Guangzhou: Entering China

This morning in Macau, I changed some money and then needed breakfast before departing for China. Since it was Sunday, dim sum seemed like a good choice, so I chose a place very close to my hotel which was crowded with people. No one spoke English, and it was hard to figure out where I could sit - none of the hostesses seemed to care that I was there. Eventually I went to a table near the entrance and sat with an elderly man (seemed like a local) who was dining alone.

Ordering was done on a card here, which was all in Chinese, but the man across from me helped me check off 'har gau' and 'char siu cheung fan' which were the two best things I knew how to say (other than shumai, but I didn't want shumai). Then when the waitress came I walked over to a neighboring table and pointed to some translucent rice dumplings that they had, so I could get those too.

The dim sum was good - the char siu cheung fan had pieces of sweet roast pork, cilantro and chives wrapped in rice noodles, and the dumplings had bits of pork, celery, bamboo shoot and pinenuts! The har gau had big chunks of shrimp - quite good. This was plenty of food.

I packed up, checked out of my hotel and went to the bus ticket office to buy my ticket to Guangzhou. The woman here didn't speak any English either, but managed to communicate that I'd be picked up at 10:50, then brought to customs for Macau, walk through, enter customs in China, then get a bus again on the other side which would leave at 12:15 and arrive in Guangzhou at 2:45.

The woman knew exactly what she was talking about - the bus to the border was quick, but customs had long lines (Chinese tourists going home after a weekend in Macau) and then there were forms to fill out for entering China (no, I have not been in contact with a pig in the past week) I got through just in time to get my 12:15 bus, which sure enough DID arrive exactly at 2:45 in Guangzhou.

The ride was nice - I had a front seat in the bus, which provided nice views - the Pearl River Delta is very green, with lots of small gardens and banana trees, with pockets of development all over the place. Approaching Guangzhou was like approaching NYC - it looks massive, and it is: more than 10 million people.

I got dropped off at the big Marriot, which was good because I was able to go inside and speak to someone in English. I got a map of the city, and then caught a cab to my hotel.

My hotel is very nice - paying less here than I paid for my tiny room in HK, and here I have a queen sized bed, huge bathroom, big TV, AC, desk, etc. It's a 3 star business class hotel, and my room costs about 24 us dollars a night - i decided to go this route because the youth hostel was $20 per night! There are tons of business hotels here, and hardly ANY western travelers, so I guess this makes sense.

So I arrived safe and sound in Guangzhou! It's a very interesting city, I like it a lot so far. I'm off to bed now, so I'll be back with more updates tomorrow! There is a huge computer gaming hall on the 2nd floor of my hotel (about 250 computers) so internet access will be easy for the next day while I'm here.

So, more soon!