Guangzhou 101
Here are some of the basic information that you may need when traveling to/from/around Guangzhou
Language: The written language is simplified Chinese, the same as the rest of Mainland China. It is different and more simple than traditional Chinese, used in Hong Kong. The locals speak Cantonese but as Mandarin is the official language and due to the influx of out-of-province migrant workers, most Cantonese speakers can also speak Mandarin. In fact, most locals start interactions in Mandarin and will change to Cantonese if you respond in Cantonese.
Currency: Like the rest of Mainland China, Guangzhou uses RMB or yuan. The only difference is that while cash is still king in many parts of Asia, Guangzhou has made a dramatic leap into using a digital wallet. Anybody tech savvy or is younger than a baby boomer will be using either Ali Pay or WeChat Pay. Even street food vendors have scanners to accommodate digital wallets. I do not have any personal experience using Ali Pay. I do, however, use WeChat Pay while I am in Guangzhou. WeChat Pay is similar to Apple Pay and is a part of a messaging app called WeChat. WeChat is like if Whatsapp and Facebook had a baby. You can message individuals or start groups and you can post photos/videos on a wall that can be seen by your “friends”. Since Whatsapp and Facebook are currently banned in China, WeChat reigns supreme. Using WeChat Pay does present some complications. For many of the foreign version of WeChat does not display the WeChat Pay option. To activate your WeChat Pay, I got my cousin to send me a “red packet” (digital lucky envelope of money), which activates the WeChat Pay. Now you can just add money to this magical digital wallet, right? That’s a big NOPE. While you can use your foreign credit card to confirm your identity, you cannot use it to reload your WeChat Pay. For myself, I confirmed my identity using my Bank of China account I opened in Vancouver. Unfortunately, it’s only good for confirming my identity and cannot be used to reload my WeChat Pay either. What I normally end up doing is paying my friends/family cash, and they transfer the same amount of money to me via WeChat. I have read online that you can get hotel staff to do this for you and since it’s RMB to RMB and the transfer is pretty much instant, you’re unlikely to get scammed.
Airport: You can fly into Guangzhou Baiyun Airport. The airport is pretty big and had recently been expanded. Once you’ve landed, you can take a shuttle or taxi to downtown but the easiest, cheapest and most foolproof way to travelling to downtown from the airport is by the metro. The metro station is under the airport and can take you anywhere in Guangzhou for under $20 RMB.
Train: Guangzhou has five railway stations; Guangzhou Railway Station, North Railway Station, East Railway Station and South Railway Station. Make sure to double check your ticket to ensure that you don’t end up at the wrong station. The main train station is Guangzhou Railway Station and it has a number of high speed rail lines (China’s bullet train) running every day. I purchased my high speed train ticket using the app “CTrip” and i worked just fine. Even though you purchased the ticket online, you will still have to go to a ticket counter at the train station to get physical tickets. The line for pre-paid tickets are shorter and faster. There are different class tickets for the high speed trains. The entire train has air conditioning, so you don’t have to worry about that. I bought first class tickets and it included USB outlets and more spacious seating. The second class tickets did not have USB outlet but the seats were still quite comfortable.
One of the bullet trains we took from Guangzhou to Zhuhai
Accommodation: You can book hotels in Guangzhou on regular booking sites like Expedia, Agoda, and Hotel.com. I’ve also used the app Ctrip, which seems to have hotels not available on western sites. Since I used the Ctrip app to buy a train ticket, I received additional discount for some of the hotels. You can try Airbnb but there’s very limited listings. A few years ago, there was only one listing and it was $300.00/night apartment. So I suspect that the number of listings will go up steadily in the coming year.
Weather: If you’re from the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll probably always find Guangzhou to be warm. I normally visit during their “winter” from November - January and the temperature hovers around 20-25 degrees Celsius. If the temperature ever drops below 20 degrees, you will start seeing the locals pull out their thick coats and parkas (not exaggerating). It’s typically dry during these months but the draw back is that there’s more smog. I’ve gone back to Guangzhou during the warmer months and it’s very warm and humid. My advise would be to visit between November and February but avoid any national holidays. You do not want to compete with all the locals on holiday. If you are visiting between March and May, you’ll likely to encounter hot muggy weather and rain storm, followed by periodic flooding. From May - September, you’re in a sauna and good luck to you.
Transportation: The public transportation in Guangzhou is extremely well developed. My favourite method of transportation is taking the metro. It’s reliable, relatively cheap and air conditioned. If you’re interested in the metro, here is the link to the English website:http://cs.gzmtr.com/ckfwEnglish/. Apart from having 13 different metro lines that crisscross the city, there are also frequent buses. The only down side to take the bus is that signs are all in Chinese. If you do not read Chinese, you will have a hard time determining which bus is right for you. Once on the bus, the announcements will be in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. Regardless of going on the bus or the metro, you will save yourself a lot of hassle by getting a metro card. You can even get one with cute cartoons or design on it. It’s available at metro stations and you can reload it at any 7-11. As an added bonus, you get a discount after using the card 10 times within a month.
