Guangzhou: The Reunion

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Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province is a huge, sprawling city perhaps you'd even call it a metropolis. Throughout colonial history it was known as Canton and the majority of it's ten million residents speak Cantonese, so any Mandarin that we had almost mustered was now as useful as speaking German in Spain.

Our twenty-one hour sleeper train from Shanghai pulled into the central railway station at 6am and bleary eyed we queued with the pre rush hour workers to enter the ever expanding metro system. Sadly it hadn't yet expanded to Shamian Island where our hotel was situated, so we got as far as we could and then came up from underground to be greeted with a torrential downpour. Rather than walk aimlessly in the rain we jumped in a cab for the last leg of the journey.

The Guangdong Victory was a grand hotel and as we walked into the temperate lobby with it's sparkling tiled floors, high ceilings and polite smartly uniformed staff it felt like entering another world. The bedrooms were just as opulent and as Lewi had hoped China's premier football channel CCTV5 was showing replays of yesterdays matches. The effort of avoiding news all morning was proven not worth it, as we saw the final score 4-1 at the beginning of the match. However our disappointment at England's failures was soon put behind us as we excitedly anticipated Mairi, William and Saskia's arrival that evening.

It had been 9 months since we left England and waved goodbye to our parents on the platform of Paddington station. Lewi and I had stocked our mini bar fridge with Pearl River beers and were waiting in the lobby for our fellow backpacking travellers to arrive. All of a sudden some English accents caught our attention and there they were! A whirl of hugs and kisses, spinning Sas around, remarking how tall she was, how well they looked, how thin Lewi has got, and greeting each other happily. We continued catching up over the celebratory beers we'd bought and then at the nearby Thai restaurant where we were only just in time to eat. They were all tired after their long journey but Sas still had enough energy to be thrilled that she could sleep in our room, and proceeded to tell ghost stories and giggle until she finally succumbed to her tiredness.

On our first day as a travelling quintet we arose leisurely and took a stroll around the leafy streets of Shamian Island. Formally a gated enclave of the British traders, it's treelined streets are now home to exclusive restaurants, hotels and shops. All around the area are bronze statues depicting people in everyday scenes of life. Our favourite showed three Chinese women from old to young; their different clothes, hairstyles, and body language showing not only the rapid progression of women in China but also seemed to represent the phenomenal speed of growth of the country.

Just by crossing the river we stepped out of our oasis of calm and landed promptly in the hustle and bustle of China's market streets. The scents of medicinal herbs and dried mushrooms mingled with salt dried fish and tea leaves. Caged birds, live fish and bowls of scrabbling scorpions spilled out onto the pavements. Add to this the cacophony of trader's voices, animal's protestations, and constant traffic and you can see it was a vivid introduction to China.

Carefully crossing the road we sought refuge at a noodle shop and Saskia deftly demonstrated her innate chopsticks skills and demolished a bowl of freshly prepared noodle soup. Her praise filled words "It's better than noodles from ASDA" said it all. You can't beat fresh noodles.

Lewi and I spent a fruitless two hours queuing at the Public Security Bureau that afternoon attempting to extend our Visas, only to discover we needed a residents form from our hotel. Bureaucracy, what can you do?

Unlike the all hours noodle shops, restaurants in Guangzhou seem to close by about 9.30pm which doesn't suit our eating habits. Still, we arrived at Panxi restaurant after a short metro ride and a pleasant stroll through the surrounding residential area just in time to order. We feasted on an array of Chinese flavours sat at a round table and rather than rush we opted to take the remaining food home with us...breakfast sorted!

This morning Mairi went back to her independent traveller roots and tackled the streets and stations of Guangzhou solo, returning successfully with sleeper tickets for the evening departure to Guilin. With our onward travel sorted we relaxed in the rooftop pool, before we had to attempt mission visa once again. This time when we handed in our passports and the sheaf of papers, our applications were accepted.

Breakfast and lunch were by now long overdue so at 3pm we sat down to eat a delicious banquet of bok choi, noodle soup, crispy aubergine, fried rice and battered prawns. They always seem to serve more food than is needed in China but I'm not complaining.

Before we knew it it was time to get to the train station. Trains are my favourite way to travel so I was looking forward to sharing the journey with everyone. Backpacks through the X-ray machine at the entrance and back on our backs we negotiated the last minute platform change and boarded our sleeper train without a hitch. It is such a great communal atmosphere to share a carriage with fifty other people and even the discovery that we all had top bunk berths didn't dampen our spirits. Saskia was so excited to be with her big brother and to be on these adventures with us. However when she scaled the heights of her giant 8ft high bed and recalled having fallen out of her bed at home, she suddenly didn't feel so enamored with sleeping there. Luckily a kind man agreed to swap, just one of many kind gestures we've experienced from the Chinese people. The sight of Mairi and Sas tucked top-to-tail and William expertly climbing into his sky high berth is one I won't forget.

I awoke from a pleasant if slightly stop-start sleep and realised we were almost there. The windows displayed the splendor of the approaching countryside of Guangxi province. It felt good to be entering rural China, however the fields turned back to houses and the karsts disappeared behind high-rises as we neared Guilin, now a large city. It seems that China has such ambition to develop that everywhere villages are becoming towns, towns cities and cities metropolis'.

The friendly staff at The Victory Hotel had recommended a hotel in Guilin for us, so we followed their suggestion and found ourselves at a seemingly disused hotel which had clearly seen better days, had a leaking ceiling and smelt rather damp. Needless to say we were out of there pronto, just as soon as we made the clueless receptionist understand. We fell back to our faithful Lonely Planet and shoe-horned ourselves into a taxi to the charming Jing Guan Ming Lou Hotel. LP to the rescue. The hotel was stunning and the rooms such good value. There were beautiful works of art, paintings, carvings, plants and traditional furnishings throughout the building. The staff were very helpful and the attention to detail in both decoration and service was very impressive.

It was a swelteringly hot day, easily over 35degrees, but the location of our hotel beside the Rong Hu Lake and gardens persuaded us to go for a walk. The ornamental gardens were beautiful with their pagodas, classic Chinese bridges and shaded pathways and it was a pleasure to stroll around but we couldn't help but feel this was a false impression of Guilin, one concocted for the tourism brochures. We were looking forward to getting into the rural heart of China, so planned to leave for Yangshuo the next morning.

Tonight we decided to eat Chinese like the English and have a takeaway. Lewi and I were the hunter gatherers and for a mere £3.90 we fed our family, inclusive of Great Wall Red Wine. Sas woke from her nap and joined us in the lovely courtyard later on. It was a balmy evening with much great conversation, so much so that we didn't notice the mosquitoes until it was too late!

The next morning we packed our belongings, siphoned the free shampoo, popped malaria pills, and smothered ourselves in antihistamine. On the one and a half hour bus journey to Yangshuo most of us were watching either the gorgeous scenery flashing beside us, or the 'unique' driving style of our fellow road-goers...but ever creative Saskia was transforming a shoe mitt into a purse.

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Comments

[ROhit saini]

planschbecken
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