Hey all! Earlier this month I was lucky enough to travel to the Far East, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. First off I thought I would share some of my Guangzhou pictures as this is where I went first on my trip. Guangzhou (pronounced Gwan-jo) is a 2 hour train ride from Hong Kong and it while not very touristy it does see a lot of westerners for business. It is one of the parts of china that has all the factories where things are made.
Before I left I tried to get some touristy tips on what to do there which proved difficult to find, so I hope this post helps someone else like me planning a trip in the future.
Because I was only going to be there for 2 days I had to plan them wisely.
Day 1:
Textile & Trimming Wholesale.
I was lucky enough to have a driver and a translator, Garen who took me to a textile & trimmings wholesale market. Basically it was a endless rows and rows of dress makers / mass producers dream. I wanted to buy some pom pom trim which is near impossible to find here in South Africa and with Garen’s help the first place we decided to go into was able to hustle some up for us for dirt cheap! Tip; if you do decide to go to this area, I would suggest hiring a translator, basically no one speaks any English and if you want to get anything done, it will come in very handy.
Shopping.
We then had lunch with some of our Guangzhou connections who I chatted with about what is the best to do while there based off what I had Google planned. Alice, the Chinese lady at lunch suggested Guangzhou station market which kind of looks like this multiplied by a bazillion levels! She said that is where all the local university students shop for clothes, which is always a great sign, the locals know best. Our driver took us there so I’m not sure how to explain how to get there but it’s a start. It was basically like Ebay (if you are like me and browse the China clothes on there) and had a collection of tiny booths packed with surprisingly modern and cool clothes. By far the best fashion market on my trip.
Day 2:
Sight Seeing.
The next morning I visited Beijing Pedestrian Street which was nice for photos (below) – I went at 9am when all the stores open at 11am so it was peaceful and I snapped away. Lovely walk but the shopping is different, more knock off’s and high end shops (I am still amazed at how well the two live right next to each other in China!) At midday we jumped on a train to Hong Kong.
Tips for travelling in Guangzhou: If you want to go somewhere less touristy and out of the box, try and print the address in Chinese writing to show to the taxi driver. This will help you get to the right place. When you go to somewhere unusual for a Westerner, possibly for a business purpose, use a translator, even if it is for 1 day. Plan your trip in advance on Google maps so you can get on top of the language barrier by understanding where you want to go. Travelling soon? Did you see my packing tips, they totally worked wonders for me on this China trip.
Have a lovely day!
Robyn