My Trip To Guangzhou China And The Canton Fair [ Part 1]

My father and I recently took a trip to China; he was in need of a new supplier for his product (he sells mini motorbikes for children) so he decided to take me along with me and show me another side of the world.

First off, I haven't done much travelling in my time. When I was younger I went to Egypt and Italy on a football tour and more recently visited my fiancé's parents in Kenya. China for me was a whole new world, especially coming from South Africa where things aren't as advanced in terms of infrastructure, for example; the metro rail system was so fast and efficient I could get from one side of the city to another for next to nothing. I thought Guangzhou was a very vibrant city while I was there, I really enjoyed the atmosphere, and wherever I went there were people doing something.

One thing I didn't realise was getting into mainland China was quite a mission, after a gruelling 13 hour flight you have to go through the customs and immigration in Hong-Kong then catch a train to Kowloon, from there we catch a bus to Hung Hom station where we take the express train to Guangzhou and go through customs and immigration again. When leaving the railway station we then had to catch a taxi and find our hotel. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience.

For whatever reason, I was expecting more of the population to be able to speak English, however, it was always a struggle to try and find out where we were going or where we were. Even something as simple as ordering a bit of chicken and noodles can be complicated; this resulted in a few embarrassing situations of me making clucking chicken noises in the middle of a packed restaurant.

I got a bit sidetracked there, anyway, on our first night in Guangzhou we dropped off the bags at the hotel room (which was a nice 3-star hotel for a great price) and headed out for some beers and food. We found a dodgy looking restaurant that wouldn't look out of place in a movie set in China Town. We proceeded to order a few dishes (which was done by pointing at pictures on their wall) and a couple of beers before heading out for some more discovery.

We were on Beijing Road at the time, pretty much the only street name I can remember as it was such a lively place, I recommend every visit Beijing Road if you are planning on visiting Guangzhou. We had a good look around for a nice pub or bar where we could have a few more beers but we were unable to find anything, I was just walking around in complete awe of my surroundings I felt like I was in a movie with all the tall buildings and commotion. We tried asking a few people walking on the street about where we could go but to no avail. Eventually, we stumbled across an extremely drunk motorcycle driver and for whatever reason, I don't know if it was the jetlag or the previous beers were starting to hit me but we decided to hop onto the back of this bike that looked like it was on its last legs. That will be a ride I never forget! The driver ended dropping us near the Pearl River at a fancy little dim-sum lounge called Canton.

Here my father and I met a guy (we will call him Saad), he was a Muslim from Pakistan, we shared a few beers and got along like old friends so we decided we will meet again at the bar the next night. After a few more beers and good conversation it was time to get some sleep, after all, we were here to visit the Canton Fair. We would end up visiting this bar multiple times over the course of the trip.

Waking up the next day with a gruelling hangover and then having to go off to the fair to source some new suppliers was not something I was excited for. The fair itself was amazing; the sheer size of the venue and the number of exhibitors is unimaginable. For anyone wanting to visit the fair, make sure you know what you want because there is no way you can see everything without walking yourself into a coma. It was an interesting day to see how my father operated and dealt with various suppliers, half of which couldn't speak English.

That night, after a long hard day we figured we deserved some ice cold beers. So as planned we met up with Saad at Canton. Unfortunately, they didn't have any beers I was accustomed to so we ended up drinking a Belgium beer called Hoegaarden, this would eventually be the drink of choice while in Guangzhou. After 2 or 3 each the bar actually ran out of Hoegaarden, needless to say, we weren't impressed and moved onto another bar down the road, it was called The Sleeping Woods Cafe.

We ordered a 3-litre tower of Hoegaarden upon arrival to ensure that the drinks were flowing without interruption. We ended up sitting with a Russian Guy after having a chat with him from another table, we will call him Vladimir. Vladimir fancied himself as a big player in China; he is an MC and club promoter within Guangzhou. Apparently, he was wanted in Russia as well for hacking, but I don't know how true that is. I was quite fascinated that this Russian guy at 26 years old had been living in mainland China and had acclimated to the environment so well, he could speak fluid Mandarin and seemed to know a lot of the locals.

Anyway, we keep putting the beers down when Vladimir asks us if we want to go to a nightclub. In our inebriated state, we decide that it is a good idea and head out to the club (note my father is 59 years old). It was a very small building on the side of the road, from the outside you could never tell there is a nightclub there but it was packed to the brim. To cut a long story short, the drinks were far too expensive for us South Africans who trade 2:1 with the Yuan so we called it a night and went our separate ways and never heard from the Russian again but it was an interesting interaction non-the-less and one I will not forget. Our friend Saad will also be visiting us in South Africa on the 15 July.

The next day I had to attend the fair alone as my father in his old age, was absolutely finished from the travelling and all the drinking. As you can tell I am not much of a touristy traveller, I like to drink and explore the cities I am in; you definitely won't find me at any temples anytime soon. I think I have rambled on too much for one post.

Thanks for reading. I will post a part 2 of the rest of the trip if people enjoyed the read.