[mayankjha1806]

Guangzhou, in China is capital city of Guangdong province. It houses many international automotive manufacturers like Toyota, Mitsubishi and Honda.

This was my first visit to China and as such i was apprehensive about what to expect. In this thread i would share my findings and experiences that could potentially help others traveling to China.

Language
Mostly in China either Mandarin or Cantonese is used. If you are english speaking be prepared to be surprised by lack of english awareness in the common people on the ground.

We had trouble communicating basic needs and hence to solely depend on Google translator Android App for this.

http://translate.google.com/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...HJhbnNsYXRlIl0.

It does the job decently well but sometimes even this is difficult to understand for local folks (I am not sure if this was a problem with the translator or the Mandarin or Cantonese problem).

There were instances were we had trouble asking for McDonald or Pizza Hut, or for that matter trouble explaining that we needed extra Salt.
This mightbe different inother cities of China but surely a problem in Guanghhou.

Food
Especially for Vegetarians, it would be better to pack some food items that could help with basic survival. Once you have knowledge and have understood how to communicate, one can find many Vegetarian delicacies in China. Although finding them and communicating with them would still be a challenge.

Getting Around
In cities the public transport is sufficient and cheap. Even the cabs are reasonably cheap to get around. Other than that public transport was effective and Cost about 2RMB (~INR 18) to go anywhere.

Phone Calls
I enabled International roaming on my phone, for generally SMS and occasional emergency calls. I would connect via Wifi at hotel and call family on Gtalk. It turned out to be cheaper than using International roaming. By the end of this month i will get the phone bill and then i can update how expensive/cheap it was.

[mayankjha1806]

Some of the pictures that we as a group took in China.

Canton Tower - The tower briefly held the title of tallest tower in the world, replacing the CN Tower. It is the tallest structure in China.

[mayankjha1806]

Some more pictures of night life

[mayankjha1806]

Fitness Conscious Chinese.









All these women are 60+, they do this synchronized dancing on Music everyday early morning.

[mayankjha1806]

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[naveen.raju]

Wonderful pics. I had similar experience when I went to China couple of years back. Visited Hangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai. Trouble with english is the same almost everywhere. KFC, Pizza Hut and McD can be found almost in all major areas so didnt find it difficult to find one.

2 tips that helped me a lot
1) Look out for some studious chinese students, especially with the ones with glasses . Chances of them having pursed their higher education in western countries are high. I tried my luck with few and it helped. So english can be easily managed.
2) To show numbers, chinese use just one hand to convey it. 1-5 is the same but 6-10 is different since they use only one hand. This is pretty useful when we had to ask for platforms.

[Dodge_Viper]

Interesting travelogue. Probably this would be my first read on China . Thanks a lot for sharing.

Please do include more info about food, I have heard Chinese chinese is way different from Indian Chinese .

[.anshuman]

Wow! what a nice thread on just the right time. I was thinking of posting a similar thread on Guangzhou. I have thousands of pictures from Guangzhou, i hope you won't mind if i post some of them here.

I'd wholeheartedly recommend offline versions of Google maps and Google Translate for visit to Guangzhou, they worked great this time.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

2) To show numbers, chinese use just one hand to convey it. 1-5 is the same but 6-10 is different since they use only one hand. This is pretty useful when we had to ask for platforms.

Thanks, I am not sure but i probably did not paid attention. For most of the shopping we would bargain with a calculator. They would put in a number and we would another and this keeps going-on-and-on until we find a common ground .

Originally Posted by Dodge_Viper

Please do include more info about food, I have heard Chinese chinese is way different from Indian Chinese

There is some very good food available in China, the trouble is finding it and communicating about it. Most of the Chinese food that we saw in Guangzhou was boiled with very less spices. So i guess it makes it healthy but does not taste well and also there were occasions it used to smell. There were a few non-veg eating folks in the group and even they had trouble finding the right food. Once we had some Chinese accompanying us it was much more easier to find good Veg and Non-Veg food.

Originally Posted by .anshuman

I have thousands of pictures from Guangzhou, i hope you won't mind if i post some of them here.

Please do, when did you make the trip? Recently?

Some more pictures.

Many structures that we saw had these colour changing lights which would rotate, and this way in the night it looks beautiful. Pictured here is the same structure with changing lights.















An Automotive parts manufacturer, Pictured here is a dashboard (or maybe front bumper) of some car.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by Dodge_Viper

Please do include more info about food, I have heard Chinese chinese is way different from Indian Chinese .

Very much different. Since I got used to the Indian Chinese food, the proper chinese food was hard for me. Moreover, the non veg dishes are very much different. Tried out few dishes but then opted for fast food joints. The fast food joints are really cheap. More details here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ays-china.html

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Thanks, I am not sure but i probably did not paid attention. For most of the shopping we would bargain with a calculator. They would put in a number and we would another and this keeps going-on-and-on until we find a common ground .

Yes, for shopping this wasnt a problem. All shop keepers are loaded with a calculator. The problem came when I took the high speed train. The station itself was better and bigger than our airports and had a tough time finding the platform. Asked couple of guys for the platform and they didnt understand. Called up my cousin staying in Beijing and he gave this tip. Worked pretty well.

[mayankjha1806]

Some of the images i see are coming Horizontally and not vertical, although when i view them on the computer they are showing correctly. Anyone has any idea what i might be missing.

Some Sculptures around the city.









Canton Tower at Night.

[RGK]

Wonderful Mayank. Everyone was telling great about Guangzhou and I realized on seeing the photos.
Bit sad, that we do not have even a single city/town like this in our vast country. Something really missing in us...

[hellmet]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Some of the images i see are coming Horizontally and not vertical, although when i view them on the computer they are showing correctly. Anyone has any idea what i might be missing.

Open them in MS Paint (if on Windows). Rotate properly and save.

Thanks for the pictures you guys. It looks like China has properly built infrastructure with heavy priority to pedestrians while not leaving potholed roads either.

[balajird]

Excellent Pictures Mayank, just when I saw a set of pictures from China on the other travelogue, I stumbled upon this as well.

I am seeing the pictures of China for the first time and oh boy, the cities are rocking, clean, neat and breath taking buildings. Phew, you guys certainly would have enjoyed a lot staying there.

Keep the pictures coming. Thanks for sharing.