Trying to Travel - Guangzhou
As usual I planned pretty poorly.
Continuing my attempt to do some more local stuff I decided to take a day trip to Guangzhou last April. Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province and around 70 miles northwest of Shenzhen. I picked some stuff to do before going, bought my ticket on WeChat, and showed up at the station a little early to pick it up. I did think to buy my return ticket at the same time though. So that was one win since it saved me time once I got to Guangzhou. Instead of having to wait in line again there I could just get both tickets in Shenzhen.
My first stop was Guangzhou’s iconic Canton Tower. Opened in 2010 for the 16th Asian Games the Canton Tower spirals almost 2000 feet above Guangzhou. It wasn’t too far south from where I arrived and on the same metro line. So the trip started out pretty well. I quick ride down and I was checking out the Canton Tower and Pearl River.
The plan after seeing the Canton Tower was to head over to the Sacred Heart Cathedral but while I was on the metro I decided to hop off early and check out Martyrs’ Park. That turned out to be a good decision. The park was pretty large and quick impressive, with a little nature and a lot of history. My Chinese isn’t good enough to understand most of it but the statues and monuments were impressive nonetheless.
After the park I finished making my way to the Sacred Heart Cathedral. I had been there before so didn’t plan to spend too much time there but it’s a pretty nice church so I felt I should go there. And it was definitely worth the quick stop but there were a lot of people there so I didn’t hang around too long.
My luck started to turn a little after seeing the cathedral though. The plan was to walk towards Shamian Island, an old foreign concession in Guangzhou, and stop at Qingping Market on the way. Qingping Market is a traditional Chinese medicine market in the city and I’m not sure I managed to find it. I might have. But I might not have. I found a Qingping Street and the area had a lot of people selling traditional Chinese medicine so I think I found it. Or a part of it at least. But I couldn’t find anything that definitively noted I was in the right place.
A building on Shamian Island
From there though I made my way to Shamian Island without incident and enjoyed the island for a bit, taking a break for coffee. Shamian Island is a small island separated from the main part of Guangzhou by a small canal. Because of its past the island has a much greater concentration of European architecture than other parts of the city and was a nice contrast to everywhere else I went. The island isn’t huge though so after a short walk around and the aforementioned coffee I was on to my next stop.
And that’s where my planning really started to fall apart. I jumped back on the metro to head over to the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall. The pictures were pretty neat and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was any connection to Chen tai chi. Unfortunately I didn’t pay attention to times and by the time I got there it was already closed so I could only view it from a little far off.
After taking a minute and deciding what to do next I was off to Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street which was…near Shamian Island were I had been just a little while earlier. This time I decided to walk though and found the street without too much incident. But oh man were there a lot of people there. Way too many people. The main square wasn’t too much, but after trying to venture down one of the streets off the main square I quickly abandoned the street.
At this point I only had about 90 minutes before my train back to Shenzhen so decided to play it safe and head back to the train station, maybe making a quick stop for some dinner on the way. I didn’t find any dinner. But I made it back to the train station, had some instant noodles, and was on my way back to Shenzhen.
For those keeping track at home here’s what went well and what didn’t.
Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street
Well
Getting my tickets
Canton Tower and the Pearl River
Martyrs’ Park
Sacred Heart Cathedral
Shamian Island
Okay
Qingping Market
Qingping Market
Not so Good
Chen Clan Ancestral Hall
Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street
Although I stumbled a little toward the end of the day I did manage to see most of what I went for. And since Guangzhou is close to Shenzhen it isn’t too hard to head back if I have to. In fact the plan was always to go back and go up the Canton Tower and take a river cruise so now I’ve just got an extra thing or two to see when I’m back.
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