We arrived in China on Friday evening, fresh off the train from Hong Kong we eschewed any offers of a taxi at the station; Chris had a map which showed our hotel to be a short walk away and the prices they were quoting were far too expensive.
Emerging into the warm Guangzhou night I think we all had a feeling of slight unease, I don't know if it was the lack of any signs in our comforting 26-letter alphabet, the strange looks we were getting, or the woman cycling the wrong way across a dual-carriageway intersection, but we definitely felt pretty wary. After walking for a bit and realising we had no way of telling if we were on the right street, or even in the right city, we decided to jump into a cab.
The trip was more than a couple of blocks, but this was appreciated as we got to see a bit of the city. It felt to me like a futuristic New York; lots of modern, well designed, buildings and lots of space. It really felt like we had set foot into the future. This wasn't what I had in my mind's eye when I thought of China.
The hotel was very basic and fairly shabby; mould smell with marks on the walls (thought I had left that behind in NZ!), gas masks for all (not sure what event prompted their inclusion), the hardest mattress I have ever encountered, and a general feeling of dilapidation. We decided to have a mooch around outside to see what we could see.
The roads are pretty hectic with people swerving and beeping all over the place, although strangely no-one seems to speed, so we decided to head down a back alley away from the roads. The side street was full of street food vendors cooking up all sorts of wares; most of which I couldn't name and wouldn't dare try. It was at this point that we realised that we would be mini celebritiies for the weekend; people were staring, trying out their minimal English on us, waving and generally giving us all a bit of attention. Very cool.
We left the street sellers to try and find a restaurant, and after eating dropped into the bar next door. The patron came over to say hello, and informed us that they were having a bit of a celebration, in honour of which he wanted to buy us all a drink. So we each had a beer and enjoyed the plentiful nibbles they provided, lovely jubbly.