Hah, bet they sell the city a little differently via tourism bureaus... but its nice to know I'm in a quality town, experiencing the real China. Sort of... Actually... not really. Thanks to Simon – a true hero living in China who used to work with my dad in Vienna etc – I am ensconced in the PLUSHEST Westin hotel I’ve been in so far. Complete with bathroom with sliding walls (so one can watch the TV f
rom the bathtub – tried that, it works) and the prerequisite Westin patented “heavenly” bed (soft and cushiony, makes you never want to leave... possibly part of their marketing spiel). But the absolute BEST thing? It’s only been open 3 weeks, so chances are very few, if any, guests have pre-contaminated my room! The smell and feel of NEW, love it!
Guangzhou appears to be much like all of China's large cities, HUGE. Lots of people, a host of impressive ginormous public spaces like the one seen from my 18th floor hotel room, some shiny attempts to build into the clouds higher than anyone before, and polluted sky coupled with searingly HOT weather. According to the handy thermometer in Simon’s chauffeured car, the temperature is hovering somewhere between 39C and 42C. Its enough to make my flipflops stick to the pavement! I think I’m starting to acclimatise at last though – air conditioning set to 22C feels cold...brrrr.Today was a really long day – we started with a trip to Kai Ping. Andries (Dutch-guy-who-works-for-Simon-and-has-a-French-GF-Charlotte-who-will-be-moving-to-China-so-they-can-both-live-in-Shanghai, there – introduction over) had read about this World Heritage area close to Guangzhou.
(Un)fortunately, nature chose that day to start chucking it down, so we could barely see the road on the way there, let along the supposedly magnificent scenery! Once we arrived, however, it started clearing up and we had a wonderfully cool and clear view of the Merchant Houses. They’re like mini-fortresses, 4-5 stories high, built like towers in the middle of the rice fields. They were built by wealthy-ish Chinese families that had moved to Europe, made some m
oney, and then came back to China to live. Needing to protect their wealth from marauding thieves, they built their houses in the style of these fortresses. Surprisingly large and comfortable on the inside (if you’re shorter than 5’8”, else – mind your head on the stairs!), and ornate on the outside. Some have been restored to become part of a Disney-like park attracting tourists, some are just where they were, left in their original state, while farming continues all around them. Quite unlike anything I’ve seen before! 
After a day of traipsing about the countryside without food, the next stop was the international buffet at another plush hotel with White Tigers roaming about outside the restaurant windows. Apparently, Manchester United had been there a few days before on a promotional tour of China and the entire lobby was decorated with posters of the gang.
Despite the amazing cultural blah-di-blah all day (I’m such a barbarian), and the wonderful food in the evening, the absolute highlight of the day was most definitely the acrobatic show we saw in the evening in Guangzhou. It’s hard to describe, but there were so many acts where I must have looked like a complete schmuck if someone had been filming me – mouth hanging open, left hand partially shielding my sight, right hand holding my camera aloft in order to capture every second on film. And they had hippos...my alltime favourite animals (next to Koalas and possibly Panda's...). Those of you LUCKY enough to be corralled into seeing all my pictures later (+6.500 and counting) will also get to see some of the videos! Yeay! I’m absolutely knackered now, but what a day!
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