Good Golly Guangzhou!

Over twenty years ago, I traveled to Guangzhou on a family vacation. Bored stiff, I managed to survive the trip as a teenager who preferred to stay home and watch videos. The most vivid memory I have of that trip was shooting off Roman candles with my dad outside the Chung San Hot Springs Resort.

Obviously, returning to Guangzhou in 2006 would prove a completely different experience than when I wore braces on my teeth. Still, I harbored a feeling of dread as we boarded the plane to spend two weeks in southern China.

The capital of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, formerly Canton, serves as the gateway to southern China. Most of the commerce flowing through Guangxi and other neighboring provinces must travel through Guangzhou’s port. Guangzhou, as it turns out, has transformed into a carbon copy of Hong Kong. Bustling and full of neon, the city churns at a frenzied pace much like any other major Chinese metropolis. Like other Chinese capitals, Guangzhou’s air quality suffers from extreme pollution, a sorrowful side-effect of lightning paced progress.

Concrete and skyscrapers dominate the view. Guangzhou’s mad dash toward progress resulted in curtain wall glass building and international commerce. One of the largest buildings we passed on our way to restaurants or shops was the Bank of America building. Mixed among these glass titans hide ancient Chinese residential buildings, providing the stark comparison between old and new, privileged and impoverished, history, and trend.

Five star hotels abound, as do the super shopping centers. Weekends play host to shopping extravaganzas. Walking among the crowds on Christmas Eve Day reminded me of how I learned to navigate Hong Kong’s busy streets as a kid. The phrase “Made in China” has become as a part of daily life in the US and abroad. This is because everything is made here and can be purchased here. We found clothing going to Target stores in Australia, legitimate Canon camera equipment, plastic goods, and stationery everywhere.

And the food! If Guangzhou denizens conduct their shopping and construction with gusto, they consume their local Cantonese food with added fervor. Guangzhou rose to fame through its Cantonese cuisine. The most popular and famous form of Chinese food originated here. And if you haven’t heard the adage, the Cantonese will eat anything with four legs... except the table.

Quick Tips:

Gone are the armies of bicycles, replaced by cars and traffic. A terrific way to get around Guangzhou is by taxi. Cheap and regulated, taxicabs zip around the city for mere dollars. The most we spent to get from one end of Guangzhou to another amounted to US. All taxis take the form of a Volkswagen Jetta, which limits the number of people and amount of cargo you can stash in your cab. Four people will not fit comfortably in a cab and only women and children may sit in the front seat, not recommended since for children, the safest place is in the back seat. Car seats are not required in Guangzhou so travel at your own risk.

We still do not understand why the municipal government paints lines on the road. We found that if a space existed between two cars, a third would find its way through. We video recorded a sample of traffic to prove to folks at home that driving in Guangzhou requires some form of insanity. With that said, do not rent a car unless you comfortably can pass as a stunt car driver.

Walk at your own risk as well. We found that sitting at the side of the road, waiting for a table at a restaurant proved most amusing when we focused our attention on the jaywalkers in the street. You haven’t lived until you stand on a painted line in the middle of the road as two large buses pass on either side of you.

But truly the best way to get around is via the underground subway. It took us about two days of traveling on the subway to get our bearings and feel completely comfortable. The signs on the diagrams feature English, although it helps to have a Cantonese speaker with you to verify your directions. The signs clearly point in which direction the train travels and which direction the stops lie on that track. We found a subway station directly in front of our hotel and from there, could get to Beijing Road and Teem Mall for some serious shopping. Fares beat taxicab fares by half. I traveled from one side of the city to the other for US. Best of all, the subway avoids the traffic congestion which will accumulate during rush hour. Taxicabs will charge for added time sitting in traffic.

Best Way To Get Around:

Be wary of children carrying roses, who leave them in strollers or put them in your hands, then demand payment. While it may seem heartless to walk briskly by a wide-eyed child, this will help avoid long arguments that you never wanted the rose in the first place. Our tour guides cautioned us not to give to beggars. Once you give to one, hordes will follow.

