More Eating

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My day has been planned for me. William picks me up at the Merry Nest Inn he booked me into in the heart of Panyu, we stop to pick up a friend's daughter, Charlotte, who wants to practice her English, and we head for a dim sum breakfast. This is one meal I couldn't get enough of. William's a conservative orderer, though, and he had planned a busy day, so the breakfast eating had to end.

Over breakfast, I caught up on William's start-up. He's working on a organic vegetable delivery service, not to the front door but to drop off shops around Panyu as a first step. He and his partners have sourced the supply, created a website with the next step being to negotiate drop off points. The plan is to keep it simple, with two size box choices delivered 2x weekly. The planned launch is late August/early September. A similar service was launched in Shanghai and has attracted some big gun investors.

Leaving the car parked at the dim sum palace, we walked to the subway to head to the Guangzhou museum. The museum requires an ID for admission, for some reason. I wasn't carrying any, so, after waiting in line for about 30 minutes, we had to scrap that part of the tour. No worries. I wasn't really up for museum going anyway. The key exhibit was on American Indians. Something I didn't have to come to China to see. Stopping at the museum did give me a chance to see some of the new architecture in the heart of the city, including Canton Tower, the 5th tallest tower in the world.

Skipping the museum gave us few other alternatives than to do more eating. We headed to the part of town where William grew up to sample some of his favorite food, including Black Chicken in Coconut Soup, steamed in individual coconuts for hours. This is a place William's been coming to since he was a child. Then it was on to meat and vegetables wrapped in noodles, followed by dessert of some sort of bean in a sweet broth. Each was at a specialty stop in downtown Guangzhou.

After food, we walked to Shamian, an island that housed a French and UK trading concession in the late 19th Century. It was connected to the mainland by two bridges, both of which closed at 10 PM for security reasons. The attraction of the island is the concentration of European architecture, as many banks, trading companies and embassies were built in the area. It is a nice escape from the heat and traffic of Guangzhou. Some of the historic buildings have been converted to shops, hotels, restaurants and, of course, a Starbucks, that was doing a booming business. Starbucks formed the right relations in China early. While its first China location in the heart of the Forbidden City is now closed due to public pressure, they've got great real estate in most other key shopping and tourist districts in most places I've visited.

Next on the agenda, a boat trip to see the city at night. Guangzhou cannot be accused of being a pretty city, but it looks better at night.

A long, exhausting day before I fly to Guiyang the next morning to begin my solo-travel time. I'm looking forward to getting to some cooler weather and smaller towns.

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