Guang Zhou, China (A Decade Later)

Hello!

I've been wanting to sit down and write for a while but things have been hectic since last Summer. Lots of work things and life things have distracted me but I'm here now.

So, China! Yes, I went to China last year!

(I really didn't mean to manifest 2023 as a year of travel but it all seemed to fall into place).

Going to China in 2023 has generally been in the air. 

COVID had put things on pause for my family and there was a census to go back as soon as lockdown lifted so we could visit relatives. 

And my mom being... my mom... she tends to wait until the last minute to make decisions. 

So for months, we talked about going during Autumn when the weather was nice, but a date was never set in stone. 

So when it came up that we were finally going — I had to scramble to get my visa and ticket in a matter of a few months. I wanted to take a longer trip but my schedule got a bit tough to figure out, and I ended up only going for 10 days. Regardless, I tried to organize my brain (and life) as much as I could to make the trip worthwhile.

The only time I've been to China was in 2013 with my family. 

So, a decade later, I'd be boarding a plane as a (somewhat) full-fledged adult. (And not the grumpy tween I was back then).

Plus, this was the first time all my grandma's children were home with her. 

So I thought this would be an important experience to hold onto and share with my mom and my aunts. And being a granddaughter in the room I hoped it would make my grandma happy too.

I may split my trip into 2 blog posts since there are a lot of pictures I want to share :)

So here we go!

Goodbye, New York!

I was excited to visit Guang Zhou and Hong Kong again. 

I didn't appreciate it when I was younger so I wanted to focus on just absorbing everything around me.

A 16-hour flight is tough but the moon and stars make up for it.

We arrived mid-afternoon in Hong Kong and had some time to eat lunch at the airport.
We then got tickets for a bus to take us across the border and to Guang Zhou.

By the time we got to our hotel, it was late and I was covered in sweat.

The humidity and heat at the end of October is no joke. Summer weather extends for a long time and you still can't escape the heat at night. 

My mom and I walked around the area and bought some late-night bites. I felt so relieved to shower at the end of the day and sleep horizontally. 

The next morning, we tried to take it slow and explore a little.

    

There was a rice noodle spot around the corner and these silky beef rice noodles with fish congee hit the spot. During breakfast, my aunts met up with us and chatted for a bit. We hit the market and organized ourselves before walking over to a museum.

There are a lot of "sky bridges" that allow people to walk over these big roadways.
(You would not want to get clipped by the buses, cars, or e-bikes that zoom by)

If you don't have an e-bike or car it becomes a little fatiguing to walk through narrow streets and big roadways. I didn't mind it too much. I like people-watching and familiarizing myself with the area. 

Chen Clan Ancestral Hall 陈家祠

I was very surprised at how much security there is. Along with how important phones are.

Rarely anyone pays with cash. Everyone relies on paying via apps & QR codes (which is nearly impossible if you're not a Chinese citizen and don't have a Chinese bank). Some places are skeptical of admitting you unless you have your passport.

Luckily, this museum accepted our NY state ID's.

.   

The museum was really beautiful. It showed architecture, family relics, and art within a family clan through different centuries. 

We eventually walked back to our hotel and had some noodles for lunch :)

We took the train over to see my grandma and cook dinner for her.

It was really sweet seeing her after all this time apart. For someone who's 96, she's still going strong.

After dinner, we went downtown to sightsee with some bubble tea in hand (you can never go wrong with passion fruit).

Beijing Road

I remember coming to this huge shopping district and road back in 2013, Beijing Road. (Think Times Square, NYC — but it stretches for 20 blocks). 

There's a cool glass display in the ground where they excavated the road. You could see the road from hundreds of years beforehand, along with a mini model of what the city used to look like back then.

Outside of that, Beijing Road is always packed with people.

I learned that nightlife is big here because it's cooler during the night and that most people get off work late. Even though I come from a city that never sleeps — Guang Zhou is a city that never closes. Things are still popping for a regular weekday.

We eventually headed back to our hotel for the night.

Back at it with some breakfast rice noodles and congee :)
This was some beef liver congee (not a fan)

After breakfast, we took a bus to a nearby park, 越秀公园, Yuexiu Park.

          

There was a Sun-Yat Sen monument at the top of a hill. 

The climb was beautifully lined with trees and red lampposts.

    

We had gotten lost leaving the park and had to ask a few people for directions. We eventually made our way back to a main road and found some late lunch. Clay pot rice with salted chicken and some vegetables! 

I split up with my family to window shop a little.

My brother helped me install a VPN on my phone so I could (somewhat) use Google Maps and didn't get entirely lost.

Most things also had English translations on store signage and streets. I was quite surprised but it makes sense from the number of foreigners/expats walking around.

Pooh!

I noticed that there are a lot more young people out and about too. If you weren't a couple, you were most likely a gaggle of girls/guys. And when I think about it — couple culture in China is a bit crazy since there's a bigger pressure to be a nuclear family. It was nice exploring on my own but I did feel odd hanging out by myself.

The sun was setting and it was easy enough to navigate back to my grandma's for dinner. 

We had a chill evening before my mom and I went back to our hotel for the night.

Some noodles in the morning the next day!

Rice noodles with crispy beans, wood ear mushrooms, pickled green beans, and crushed peanuts in a vegetable broth.

After breakfast, my mom and I gathered our things to go to a hotel closer to my grandma's. 