Try the food, you never know what you’re missing. Pass on the beetles. Even locals don’t eat them. Frog tastes like chicken. Try a Food Street restaurant in a five star hotel basement. Prices are low and the food will impress.

Go for fast food. Pizza Hut features seafood on their pizzas and spicy varieties. McDonald's features spicy chicken wings and several different flavors of soft serve ice cream.

Don’t drink the water from the tap. Boil the tap water first, let it cool and then drink it or brush your teeth with it.

Should you find yourself out and about, understand that you will only find Western toilets in Western establishments like five star hotels. Local restaurants will have squat toilets and usually without toilet paper, so keep some handy. Bring hand sanitizer.

At restaurants, use hot tea to sterilize chopsticks and plates. At higher end restaurants, a bowl of tea with slices of lemon can take the lingering odor of seafood on fingers when peel and eat shrimp is served. Dip your fingers in, don’t drink the bowl.

Beware of fake Louis Vuitton and other pirated items. Sure, it may be cheap now but it won’t be so fun when the customs officials confiscate them upon your return.

Watch your step. Makeshift ramps and other ramshackle contraptions lie in wait on curbs and stairs. I passed over a camouflaged ramp and went tumbling onto the ground. There is no safety and health authority in Guangzhou so take caution.

Use the hotel safe rather than keeping your valuables in your hotel room. The hotel safe will provide more security and should give you added peace of mind.

Buy a phone card from a local kiosk (check with your hotel’s front desk). The cost for phone calls using a phone card will save you bundles so that you can spend more when you shop.

Find a Starbucks! The Starbucks in the China Hotel provides free Internet service for as long as you want.

“We aren’t staying at the White Swan? But that’s where all American families go”, I insisted. While the White Swan boasted a palatial lobby and riverfront property, the China Hotel provided more space and a centralized location. Grudgingly, we proceeded to the hotel. On the outside, the massive, nondescript building did not impress. However, inside, the spacious lobby and sleek interiors caused us to raise our eyebrows. Our rooms indeed provided us with ample space for our luggage and our child’s crib. The bathroom sparkled and we felt quite comfortable.

While most Americans would gravitate toward the White Swan Hotel, the China Hotel by Marriott, while not as flashy and impressive, gets the job done and provides enough conveniences for not only the business traveler but also the tourist. A business center (bring a jacket, the air-conditioning runs at maximum) with Internet and fax capabilities charges approximately US$16 per half hour. I viewed these prices with incredulity and proceeded to the Starbucks in the first floor shopping arcade, where I leisurely partook in free Internet access.

As a tourist, we found the subway station immediately in front of the hotel extremely convenient as we trolled the shopping centers. Down the road from the hotel, we found local eateries and a dirt-cheap massage parlor, specializing in reflexology. A half hour foot massage ran approximately US$8.

We ran into our share of problems at the China Hotel, however. The lever we needed to pull to activate the showerhead in our bath did not work so I had to hold the lever manually while my husband took a shower. The hotel could not fix the problem until the next morning because they had to turn off our water. The front desk staff did not recognize me as an authorized account holder on our safe deposit box and demanded that my husband be present for any transactions. And the non-smoking floor on which we resided reeked of cigarettes.

Still, we came back every afternoon to a clean room, with plenty of bottled water. We took hot showers as soon as the engineering staff had fixed our showerhead. Ask for a room in the South Tower for a better view. Ask to have a fixed number of bottles of water for your room each day. And partake in the Veranda Café’s breakfast. You won’t be disappointed.

It sounded as if our guide said that our restaurant resided inside a sports center. As in arena? Sure enough, the South Sea Fishing Village restaurant sat on the ground floor of the sports building. The entire restaurant seemed like an endless corridor that wrapped along the perimeter of the arena. Needless to say, this restaurant ranks as having one of the most interesting layouts I have ever seen.

