Guangzhou to just chill out. I would also like to check out Shenzhen.