The City of Rams – Déjà Vu in Guangzhou

It feels very familiar in Guangzhou. The people, the streets, the structures. I have certainly been to Guangzhou before, perhaps even before the rapid economic development that took off after 1992. The trips to Guangzhou during my childhood years have not left me with any solid memory. And my first day here was a déjà vu – I have certainly seen this before, but the people, the circumstances, the facts, and anything that could have been associated with the sights, I could not recall at all.

In China, Guangzhou is known to be the City of Rams. Legend has it that “Back in the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century – 771 BC), five immortal beings descended into Chuting (the ancient name of Guangzhou), each riding a ram that held six strings of corn millet spray in its mouth. The immortals gave the millet sprays to the local people and expressed their wishes that there would not be a shortage of food. During the departure of the five immortals, the five rams turned into stone. Hence, Guangzhou is nicknamed “the City of Rams”.”[1]

This is but one of the many things that Guangzhou is known for. In terms of history, Guangzhou is first and foremost the cradle of the 1911 Revolution, which ended five thousand years of dynastic rule in China. Sun Yatsen, the Father of Modern China, is of Zhongshan origin.

On this trip I will have to miss the Five-Ram Statue, which is in the Yuexiu district. I would be staying in the Liwan District, and so my sightseeing were mostly in Liwan. Like Yuexiu, Liwan is also a well-known old district in Guangzhou.

In the plans were the Yongqing Fang, the Shamian Island, the Scared Heart Cathedral, Pun Tong, the Liwan Museum, and a whole lot of good local dining.

For accommodation, I chose to stay at the Origin Antique House and Hotel. As its name suggests, the guesthouse showcases a collection of antiques from the Ming and Qing Dynasties in its premises. There will be more introduction of this wonderful, homey guesthouse in the following entries.

Preliminaries

There are a few things to bear in mind for anyone to travel to China these days. Since I am a Hong Kong resident, there are easier options for people like us.

Train tickets: the train tickets must be booked with your ID now. I booked my high speed rail tickets on Trip.com. You do not need to print out the confirmation, all you need is to bring your home return permit and all ticketing will be scanned and recognized by your ID. The scanners are also able to scan your passport, if that is what you are using.

Due to a high volume of Hong Kong people travelling in China, you will be well-served in booking your return ticket on the same go. The return tickets can be fully-booked if you don’t do so way in advance.

For foreign passport holders, at least from what I have heard, is that you may have to line up at the train station counters to book a return ticket. Traveling in China is no longer so easy for foreigners now.

The next big issue for a trip to China these days is payment options. Many Hong Kong people are able to set up WeChat Pay or Alipay, which are linkable to their local Hong Kong bank accounts or their Hong Kong credit cards. As China is rapidly proceeding to a cashless society, e-payment has become pretty much the only option (believe it or not, even for the hawkers selling fruits on the street). I have not had to pay cash in Guangzhou at all, except for one instance, and that is the payment and top-up for Yangcheng Tong (the equivalent of Hong Kong’s Octopus card). I actually do not know if, failing e-payment, you can indeed pay cash, but yes, set up WeChat Pay or Alipay (and also all the identification verification that they ask you to do, which certainly involves scanning your Hong Kong ID) before you go on a trip to China.

For navigation, I find Gaode Maps to be a tad better than Baidu. It does have an English option for its navigation. Google Maps is next to no-good in China.

The Journey Begins

From Hong Kong, I booked high speed rail tickets to depart from West Kowloon Station to Guangzhou South.

I must have been exceedingly lucky to have made it to Guangzhou as I originally planned. Having never traveled from West Kowloon Station on the high speed rail before, I was always under the impression that the whole experience would be easy and quick, with the so-called Co-Location Immigration Arrangement. But nooooooo. I arrived at the entrance to the high speed rail station 20 minutes before departure. Only when the self-service counter declined me did I begin to have a sense of crisis. You may not check in with the self-service counter if you arrive less than 30 minutes before departure.

I then quickly lined up at the staffed counter, and when I showed my ID, the lady said, “you are really pushing this. Good luck.” I then rushed through two bag checks and two immigration lines, plus a health code declaration counter in between. When I was at the departure gate, the lady did not even bother scanning my ID, “just run.”

I made it onto the train two minutes before the train door closed. I have heard stories of people not even making it to the train having arrived 45 minutes before departure. Therefore, I say arrive at West Kowloon Station one hour before your train departure.

But once on the train, things were very easy. I pretty much just sat at any vacant seat I saw. In an hour, I made it out to Guangzhou South.

From Guangzhou South I took the metro and made it to the Changshou Lu stop. In the ten-minute walk between the Changshou Lu stop to the Origin Antique House and Hotel, I saw wonderful views of old structures along Boayuan Road.

With this lucky beginning, I had a feeling that this would turn out to be a wonderful trip. And wonderful it was.

[1] Five-Ram Statue, Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office, at Five-Ram Statue (chinadaily.com.cn).