Guangzhou's 5 yuan haircut

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Lifa is a barbershop located behind South China Normal Unversity in Tianhe. The nighborhood is fairly wealthy, though along a defunt railroad track resides a shanty town of homes made from completely found materials. I noticed the small neighborhood when going for a walk I saw several elderly men and women walking down an abandoned railroad. So naturally I fallowed them to see where it led.

The owner was quite friendly, asked me how long I'd been in town and if I wanted a hair cut. He didn't mind me taking pictures. I asked him how long he'd been in the area and the only response was, 'long time.' With a bit of a chuckle. Most of the residents in the area keep watch dogs, though no dogs were overly hostile. The roof was made with plywood and the waiting room had a latex tarp taken from an old musilm noodle shop to shield from the wind. There was no electricity so he brought battery powerd clippers.

This was not a makeshift barbershop where you see a chair and a mirror nailed to a tree, this place has quite a bit senority to it. Li fa is genuine. It's not an overpriced hairspray riddden salon blasting porn music-peddling self esteem; are something the elderly can't relate to. The price is agreeable and barber knows what he's doing. This place is about a 20 minute walk from the Hua Shi train station or a ten minute walk from the Jinan University stop off the B25. Just look for the abandoned railroad track.

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Photos

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the lifa sign is visible through the trees