After fourteen hours, we arrived in China. Feeling as if we have just traveled through time and space, we poured out into a damp corridor with heavy droplets of moisture rolling down the glass. The air was thick and dense.
Welcome to Guangzhou, one of China's industrial cities. Formerly Canton, this city is full of bustling people eager to get to work, eat and anywhere but where they are.
The helpful staff from China Southern Airlines directed us to a bus to the Grand Hotel. "Follow me," a man no one knew barked at us. Like little tourist lemmings, the collection of Canadians, Australian, and American travelers waddled behind. As we shuffled on, I boarded first and as I looked out the window, there were my three girlfriends now waving to me as the little van pulled away from the airport. Praying that we would end up at the same hotel, the bus drove down an eerily abandoned 6am thoroughfare and up to the Grand Hotel. It was an all marble lobby accented with red and gold. In my broken Chinese and stuttering English, I secured a room at the hotel at the same moment my girls arrived. "We're never separating again," exclaimed Elica as the group reunited.
Once we checked in and settled down, we decided to go to central Guangzhou. With an adventurous tone, we opted for public transportation and headed out running across the four lane freeway to the bus stop on the other side. Quickly we boarded the 707 bus and were on our way in a direction we hoped was right. We met a young man on the bus who seemed to know how to get to Sun Yatsen Memorial Park. "Follow me," he said and again we followed a complete stranger. (This is not a good habit to get into while traveling.) A couple Green metro coins and a highlight reel from the World Cup later, we felt a bit more confident. We successfully got to the memorial and later explored the neighboring parks. It was so incredibly humid that even the leaves were sweating.
While atop a hill with a tower from the Ming Dynasty, it began to pour down rain. Everyone around us, as if it was planned, popped out an arrangement of brightly colored umbrellas. Blue, green, pink and pokadots.
A wave of jet lag hit us all like a brick wall. We attempted a visit to Guangzhou Railway Station which was cut short due to the overwhelming stimuli of fried octopus, fluorescent lights, disco balls and crowds. We promptly boarded a taxi and headed back to the hotel and then to the airport for some serious nap time before Vietnam.
Next stop, Hanoi.