If you read my previous blog, you know that I spent the past weekend in Guangzhou, China’s third largest city after Shanghai and Beijing. Since my roommate, Cindy, had to go to Guangzhou to take her National Interpreters Certificate exam, Iris and myself accompanied her to see some more of China.
After taking the two-hour bus ride from the Macau-Zhuhai Border Gate to the city (see “Peeing in Guangzhou” for more details of this bus journey), we got off at a random bus stop in the city center. Cindy had planned to meet her friend at a certain place, and after we met up they would help Iris and I find a cheap hotel for the weekend. I came prepared with a list of cheap hotel names, rates, and addresses.
Unfortunately, we had gotten off at the wrong stop, so we had to figure out how to get to the other side of the city. We tried to wait for the bus, which would take us to a subway station, which would take us to our meeting spot, but there were soooo many buses (I saw numbers ranging from Bus 2 to Bus 300+).
Because our bus wasn’t coming, we decided to just take a taxi. There were plenty of taxis, but traffic was bad and they were all full. One group took our taxi, which made us mad, but eventually we got one to take us directly to our meeting spot to see Cindy’s friend.
Finally, we arrived at our meeting spot: The China Hotel, Marriott. Cindy had made plans to meet with her friend, Vanessa, in the lobby of the hotel. Before Vanessa got there, we decided to start figuring out our accommodations for the weekend. Out of curiosity, we decided to ask the front desk what the room rate was for a basic guestroom.
To our surprise, it was only USD $150 per night, and we were even more surprised to learn that it was a 5-star hotel! Iris and I decided to take the plunge and book a room; after all, we would only have to pay USD $75 each to stay in a 5-star hotel! When would we get another chance like this?
While we made the reservation, Vanessa and her boyfriend, Gaga, met us in the lobby. After a quick introduction we decided to go out to eat for dinner. I was feeling adventurous, so I asked Cindy to treat us to some famous Guangzhou cuisine.
Cindy told us that while Beijing is famous for its Mandarin-style “Peking Roast Duck,” Guangzhou was famous for its Cantonese-style goose. Iris and I decided to try it and compare with the Peking Roast Duck. In the end, I decided I enjoyed the Peking Roast Duck better. For one, the goose still had the bones in it, which was very difficult to eat around when you only have chopsticks. And while my chopstick skills have improved immensely over the past few months, I am nowhere near mastery. While Vanessa, Gaga, and Cindy enjoyed their bony goose with chopsticks, I was reduced to using my fingers and going through many napkins to clean up my gooey mess. Also, I thought the sweet sauce that came with the Peking Roast Duck was better than the goose sauce, even if it was pretty good in its own right.
Cindy went to Vanessa’s apartment for the night to study quietly, while Iris and I took the subway to Beijing Road, the main shopping district of Guangzhou. We found a mall and enjoyed walking through the diverse shops inside, including a number of rabbit and chinchilla pet shops. We each bought swimsuits to enjoy the pool and Jacuzzi areas of the hotel. We figured we were paying a little extra money to stay in a nice hotel, so we were going to take advantage of it.
That night Iris and I treated ourselves to an hour in the spa, which was really nice. They provided hairdryers and lotion, so once we were out of the Jacuzzi we could freshen up before going back to our room.
Once we were back, we slipped into our fuzzy hotel robes and slipped in between the sheets of our big, fluffy beds. We flipped on the music video channel, where we found and interesting mix of Asian and American videos (Chris Brown followed by Yoga Lin). We drank the cheap wine from the mini bar and ate the rose-shaped chocolates we bought from the mall. Life was really, really good.
The next morning we woke up early to eat breakfast at Starbucks, where I was pleased to find my yummy and delicious Black Forest Muffin, which I have only found in the Beijing Starbucks. I really hope I can find this tasty treat back home in the US, because it is soooo good.
After breakfast we took the subway to Shanmian Island, which is a small section of the city which used to house the headquarters of Western colonists. The entire island is populated by large, European-style buildings, which were very beautiful and kept in good condition. My only problem with the atmosphere was that there was construction EVERYWHERE, and I almost fell down a few times just tripping over poorly barricaded construction sites. Also, it smelled a bit.
We found a few interesting shops that sold Chinese souvenirs, and I found a shop that sold Chinese-style wood flutes for cheap. I was determined to bring back instruments from my travels, especially flutes, so I took advantage of the opportunity and bought two. One is a normal flute that we see in Western culture, like the one I play that you hold horizontally. The other was one that is held vertically, and you blow into a hole at the top of a gourd.
We took a stroll through the park, where we found a number of locals participating in recreational activities, like badminton, Tai Chi, and even a ballroom dancing class around a tree. Iris and I bought some water and sat down on a park bench.
The ambiance was very nice, and we had a nice view of the other shores of the city skylines of Guangzhou. However, we got to see part of the Pearl River, which was incredibly dirty and brown and filled with trash.
At one point, two men saw me trying to get sound out of my new flutes. They came over and showed me how to play it. Even though they couldn't speak English, and I certainly couldn't speak Chinese, it was really fun to interact with the locals, who seemed really nice compared with the people in Beijing. I think they liked me showing an interest in their culture.
After taking a stroll around Shanmian Island, we took the subway back to the hotel. Cindy was supposed to meet us at 3:00 after her exam was finished, but we still had a few hours to kill before we met her in the lobby. After a quick lunch at McDonald’s (it was right across the street from our hotel, and the lunch special is an unbeatable price), we threw our swimsuits back on and took a swim in the outdoor swimming pool, followed by another dip in the Jacuzzi.