There isn't much trash or crazy people wandering the streets or trains. My mom guesses it's because the fines are bigger and the police would "hide them" — aka immediately put them in hospital/jail... (yikes).

The amenities of this hotel were much better.

The one we were staying at before was more like a 1-star motel, haha. 

Beef ball noodle soup with my mom and her friend.

The area we were in had bus stations and a train station a block away. So it was more convenient to get around. Plus, new food options! (I was surprisingly not too tempted to try the Starbucks, KFC, or Burger King below the hotel).

After lunch, my mom and I went to check in with my grandma and aunts. We hung out for a little before heading over to the nearby park/mountain.

I wish we could've taken the tram up in the air. But alas, no phone payment = no tram ticket.

We took a small shuttle bus halfway up the mountain and walked the rest.

It was very overcast with some sprinkles of rain that helped keep us cool. There were lots of trees, statues, and attractions along the way.

The view of the city looked really nice. Maybe I'll have to come back one day when it's sunny and clear.

With jello legs, we decided to take a shuttle bus all the way back down to the foot of the mountain.

Later, we met up with my mom's friend again and had dinner with her family.

It was near the river downtown so it was cool to see the city aglow at night. The buildings all have LED designs, advertisements, or blinking light displays.

The Torch Tower

We got caught in some rain while waiting for our taxi. Which wasn't the most fun because the taxi was stuck behind some trucks that were packing up a street fair nearby, haha. 

The next morning, I had... you guessed it — rice noodles!!!!!

It might seem boring to have the same breakfast, but the silkiness of these rice noodles is hard to find in New York. There's a few spots here and there — but in China, it's amazing everywhere you go :D

    

Lots of people are on the go. So most restaurants have a fast-paced and quick bites ambience. Folding tables, plastic chairs, and one-use cutlery — my kind of vibe!

My mom left for her hometown to handle some things, so I took a bus to stay with my aunts and grandma.

When I got there, they insisted that I try some fresh 豆腐花 (I was already so full — classic aunt behavior). A soft and silky tofu that's been drizzled with simple syrup.

I'm usually not a fan because of the soybean flavor, but this was really good! The flavor of the tofu was really light.

It was going to be our last full day in Guang Zhou before heading to Hong Kong. The weather was really nice so we decided to go to the Guang Zhou Zoo.

According to my aunt, the zoo had done a lot of work to expand its exhibits since she was last there.
I did notice that they were building a shark exhibit :o

    

I got some fish balls with hot sauce as a snack while we roamed around. There were lots of monkeys, birds, and some leopards. But I was most impressed by the pandas, rhinos, giraffes, and elephants!!

We were lucky that there were still animals roaming around while it was boiling outside. Mosquitos would bite you the second you went to sit down in the shade.

After sweating our butts off, we had to find some AC for a little bit. There was a McDonalds just a block away. Good thing I was feeling snackish too, haha!

I had some nuggets with sweet and sour sauce (I'm not sure the US has this?) Along with a taro pie! It wasn't too sweet or flavorful, but it did have a slight taro taste. And the crust was super crispy.

We eventually made our way back home to buy some groceries for dinner.

Most of the butchers I saw were women – a nice change because most of the ones chopping up meat and BBQ in NYC are men.

I noticed that a lot of people would buy what they needed for their meals that day. My aunts said that most people don't like to keep food in refrigerators and prefer to buy fresh ingredients every day. Which meant that most markets were open into the late hours of the night. 

I thought it was charming to see people buy small slivers of meat or a handful of vegetables. Some shops would sell little portions of ready-made food (sauteed veg, meats, appetizers, pickled veg). 

It was all sold and thrown into small clear plastic bags — a true definition of "buy what you can carry" (or what your bike handles can hold, haha).

We made some dinner and cooled down for a little bit.

My aunt and I went on a walk to burn off some calories and found this reservoir nearby. It was a nice and quiet way to end my time in Guang Zhou.

A giant water bug flew into our room when we were getting ready for bed and I freaked out. I've lived with roaches before and the sight of a bug 20x the size is horrible. Let alone one that can fly. I had to get my aunt to move our things so she could kill it. 😂😭

The next morning, we woke up early to get ready to leave for Hong Kong.

It was a bit hectic because we had to lug 50-pound suitcases down 2 flights of stairs. But it all turned out okay once we got into the taxis.

When we got to the train station though, it was a whole other story. 

Figuring out all things boarding pass/luggage/senior help was chaotic.

The service desk was really slow and it took a long time for them to help us at all. And we had to wait a long time before they could get a wheelchair for my grandma to sit — She's 96!!!! It was extremely annoying because they had promised to have a wheelchair ready when we got out of the taxi. NOT. 

They were able to board us on the train before everyone else by taking us through staff entrances. (A plus). There wasn't an elevator that went up to the platform but there was an escalator. Which was SO dangerous — who thinks it's ok to just prop a senior citizen in a wheelchair and go up an escalator? I understand that's the only way, but — to hold a wheelchair by its handles and stick your leg next to it for 2 flights on an escalator is not stable enough!! (I still get heated when I think about this).

I've never been that annoyed with my aunts before. But traveling together will do it for me. 

It was a stressful day, to say the least. 

Bullet train to Hong Kong

For the 5 days that I was in Guang Zhou, I felt like I got to do a lot of things!

There are still lots of areas that I haven't ventured into. And I haven't been back to my parent's hometown or village either. 

But maybe that will be for another time — soon hopefully.

Hong Kong here we go!

See you in the next blog post :)

x Vicky