Sightseeing in Guangzhou

“No changing of place at a hundred miles an hour will make us one whit stronger, happier, or wiser. There was always more in the world than men could see, walked they ever so slowly; they will see it no better for going fast. The really precious things are thought and sight, not pace. It does a bullet no good to go fast; and a man, if he be truly a man, no harm to go slow; for his glory is not at all in going, but in being.” (John Ruskin)

 Suppose you decided to go to China for a sightseeing holiday, where would you go?

I’m guessing places like Beijing, Xi’an, Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao, Guilin, and Shanghai might spring to mind.  So might many other places.  China is a big country.

Guangzhou probably wouldn’t be high on the spring-to-mind list.

When My Big Sis said that she and her family were coming to China for seven weeks, my first question was where else in China should we take them.  It seemed obvious that there would not be enough to see and do only in my adopted home city of Guangzhou.

So, I suggested two outside-Guangzhou trips.  Beijing was an obvious choice, for maybe a couple of weeks.  And Xingping, which is a lovely little place nearby Guilin, was suggested for a shorter countryside trip.

As it turns out, we never went to either of those places.  My Big Sis and her family spent their entire time here in Guangzhou (they returned to New Zealand a few days ago).  And we never ran out of things to do.  In fact, not only were we kept busy the whole time, we also never completed our Guangzhou to-do list.

What did we fill our time with?

We went to a few parks:

Baiyun Mountain is a big park area to the north of the city.  There are many whole-day semi-nature walks up and around the mountain (I say “semi-nature” because it is all very civilised with paved paths and plenty of shops).  The cable car ride up from the south entrance (metro line 5, Taojin, then bus 245) is definitely worth it for its stunning views.  At the top of the cable car, we walked north to Moxing Summit, which is the highest peak in the area.  Continuing north down the worryingly-steep steps on the other side of the summit left us with rubbery legs, but we all managed to keep going.  We followed the path past the reservoir (which we didn’t swim at, but I read that it is possible) and out the west gate (where bus 424 took us to metro line 2).  All this took us about 10 hours.

Xiaogang Park (metro line 8, Xiaogang) is a medium-sized park just one metro stop, or a short walk, from our home.  It is a pleasant little half-day outing, and the children loved the several cheap amusement park rides near the entrance.

Dongshanhu Park (metro line 6, Donghu) is another medium-sized park fairly near our home (easier for us to get bus 211 rather than the metro).  The boats for hire on the lake are enjoyable.

Yuexiu Park (metro line 2) and Martyrs’ Park (metro line 1) were on our to-do list, but we never got to them.  Yuexiu Park is where the goat statue, the symbol of Guangzhou, is located.

We went to a few shopping areas:

Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street (metro line 6, Huangsha) and Beijing Lu (metro line 1/2, Gongyuanqian) are horribly crowded street malls, but they are also cultural must-sees.  Beijing Lu has an interesting historical section, where you can see the ancient paved city streets.

At IKEA (metro line 1/3, Guangzhou East Railway), it is interesting to see the locals make themselves at home in the air-con coolness and comfort of the displays.  Us home-types also like to buy lots of stuff there.

It is an interesting walk through the richer parts of town from IKEA to Guangzhou Book Centre (metro line 1/3, Tiyu Xilu).  The book centre has several floors of books and the English book section is good and cheap.

Decathlon sports mega-store (metro line 3, Xiajiao) is worth a visit, both as a source of cheap-but-good sports equipment and as a playground for the children.  But it is best to go during school hours, if the children want to play with the free equipment.

And there are countless other shopping malls dotted throughout the city.

Several other city spots are worth a visit:

Shamian Island (metro line 6, Wenhua Park) is a must-see if you are interested in pretty European buildings from a hundred or so years ago.  The island was a sandbank before the Europeans built there, and so if you are lucky enough to go during the rainy-time, you can walk the streets with the water up to your thighs.  The US embassy is on the island, as are lots of souvenir shops.

