We travelled to Guangzhou, China on New Year's Day and loved it in comparison to Hong Kong.

• Guangzhou has much more laid back, happy atmosphere even with its 12million inhabitants
• The language barrier here is a far greater issue
• People stare at us everywhere we go because we look different, sometimes they even yell "hello" and then run away giggling
• There are much more bikes and hawkers and much less regard for any kind of road rules
• The subway is very well organised but extremely busy

We appreciated Guangzhou and enjoyed playing "Match the Chinese characters" on menus and signs. The city seems completely overpopulated, polluted and chaotic but they somehow manage to fit in some beautiful gardens and parks.