Guangzhou- How I ended up in a 5 star hotel

Now when someone says they are going to China for a holiday, Guangzhou is not a common destination. Guangzhou is the capital of the Guangdong Province, previously known as Canton! It takes 2 hours to travel to Guangzhou from Hong Kong by train. I was going to Guangzhou to have a look at a factory which my Dad deals with in China. They design and manufacture very large multilevel automatic car parking systems, similar to the ones you see in Japan. (Japan is the company’s biggest customer). So being a semi-business trip, I was picked up at the train station by two employees of the company and driven, in a company car, to their offices. I then got a chance to look at the displays at the factory before heading out around the town to see some examples of the systems installed in Guangzhou. I shouldn’t go into too much detail considering it’s my Dad’s work to import these machines but they were really impressive.

After looking around the town we went out for a company lunch. Yum!! Being the home of Cantonese food, I was in heaven! I chatted with one of the guys from the company had lived in New Zealand for 6 months. We talked about the political situation in China, and how it affects his life. Even though most people at the restaurant and later in the car couldn’t understood what we were saying he still talked in a low whisper and was always checking who was listening. Through this chat it really made me realise despite the flash lights and commercialization of many aspects of Chinese life, it is still a very communist country.

Me and one of the employees at the business lunch

After lunch they took me to my hotel (which they had prearranged for me). To say the hotel was fancy would be an understatement. I thought I had just arrived at a temple for some sightseeing. It appears they wanted to impress me by booking me a 5 star hotel suite. That’s fine except I have to pay for it.

It looks like a temple but is actually my hotel.

They walked me up to the desk and I was asked to pay 1200RMB which is about $AUS200. WOW!!! Not wanting to cause too much trouble I paid for it on my credit card and asked to change the booking from two nights to only one. I was sure I could find a cheaper place by tomorrow night. I said farewell my hosts and went to check out the room.

Inside my hotel room

After checking out the room I headed off with a map in hand (But no camera, sorry guys!) to buy a train ticket to Wenzhou for Wednesday morning and have a look around the town. I had read that the Guangdong Province was a malaria zone so wanted to buy a light long sleeve top before the mosquitoes started biting. This was not an easy task as all the markets only sold short sleeve tops. After about 4 hours searching and exploring the town I found one. It turned out that in the city Malaria isn't an issue so it was a bit of a waste of time!

I also needed an ATM which accepted international cards. After having my card eaten in the China Post ATM for 15 minutes despite the signs saying they accepted international cards I headed for the tourist area of the town called Shamian Dao.

Shamian Dao is actually an island in the middle of the Pearl River. I finally found as HSBC ATM there and headed for 7eleven to buy a beer to celebrate. (You can beer at 7eleven here and it is really cheap!Imported Japanese beer is about 50cents a bottle). I sat down out the front of 7eleven with this Germany guy called Michael and had a drink. Michael’s girl friend was a flight attendant for Lufthansa and was off on a flight to Manila but would be back that night at 12pm. It was 6pm when we meet so we spent the next 6 hours talking, drinking and eating.

Michael pointed out to me the larger number of American tourist on the island with Chinese babies. He explained to me that the island had been set up for American tourist to come to China and adopt a child without having to leave the island. There was a medical centre where all required physical examinations were carried out, the US embassy and heap of baby clothing and toy stores. Even the local Internet café offered you a free stroller when you used the internet.

Finally after a few too many beers his girlfriend and the rest of the Lufthansa flight arrived. We then headed out to a new restaurant for more drinks and food. At 5am we called it a night and I took a cab back to the other side of town and my five star hotel (which I had to check out of at noon that day).

The next morning when I check out of the hotel it was explained to me that the $AUS200 was only a deposited and the room only cost me $AUS50 (thanks to some deal the company I visited had with the hotel). Yeah! I still catch the first cab to the Youth Hostel on Shamian Dao which was $AUS9 a night for a dorm room. Much more my style!