As we rolled into the parking lot, we spotted kids of all ages running, jumping rope, and simply enjoying their Sunday afternoon. Young children gathered around large buckets filled with goldfish. Each child carried a small net with which to scoop out a goldfish to take home as a pet.

Inside, the impressive main dining room featured a sprawling, indoor fish market. Rows of tanks housed all sorts of fish and other sea life to ensure that your live selections would indeed taste fresh. Along the back of the dining room, glassed cooking stations allowed diners to view cooks making sushi, roast duck, and other delicacies. My eyes grew wide as I eagerly looked forward to this meal.

We, unfortunately, did not sit in this marvelous room but walked for what seemed like ages to a private dining room. We passed elegant ballroom after ballroom, private dining room after private dining room. Finally we arrived at our private dining room where four tables with ten seats each greeted us for lunch. Here, we dined on not sushi and duck, but simple dishes such as sweet and sour pork, scallops, mayonnaise shrimp and other items. Nothing terribly spicy appeared on our table, which disappointed me a bit. To me, Cantonese food should taste flavorful and spicy. After all, that afternoon we sat in the most well-known seafood restaurant in Guangzhou.

South Sea Fishing Village also provides dim sum, where small dishes of dumplings and other delicious creations are wheeled on small carts. Servers cart these morsels past tables and ask if anyone would like a dish. Usually, dim sum is only served during lunch. No matter where you are, always arrive for dim sum early to get the best selection.

This meal proved to be one of the better ones during our trip. Later we found out that the South Sea Fishing Village had another location, which we eventually had our last dinner during our trip.

“Oh man, I sure feel like dim sum,” I whined. We had flown across the world to Guangzhou, the Cantonese food capital of the world. Some might argue that Hong Kong, or even San Francisco or Los Angeles now owns that title but I figured that Cantonese food originated in Canton/Guangzhou. Therefore, the food we needed to eat would indeed pass for the best Cantonese food in the world.

Well, the jury is still out on that one but I do recommend the China Hotel’s Food Street restaurant, located on the ground floor. Like the Wharton Hotel in Nanning, the China Hotel featured a Food Street restaurant which served dishes at more affordable prices. Locals often gathered at Food Street for dim sum lunch.

One night, after a particularly harrowing day, we filed into Food Street and proceeded to order just about anything that caught our eye. Stir fried eggplant, seasoned green beans, green onion pancakes, and duck filled our bellies. I preferred the China Hotel’s Food Street to the Wharton Hotel’s version. The cooks spiced up the dishes with more flavor and “wok heat,” which can only be described as the air or taste from a heated, cast iron wok. Usually, it indicates that a wok has not been washed in a while, only wiped down and well-seasoned.

Later in the week, my husband, my daughter and I decided to satisfy my dim sum craving while the rest of our group feasted at the McDonald’s across the street. We ordered fried taro dumplings, steamed roast pork buns, shrimp dumplings, steamed milk buns shaped like small hedgehogs, and shui mai (pork/shrimp dumplings). Completely stuffed, we rolled out of the restaurant and stumbled upstairs to our room for a long afternoon nap.

Close to the end of our trip, our group had a large banquet dinner in Food Street. However, our hosts had ordered food from the menu that would cater to those who were not as accustomed to spicy and flavorful Cantonese food. As a result, we did not have the opportunity to try the traditional Cantonese dishes but ended up with sweet & sour pork (which was truly tasty and crispy), fried rice and mushrooms with lettuce.

In closing, the best way to experience this restaurant is by ordering the unusual. Go out on a limb and try something new. The price, we found, catered to our wallets. Guests of the hotel need only show their room key portfolio and the restaurant will waive the service surcharge. A meal for two runs approximately US$10 With drinks, expect to pay a bit more.

Bon appetit!

First tip, do not visit Beijing Road on a weekend. Instead, choose a weekday to meander through Guangzhou’s most well-traveled shopping district. The locals we met spent much of their time perusing the offerings at the local stores.

Beijing Road also caters to tourists so sharpen those bargaining skills to drive down inflated prices. Note that inside department stores, the prices stand firm. Note that after you have converted the Chinese yuan to your local currency, and realize that the quoted price undercuts anything you have at home, you can still bargain.

