I have to admit here that my view of Guangzhou is slightly biased by the way in which I visited it. Anyone can go to the major tourist areas, I figured, and see all the shiny new shopping malls and pristine parkland - but I wanted to see the real China, the China where normal people live and work and where the people's republic can't hide behind the glitz. For this reason, I don't think I'd be making too wild a guess if I said that this book will probably never be published in China.

I took a cab to Guangzhou. I had already been given the name of a top class hotel before I left Hong Kong, but as I wanted to stay outside the touristy parts of the city I decided instead to simply ask the cab driver to take me to a hotel away from the centre and hope for the best. I could probably have caught a bus, but my luggage was getting quite heavy and somehow I didn't fancy the idea of dragging it to a bus stop and sitting on a packed Chinese bus with no idea how to explain where I wanted to go. Instead I did what must have seemed like the equivalent of getting into a London taxi and saying to the driver "Right, we're off to Scotland!", and after moaning in that wonderful way that cabbies do about how far it was and how he had to go over a toll bridge, we came to an agreement which would allow me to get to my destination and him to put his kids through collage.

Although still technically in the Special Economic Zone, Guangzhou is also a long way from the border and about as much a reflection of China and Chinese life as I am likely to get on this trip. The capital of Guangdong province and the southern gate of the people's republic, Guangzhou is one of the wealthiest cities in China not only due to its position in the Special Economic Zone but also because of the decision made by various large companies to move there from Hong Kong as costs rose in the former British colony.

Guangzhou also isn't small by any standards, covering an area of well over 2500 square miles and providing homes for 10 million people. The city is connected to Hong Kong and Macau via ferry along the Pearl River Delta and through a modern transportation system which includes train and bus services. It is a bustling modern city full of parks, art galleries, high rise buildings, shopping arcades and nightlife and, although perhaps not the first destination for tourists visiting China, is quickly building its reputation as a thriving metropolis and no doubt raking in cash for the government. There are, however, two sides to any city and as I was only in town for one night I had come to see the real China rather than plonking myself in the middle of the gleaming modern facades and factories that make up twentieth century Guangzhou. Much as I would love to explore China further and visit such wonders as the Terracotta Army and the Great Wall, there was simply no option to do so within the constraints placed upon me by my itinerary. Instead, I planned to get a little taster of the country this time around and make a proper trip of it at a later date. Perhaps, one of these days, I might even write a book about going around China and visiting all the places nobody else goes to...

It was a long journey on hot, dusty highways to get to Guangzhou, a journey which took quite a lot longer than it could have done because I was unfamiliar with the region and the driver was able to drive around the city several times pretending to get lost in that unique way which only taxi drivers can pull off. When we arrived, the meter had a large enough number on it to make me draw breath, but I forked over my cash and made my way into the rather plush looking but awkwardly named Zhuhai Special Economic Zone Hotel of Guangzhou. It seems that they just aren't satisfied with the name of a building over here unless it has at least 7 words in it.

The local conference centre was situated right up the road and it seemed that my hotel was mainly used by businessmen, but it was also apparent that it was about the only building in the area that wasn't falling down so I guessed I had managed to successfully avoid too much of the modern face of the city.

Only being in town for one night before returning across the border to Hong Kong and flying on to Australia, I took just enough time to take in the opulence of my hotel room before taking to the streets to explore. My hotel was spotless, a testament to everything most locals could clearly only dream of: when I stepped outside the gleaming automatic doors onto the pavement outside, however, I was immediately hit by a rotting smell and assaulted by beggars from all directions asking for foreign currency. I must have seemed like a millionaire to some of these people, a fact that is likely to depress me for some time.

The first thing I noticed about Guangzhou, apart from the smell, was that there were a lot of people on bikes, and outside every shop or market stall there were at least six or seven leaning against a wall. Obviously a lot of people living in the city can't afford a car, but riding a bike everywhere also seems to be something of a shrewd move because the several million cars which do choke the roads all seem to be either at a constant standstill or driving at a hundred miles an hour down single lane streets with barely enough room to swing a cat. In some ways, it was worse than the traffic in Bangkok: I actually waited patiently at a pedestrian crossing on a little side street for what seemed like fifteen minutes with traffic zooming past before it dawned on me that nothing was actually going to stop, whatever colour the lights changed to. I was really quite jealous of all the cats and dogs on the street, who seemed to have mastered the art of weaving in and out of traffic without getting mown down.

I sort of ended up wishing that I had longer to take a proper look around, because depressing as Guangzhou seemed it was clearly a big city to explore. No doubt there are parts of London in which a tourist could stay and come away with the impression that our capital is a huge slum on the banks of the Thames - although it is hard to believe that anywhere could seem as run down as the backstreets I wandered along in Guangzhou. On the other hand, I'm glad that I chose not to stay where I was advised as it allows me to compare the theme park style tourist friendly face of Shenzhen with the hidden side of the country. Most of the late afternoon was spent wandering the streets and looking through the local open markets, half choking from the traffic fumes and constantly worrying that the building I was walking past might suddenly collapse into a pile of rubble and engulf me. One thing I certainly didn't ever feel, however, was unsafe. Despite not being able to communicate with me using language, the local people seemed more than happy to help out a confused looking tourist wandering the streets of their city - they probably saw that I wasn't surrounding myself with the bright lights and glamour that visitors normally crave, and assumed I was lost. In the evening, I stumbled across the local branch of a large international fast food chain - the one which begins with an M and ends in cDonalds - and was actually happy to have found somewhere where the food looked as though it had been cooked at least a reasonable amount. Throughout the day until that point, I had seen nothing but gutter restaurants covered in cats and piles of cats on which somebody had propped a restaurant. Sitting at the next table was a really nice local man who took me through all the options on the McMenu, which weren't as obvious and as familiar as I might have expected from such a place, and explained to me in broken English which items I would be likely to keep down for more than five minutes and which items were local specialities which I wouldn't want to touch. I was just glad to have found somewhere which didn't look as though it might provide me with a meal containing somebodies domestic pet which had accidentally crawled into the oven for warmth. I stuck with something familiar in the shape of a hamburger - although it did seem a tad on the raw side as seems to be the norm in China so I may be making some of these journal entries from intensive care in a day or two.

If I pass through Guangzhou at a later date, I shall pay a visit to Shamian Island. Covering an area of only 900 metres by 300, Shamian is another of the many places which China once handed over to the British Empire - although, on this occasion, we got to share the island with France. Now covered in Youth Hostels and tourist markets, Shamian is known for its bronze statues depicting life on the island through the ages, a feature which pulls in visitors in their droves. Australia is also good at livening up its streets with comical statues, which is something I'll discuss in the next volume, and I'm a big fan of original street art which manages to make an area seem more fun rather than totally ruining it as British street art often does, so Shamian is certainly the first place I'll visit if I ever return to Guangzhou...

About Simon and Burfords Travels:

Simon Burford is a UK based travel writer. He will be re-publishing his travel blogs, chapters from his books and other miscellaneous rantings on these pages over the coming weeks and months, and the entry on this page may not necessarily reflect todays date.