While we waited for Cindy in the lobby, we went to the bakery shop in the hotel to buy some snacks. I saw that they had donuts, so I eagerly got one to eat. I hadn’t had a donut since I’d left the US, and I was surprised by how excited I got over a little donut. But it was really, really good, and tasted just like the ones from Safeway (my favorite).
After meeting Cindy we went back to Beijing Road to shop for the rest of the afternoon. We wandered around Beijing Road for hours, to the point where I could barely walk anymore! It was an extremely crowded place, and the stores were jam-packed with people. Apparently, Guangzhou is a popular destination for many Chinese people who want a wide variety at low prices. I, however, found myself very disappointed with Guangzhou’s overhyped reputation, and I was sad to return to Macau with only three items of clothing.
For dinner we decided to try out an Indian food restaurant called The Tandoor. I’d seen advertisements for it in my tourist guides and maps, and I saw that they had live music. We took a taxi to the Intercontinental Hotel, where the restaurant was located.
The atmosphere was really incredible, and the restaurant décor was inspired by the Silk Road route between India and China. We asked the waiters if we could sit close to the band, and they sat us directly in front of them! The dinner was a really good experience. The food was fantastic, and we had a great time with the band.
It was a three-piece ensemble, made up of a sitar player, a drum player, and a harmonium player (a tiny piano with an accordion pump). The harmonium player also sang and spoke with us throughout the evening. He asked if we had any requests, and I asked for the main theme from the Bollywood movie “Mohabbatein,” which I bought in Hong Kong. The man began talking about the movie with me, and I was glad that I could name the main actor from the movie, Shahrukh Khan, who is the most famous Bollywood actor in India.
At one point a man came up to the stage to greet the vocalist. The vocalist stood up and put his hands in the prayer-like position, which is the way a respectful greeting is done in India. The guest bowed and kissed the vocalist’s feet, and then shook hands with him and began talking in Hindi with him.
The man turned to us and announced, “This man is one of the most talented musicians in India, one of the top! We are fortunate to have him here tonight.” After he returned to his table, the harmonium player thanked him with “Namaste” and began to play again. I suddenly felt very honored to be there that night.
The dinner turned out to be a bit more expensive than we’d thought. We had ordered a large bottle of water, which ended up being 80 Yuan, which is USD $11! Apparently, the Evian brand of water is the most expensive EVER! Plus, they added in an automatic 15% service charge. Although our dishes were fairly reasonable, our total bill came to 400 Yuan (USD $60). And when you’re a starving student, that’s not a price you’d like to pay for a meal.
We ended up using the last of our cash to pay the bill, and fortunately I had enough left over to leave a $2 tip for the band. I argued the amount for a while with Cindy and Iris, since they come from countries where tipping is not necessarily the norm. I wanted to leave more, but at last we reached an agreement.
Feeling a little depressed about how much money I was spending this weekend, I wondered if we would have enough money to take a taxi back to the hotel. Instead, I decided to withdraw some more cash from the ATM at the restaurant, and gave myself a 200 Yuan (USD $30) limit for the rest of the weekend. That included my taxi fare back to the hotel, one drink that night, breakfast in the morning, and my bus ticket back to Zhuhai.
After returning back to the hotel, we put on some of our new clothes and went to the hotel lounge for drinks. A guitar player was performing in the lounge, and we ordered our drinks. Iris and I asked Cindy to teach us “Lies,” a Chinese drinking game. She asked the bartender for the dice and cup required, but they didn’t have it.
Later, a man came up and asked us if he could know what we asked the bartender. Cindy explained that she was looking for dice for the game, and he complimented us on our choice. He asked if we were guests at the hotel, and when we told him yes, he explained that he was a hotel employee, and he would go try to find us some dice.
A few minutes later he came back, apologizing that he could not find any. We told him it was perfectly okay; I was merely impressed by the excellent service.
Later, the musician came over and began chatting with us. He explained that he was a traveling musician, and he had performed all over the world, including Iris’s hometown in Finland, Helsinki. He also told us that the “hotel employee” that had tried to get us our dice was the hotel’s general manager!
At last, we returned to our rooms, where we crashed for the night in our cozy beds.
The next morning Iris and I got up early to get in one last swim/Jacuzzi session before checking out, but Cindy decided to sleep in. We went to Starbucks for breakfast, but I only ordered a cheap 10 Yuan croissant (USD $1.50) and no drink, because I was worried about my funds for my bus ticket. After spending an hour at the pool we took showers in the spa and used the hairdryers and lotion to get ready to check out and go back to Zhuhai.
After checking out, and saying a sad farewell to my Jacuzzi privileges, we went to the back parking lot of the hotel, where the bus station was. We bought our tickets, and I was delighted that I had enough money for lunch –another lunch special at McDonald’s, the second day in a row.
We boarded our bus, and took off for the two-hour ride back to Zhuhai. I was very pleased with my trip, even if I had spent WAY more money that I had planned. Guangzhou was a very interesting city, full of the hustle and bustle of any major US city, and possibly more crowded. I absolutely loved our hotel! I felt it would only merit a 4-star rating by our Western standards, but the service was wonderful and the accommodations exceeding my expectations. However, it was great to escape the nasty humidity (my camera lens would fog up each time I took it out), even if Macau isn’t that much better.
Overall, a great experience from mainland China! I got to see a really cool city, and more importantly, meet some really cool people. :)
Look out for a blog about my next trip this weekend: Bangkok, Thailand!
Love,
Kati
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