We visited Beijing Road on a Sunday that just happened to be December 24. While we thought that the Christmas season would not play a part in Chinese life, we were sorely mistaken. The Chinese celebrate Christmas as a gift-giving holiday only, which boosts the retail industry significantly. The wall of people we encountered terrified us as we attempted to navigate the crowd. Unfortunately, when the crowds thicken so, we could not find as many shops behind the bodies.

As a result, we returned the next day, December 25, bracing for another crowded day. However, on a Monday, everyone returned to work, despite Christmas. Joyfully, we scampered down the road, which bars traffic, favoring pedestrians only. A watch shop sold pirated licensed characters watches such as Hello Kitty and Snoopy for a mere US$2.50. Insist on a receipt in case your treasures disintegrate, as did my friend’s Hello Kitty watch.

We found the Grand Buy department store, a multi-storey behemoth which featured the requisite cosmetics, housewares and apparel, as well as a grocery store and food court. I found an entire department of Snoopy apparel for children, which I raided with gusto. Check for specials as we just happened to stumble upon a promotion where if we spent 300 yuan, we would receive a voucher for 100 yuan off our next single purchase.

Beijing Road also provides some historical significance. In the center of the road, the municipal authorities have encased in glass an excavation site of an ancient Chinese road. I peered down the hole and could distinguish the cobblestones far below. A plaque provides more detail.

Spend at least an entire morning or afternoon on Beijing Road. After all, following the locals cannot lead you wrong. For the best way to reach Beijing Road, take the subway or a taxi.

I realize that an airline is not actually a destination. However, I felt tremendous anxiety before boarding and would have appreciated a review to allay my fears.

China Southern Airlines provides the only direct flight between LAX and Guangzhou. While a direct flight appeals to me, flying on a Chinese government-run airline did not. I had heard horror stories about the cleanliness, the food quality and the lack of service on this route, all of which run high on my list of important factors when choosing an airline.

But I had no choice. Our tour group traveled together via this route so I had to tag along. As we waited in the terminal to board, my husband and I struggled to understand the announcements broadcast over the China Southern PA system. I could discern neither English nor Mandarin, despite the fact that the attendants spoke both. Dread descended on us.

We had chosen to pay the extra cost of premium economy (formerly business class) for the simple need of having extra space for a trans-Pacific flight. We found out that premium economy passengers could also take on 75 pounds per piece of luggage. The extra allowance benefited us greatly.

Our seats proved roomy, although they did not recline to a supine position. Not even close. In the seat pockets, we found an amenities kit, complete with blindfolds and earplugs. We put these to great use and as a result, managed to sleep over eleven of the fifteen hours of the flight.

The food, surprisingly, tasted good! I had expected some indistinguishable brown mass of Chinese food. Instead, we received bistro-style meals served on ceramic dishes with real flatware. The prosciutto ham slice over a stuffed slice of papaya, accompanied by a chilled prawn, topped my list of favorites. For breakfast, I could choose either cold cereal or hot congee. Ever faithful to my mom’s homemade congee, I chose the cereal.

We also tried mulberry juice during beverage service. I never tried it before so I figured that if silkworms enjoyed dining on mulberry bushes, I would have to do the same. Mulberry juice, I found, tasted like a blend of grape and prune juices. I enjoyed it very much.

The restrooms needed a little attention because whenever I visited, the paper towels slot always had tissues in it instead. Tissues do not do a good job of drying hands. Also, I didn’t find out until after we had landed in Guangzhou that the aircraft boasted a huge wheelchair accessible restroom on the other side of the plane. I did use it on the way home.

Finally, when we landed in Guangzhou, the pilots received applause for a supremely smooth landing. The flight attendants did not speak much English, I heard that the food in coach tasted terrible, and the bathrooms did not receive a cleaning every thirty minutes like they do on Singapore Airlines but my anxiety about China Southern Airlines has disappeared.