Kaiping to Guangzhou - Day 30

May 25, 2014

It was another EARLY morning after going to the Chimelong safari park the day before, we were still exhausted but this time we would be going to Guangzhou for two days; thus, it would be the last day we stayed in Kaiping. It won't be the last day for me and my sister to meet my aunt and uncle though, cause we would see them 1 month from now when we return from Japan to pick up my grandma at the Guangzhou airport to go back to Vancouver. 

We started the morning with dim sum at Kaiping da hai and afterwards I had a stomachache. Yes, I had diarrhea. DOOM. I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle the 2-3 hours bus ride to Guangzhou airport. We were getting ready to leave, and I went to the washroom twice already, and we didn't have time to spare cause we needed to be at the travel agency (the same one as the Chimelong safari park) to wait for the bus. We pre-bought our tickets a couple of days before departure (cost 225 RMB).

Diarrhea after having this.

When the "bus" came, I realized it was actually the same "VAN" we took when we traveled from Guangzhou to Kaiping. At least, we had this van to ourselves this time. Take a look at the condition of this piece of junk.

One of the mirror was broken so they replaced it with some plastic advertisement.

The van dropped us off at the airport and then at the airport we had to wait for a "hotel bus" to take us to the hotel. We were clueless as to where to wait for the bus, so my mother asked one of the employees if they could help us call the hotel. Somehow, one way or another, we found the hotel van and got on, but they were actually waiting for a couple more passengers.

Once we got dropped off at the hotel, we went to our room but once we got there the room was not even prepared yet. The sheets were all disheveled and garbage were everywhere. So we went downstairs and they gave us a new key for the room beside it. Ah geez.

The hotel we chose was the "Guangdong Konggang Hotel". The main reason we chose the hotel was because it was near the airport and due to our early flight to Japan, we needed a hotel within a close proximity to the airport. The hotel is roughly a 15 minutes walk away from the nearest subway station, but a ~45 minutes ride to the city. Also the hotel included pickup and drop-off at the airport! +1 The room itself was quite affordable for 3 single beds in a spacious room, ~$60 CND/day.

Once we dropped off our luggage we headed off to the city. The first problem we encountered was the bus. We didn't know where to take the bus, but after we found the bus station, the second problem arose, which bus do we take? After asking some locals and with them giving ambivalent answers, one of them said why don't we just walk since it's so near. And so we did, we walked along the sidewalk right beside the highway and it feels like a walk in a safari dessert. NO KIDDING.

We went to a couple of wholesale malls which I don't really enjoy since they don't really sell you anything unless you buy a bundle or they would sell it to you for a far greater price. My mother went crazy buying clothing for my brother though. >.>

 Dinner - 39 RMB

We headed off to #Beijing Road. I believe we took the bus here, asked a local how to read the bus schedule and then we followed other people when they got off. This is a great shopping area with many trendy and expensive clothing :( I can only gaze from afar. There's so much dessert and mini snack shops here, I feel so disappointed that I didn't try anything except for the egg waffles. I was afraid I might get a stomach ache and there's no washroom...

The old Beijing Road.

 At night I got egg waffles! 8 RMB! So cheap, so good!

Random wedding shop with gorgeous decorations. 

Good thing my sister has GPS on her phone cause nearby there was a subway station so we walked towards that station, and at the station we got bubble tea x2 for 23 RMB. Dang, bubble tea so cheap here!

Once we got off at the station we had to walk back to the hotel and the walk should only take around 15 minutes but we got lost. VERY LOST. It was nighttime and the sky was pitch black combined with lightening and thunder and rain... We forgot how the surroundings looked like and we were just walking to who knows where. But at least it stopped raining soon enough, so we could walk without umbrellas...We asked for help but nobody seemed to know where the hotel was. My mother asked a security guard and he directed us to walk straight ahead, but HOHO, no it's not there. By chance, one sketchy young man came up to us and asked where are we going and my mother asked him if he knew how to get to the hotel, and hurray, he did. As he led us back to the correct path he asked he we were from Hong Kong and my mother said no "Taishan." ??? I later questioned my mother and she said to not let people know that you are from Canada or Hong Kong else they might rob you (think you have money). You do not want to get lost in Guangzhou at night, especially not near the airport since there's not many people on the streets and if there are, they look very DAMN sketchy. Most people on the streets were young 20-30 year old gangster looking guys. But on the bright side, we were safe.

Once at the hotel, we wanted to take a shower and wash our hair, but if luck would have it, there were NO WATER! Yes, our neighbors were freaking out too. There were a lot of commotion and my mother went downstairs and the staff said that the lightening struck the water tank but there are people fixing it now so we would get water the next morning. So basically, after sweating all day and not washing hair for 2 days, we had to go to bed dirty. Nasty. To wash our face and brush our teeth, me and my sister went to the hallway to grab some drinking water instead. We had to make do with what we have. Oh right, and the washroom have this funky smell to it. Nasty.