Guangzhou Impression

By Jian Shuo Wang on 2003-12-10 21:23 · Guangzhou

Busy day! Didn’t get a chance to sit down or have a break the whole day, until now.

I didn’t have much impression about Guangzhou this time. Just two comments:

Will get back to Shanghai tomorrow morning.

Night Gather with High School Classmates

Guangzhou is a city full of energy. I was surprised to get the invitation from my friends Peng and Yu at **9:30 PM **to visit their home. I meant to call to say hello to them only. After confirming that it was not very late to visit their home, I took a taxi to their nice newly decorated apartment.

After very interesting talk - all about the old times and the current life, they suggested to have a “cup of tea” outside with our other friends Tao. It was almost 10:30 PM then. I was really surprised: “Is it too late?”

In Shanghai, although we return home late, but we don’t go out of the door after 10:00 PM. Maybe for places like U.S, people tend to stay home after work….

Not surprisingly, Tao was still working on a project in the CITIC Tower. We made the appointment to gather at a “tea house” near the tower.

11:00 PM sharp, five of us met at the Bing Sheng tea house. Later I found out that it was not for tea. It is another dinner with five dishes. We talked and laughed, with all the funny stories back in 1995 to 1999 1992 to 1995 when we were studying in the same class at high school. I even took out my computer to review all the old pictures. Look at the young and cheerful faces!

I promised to create a new classmate BBS in this week. The old board of 5460.net and netbig.com are just too bad.

Ever bright City - Guangzhou

After paying the bill and leaving the restaurant, it was already around 2:40 AM the next morning. The restaurant was still full with new customers coming in.

What a energetic city! I cannot imagine the life in Shanghai or any other city in China. I have to say, Guangzhou is a charming city with all kinds of social activities that never stops. Guangzhou is a city that never sleeps.

9 Comments
I was told several times that the nightlife in Shanghai only starts after 10pm and never ends... But you seem to feel the other way. Or you just need those same friends in Shanghai to have fun :-)... Were you really attending high school in 1999? :-)
— JH · 2003-12-11 05:12
Kids having fun together are the same all over the world! It looks like you have a wonderful group of friends. How nice you were able to get together with some of them again. But weren't you very tired when you had to wake up to attend your meetings the next day?
— Carroll · 2003-12-11 05:27
JH, sorry. It should be 1992 to 1995 that I studied in high school. I have corrected it. The real difference between Shanghai and Guangzhou is, the activities in Guangzhou at night are typically dining or having tea, and friends just gather and talk. It is very interesting and people, no matter old or young enjoy the night life this way. In Shanghai, however, life starting at 10:00 PM is mostly bar and club lives...

Carroll, yes. I am very tired. It seems I still need to take more time to get my clock synchronized with that in Guangzhou. People in Guangzhou don't look tired. They have gotten used to the life that way.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2003-12-11 11:37
I checked this post again after almost one year. It was nice memory.
— Jian Shuo Wang · 2004-05-27 14:14
Transportation from Hongkong to Shenzhen and Guangzhou

Hi

Thank you for supplying this helpful website. I plan to Hongkong on 10 June 2005.

My question are:

1. From Hongkong to Shenzhen where he must go to train station, which number can take me to Shenzhen (any inputs and tips)

2. then I will stay in Shenzhen then from Shenzhen I will take train to Guangzhou. What is the station name and which number can take me to Guangzhou (any inputs and tips)

3. the last one, from Guangzhou I will take train to Hong Kong what station name and which number can take me back to HK

4. For intern transporation in Hong Kong cities which transportation I should take and which is cheaper?

5. In mid of June - will be many rainings in HK/GuangZhou and Shenzhen?

Thank you very much in advance for your response.
— Lisa · 2005-04-21 17:01
Nehao to every body , it is the world which i learn in my flight from Islamabad to urmaqi on 19-04-2006, I stayed in urmaqi and next day reached to Guangzhou after 5 hours ,enjoyed a lot in plane nice pretty airhoustes and have a good commnication with a lady sitting near me , intresting is that she dont speake english and i also dont speake chines but even than have good time with her.and talk a lot ( one can immagine)

My friend recived me from airport and by bus reached in a hotel as the hotel atmospher was not bad but without having rests i intend to see Guangzhou city .

during my stay about 11 days i have done lot of things,including make siver friend , but intresting thing was that the people intend to meet me or want to say hello hi as my face is new to them .

one day i planed to visit canton fare when i reached in the fare i surprise to see such a nice infromative place where i saw every things which i want but i feel glad when i listen about Holy temple of hazrat "aby waqas" the companion of holy prophet Muhammad the last prophet of God, any way when i reached there i feel some sepritual hapning which one can not imagion , if you are musliam or even otherwise must go there and have taste of atmospher you will definatlly feel more than city attraction , more over some people told me that this canton fare is actually a sort of urs of Hazarat aby Waqas.

Any way i am not so religious person like to see all the attration of the city ,i will describe my experience in that regards later .

thanks
— M.Farooq Malik · 2006-05-11 02:43
Something is wrong with your impression of Shanghai and Guangzhou.....Shanghai is a spectacular, beautiful city, with very little Street crime. Shanghai is very safe place for people to visit or live......(The Upper Raodways have some major traffic jams)

The Shanghai nightlife is far superior then Guangzhou.

As a matter of fact everything in Shanghai is superior to Guangzhou. GZ is dirty, and old, the taxis are BU Hao, big time BU HAO.......the metro is interesting........and for the most part the service is second rate compared to Shanghai.....Plus the air quaility is poor........GZ is much cheaper then Shanghai, but it is not Safe on the streets, and is a very dirty city...........

I think you should be more objective with your postings..............
— BigGuy · 2007-04-18 21:49
Bigguy,

don't you think you are the one without a objective view of the world (or GZ and SH for this matter)? You may loveeee SH with all your might and think of this place as heaven but I am sure WJS is entitled to his views as well... and who are you to judge and suggest that he "should be more objective"?

I for one think GZ is way better than SH at least in terms of people

PS: Just as WJS said in his posting that people in GZ live a very different way of life and I admire the lifestyle of Canton people. The people in GZ has retained their own roots and lived the traditional chinese way of living (dim sum, yum cha...yummy) and what about SH? Its another copycat of New York, Tokyo and Paris with nearly nothing of its own.
— Bigfag · 2007-04-19 00:22
i have to say something. Never just listen to what people say. I stayed in Guangzhou for a week. Not a long time but enough to get a sense of the city with my GZ friend showing me around everyday. Before getting there 99,9 % of people i knew warned me about Guangzhou being a city of thieves and filth. When i finally got there i was so shocked by how easily people just can speak out of ignorance.

I love Shanghai but i just fell in love with GZ and its people from the first day. In every city there are unsafe and not nice areas. It just depends where you stay and how you live. I think if i lived in guangzhou my quality of life would be higher in many ways. The way people smile from their heart, the good service and the peoples lifestyle is just great. Thats why im considering moving there when possible. I just wish GZ was bigger, maybe the size of SH, then i would be there already ;)

So, get there, and stay there for at least a week. Make sure you have a GZ friend who can show you around. Then judge. It might not suit you but it suits many people.
— nik · 2008-11-03 18:36