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Published: June 11th 2010
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Hung Hom Railway Station
More like a modern airport! A cautious waitress in a Xiajia Lu (Lu = street) Guangzhou walking street restaurant making sure our menu selection was culturally appropriate.
Left the Harbour Hotel early on Saturday 29 May, walked to Mong Kok MRT then transferred to Kowloon Tong MRT for Hung Hom, the main departure point for trains to mainland China. After a delicious $38HK cappucino at the station we exited Hong Kong immigration - yes the security took Rob to pieces AGAIN!!! (I must look like a drug addict) The ticket from Hung Hom to Guangzhou East rail station was $190HK ($30) for the 2 hour trip. This is a fast train which reached 200Km/hr on the main stretches.
Entry to China immigration was smooth at Guangzhou station (priority line of course) - our business travel cards gave us a 60 day visa, therefore no more tortuous visits to the Public Security Bureau to renew visas.
At the station we managed to find a train booking officer who spoke English and promptly booked our tickets to Sanya on Hainan Island - 576CNY ($99). We then caught the subway to Fangcun station and walked several blocks down a street that is undergoing major roadworks. This is
200km/h Train
The fast train from Guangzhou to Schenzen. something we have noticed in our trips to China - buildings and roads are either under construction, in the process of demolition for future construction or closed pending demolition and development - the whole country is a work in progress!
The Riverside Hostel was great if not a little deserted - located on the bank of the Pearl River and within walking distance to MTR and a local ferry across the river - 158CNY/night ($27). The rooms are large with-in room broadband and wi-fi in the lobby. Other features are the hostel bar which only charges 4 CNY ($0.66) for a large bottle of excellent Pearl River Lager, and the wonton soup and dumplings from the kitchen.
It was obviously a quiet time for the hostel with the euro crisis, volcanic ash plane delays and the Thai situation. We are sure the situation will change when Chinese school and university holidays arrive!
We spent most of our time in Guangzhou shopping, eating and drinking cheap beer.
We wandered the busy Xiajia Lu and Beijing LU walking and shopping streets, as well as visits to the electronics market on the riverfront, and the computer malls at Shipaiqiao (MTR
Line 3). Here are a large number of multi-story shopping centres devoted exclusively to computers and accessories.
Robyn and Gene - we went to check out the Home Inn in En Ning Lu, (to get our bearings because the whole walking street façade is being refurbished) - but it is now a pile of rubble, having been demolished just recently!
On Wednesday 2 June we caught the high speed train from Guangzhou to Shenzen 75CNY ($13) for the 1H 20minute trip. Again we visited the computer malls on Huaquiang Lu where we bought an IPad copy (IRobot) for 1020CNY ($170) including an 8Ghz micro SD card. Later we went to Dongmen Lu walking (shopping) street before returning to Guangzhou.
Friday 4 June we checked out of the Riverside hostel and went into Xiajia Lu for a delicious dim sum lunch at Tao Tao Ju restaurant which has operated at the same location since 1880.
That evening we went to Guangzhou Railway Station to catch the overnight train to Sanya. We were lucky to get lower berths in a 4 bed sleeper compartment which we had to ourselves for the whole trip. In the morning the whole
Boat crossing the river from our hostel
The chickens were alive - no doubt on their way to market! train was loaded carriage by carriage onto a large ferry for a one hour trip across the South China Sea to Hainan Island. After a lengthy stop at Haikou, the capital, we continued on the train to Sanya arriving at 12.40pm.
On the trip down the western coast of Hainan we passed endless tropical fruit plantations and rice paddies - it was rather flat terrain with some distant hills not that different to northern NSW.
At the station we ran the gauntlet of rip-off taxi drivers who explained that all of the taxi meters in Sanya were broken, so we negotiated a whopping fee of 40CNY ($6.50) fare to travel only a few kms.
The Song Tao Ge hotel (80CNY/night $14) is right in town near the shopping centres and restaurants. The rooms are large and clean with Chinese cable TV and broadband in the room. The only drawback is the squat toilet which Donna has managed to master (gives a whole new meaning to a hit and a near miss!!).
There are many small shops nearby which sell Tsing Tao beer for 3.5CNY ($0.60) a large bottle, and we are self catering with supplies from
the strangely stocked supermarkets in the main street.
Donna’s menu cards in Chinese and English have proved valuable in finding dishes we can eat - ie not boiled guts! At one restaurant on the 6th floor of a large shopping centre the manager saw the cards and asked to copy them so they could make an English menu to expand business! This restaurant does an excellent beef and chilies in black bean sauce on a sizzle plate (or “sheet iron” as the Chinese call them), sweet and sour pork and grilled prawns in a light garlic sauce. The meat certainly is fresh here - we saw a chef entering his restaurant holding two young goats by the feet, they were squealing at the gruesome fate awaiting them!
Sanya is a packaged tourist venue for Russians, so many of the signs and menus are in Russian. We have met a few Russians at the beach and in the supermarkets. One young lady from a city in Siberia told us of -43 degree winters - you get used to it she said. We even had lunch at the beach in a restaurant called CCCP - USSR (Central Committee of the
Guangzhou City
Directly across the river from our hostel - with just a little chinese pollution. Communist Party - USSR).
The two main beach areas are Yalong Bay - full of huge resort complexes and not much else (we only lasted 30 minutes) - and Dadonghai beach for the plebs. In between is a major naval base which houses the Chinese nuclear submarine fleet in a huge cave hollowed out of a large hill with secret access to the sea.
Dadonghai is perhaps the best example of over commercialization we have seen in all our travels. The beach is ringed with shopping malls, apartment blocks and restaurants right to the edge of the water! While the bus from Sanya town only costs 1CNY ($0.16) the prices at Dadonghai are steep and include everything from change room fees 10CNY, toilet 5CNY, locker for 5 hours 20CNY and beach chairs with umbrella 100CNY for the day.
Literally everything you do involves a fee! We found that if we eat in town 28CNY a meal, leave our towels on the beach and use the shopping centre toilets to change, we can beat the system. BTW the ocean is excellent - clear and refreshing!! What a pity this beautiful beach has been turned into a tourist trap
for Russians.
On Sunday 13 June we fly with the very appropriately named Lucky Air from Sanya to Kunming in western China where a whole new part of the adventure starts!
Best wishes to Phil and Susi who are getting married today (Saturday) in Port Macquarie. Have a great day and all the best wishes for the future.
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