Ersha Island (metro line 6, Donghu).  This island has two things going for it.  Firstly, it is a cultural centre, with an art museum, pleasant riverside promenade, and so on.  Secondly, it has the best children’s playground in the city.  It even has swings!

Canton Tower (metro line 3, Canton Tower).  Every city needs a big tower, and this 600+m tower is pretty impressively tall.  It is beautiful, and the views from the top aren’t bad on a clear day/evening.

Guangzhou Zoo (metro line 5, Zoo) is a good place to see pandas.  It also has white tigers.

Sacred Heart Cathedral (metro line 2/6, Haizhu Square) is like a mini Notre Dame.  Seriously, the front is very similar.  It also has English Catholic church services.  It is located in the old city area, and many nearby streets are crowded and bustling with the movement of shopping goods.

Zhujiang New Town (metro line 3/5, Zhujiang New Town) is worth wandering around.  When I first moved to Guangzhou nine years ago, I said that its new buildings looked so boring and old-fashioned.  But in the last few years some brilliantly creative people have built some modern masterpieces.  And a lot of them are in this area.  It also has a cool fountain and a very fancy Pizza Hut.

We enjoyed an open-top double-decker bus ride (bus line 1) out to Huangpu, an old local village, where we wandered around for a few hours.

Panyu Square, at the end of line 3, is worth visiting.  It is a bit like a mini-Tiananmen Square.

A ferry ride up and down the river is a good way to see the area.  The ferry stops at several places, including the North Gate of Sun Yat-sen University.

Most of the metro lines are underground, but some end above ground.  These are line 4 (Jinzhou), line 5 (Jiaokou) and line 6 (Xunfengang).  It is worth travelling to the ends of these lines to see the city outskirts.

We didn’t get to the Guangdong Science Centre (metro line 4, Higher Education Mega Centre North, then bus 5), which was a shame, because I think it is a brilliant place for the children.  It also looks like a Star Trek spaceship.  Neither did we get to the Chen Clan Academy or the Guangxiao (Bright Filial Piety) Temple.  We didn’t visit any open homes of new apartment complexes, and we didn’t have a night boat cruise on the river.

We went to more personal places:

I live on the campus of Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University (metro line 8, Sun Yat-sen University).  There are lots of pleasant walks inside the university grounds.  The North Gate exits at the river, and in the evenings it is a social place for music and dance.

Sun Yat-sen University also has a campus in the university town (metro line 4, Higher Education Mega Centre north), and this is where Yeye worked for six months back in 2007.  Apart from seeing the building where Yeye taught at, it is also interesting to wander around the big, wide, empty-ish streets, the parks, and the several university campuses.  It is a contrast to the more crowded central city areas.

I worked for three years at Guangdong University of Business Studies (end of bus line 14).  Since I left in 2008, they have taken over the next-door farmland and built some huge new classroom buildings.  In the distance, several new Canton Trade Fair buildings have popped up, too.  But the immediate surrounding area still is pretty rundown and poor-looking.

Before I got married in 2006, I lived by the Kecun (line 8) metro station in an apartment complex owned by a film studio.  There have been big changes since I left there, including several old buildings pulled down and a new shopping centre built.  But out back behind all the fancy buildings there are still some interesting older alleyways.

Mulan used to have drama classes at a Children’s Activity Centre (metro line 5, Xiaobei), which has weekend children’s classes.  It is interesting to see how the local children spend their weekends.  This area is also interesting because it is where a lot of African and Arabian foreigners make their home.  As I walk the streets there, I occasionally get asked if I am Muslim.

Mulan and Miya had ballet and art classes.

My Big Sis’ family went to English language church services at a few different churches.

Gufu caught the fast train to Shenzhen for the day, to visit one of his relatives who lives there.

And we spent the rest of our time talking and playing.  The children would have been equally happy just playing together at home the entire time.