Did We Really Eat That Much In Guangzhou?!?
So we were back in China once more for Anna to speak at the World Health Organization conference in Guangzhou and we knew this trip was going to be a blast. Everyone we know that had been to Guangzhou loved it, particularly the food and when you’re married to a woman of Chinese descent they really want to try their favourite dishes, especially when you’re in the area where their ancestors came from. I was also curious about the city, because when I took a teaching job in South Korea almost 20 years ago I was also offered one in Guangzhou, however, I had been a little intimidated at the prospect of moving to China; there was a bit of a stigma linked to the country, albeit different to the stigma we see today. At the time China was deemed a little bit backward and for my first experience living overseas I wanted to be as comfortable as possible. This time I would not only get to see how where I could’ve lived looks now, but also possibly find out how it had been two decades ago.
A little dark inside to truly appreciate
Thursday, September 17, 2026
Our flight had been Wednesday evening so it was about 12:30am when we arrived. Anna busted out the APEC card so we could get through immigration faster and we didn’t have check-in luggage so it was a matter of minutes until we were in our large, luxury, electric car complete with screens if we wanted to watch TV (right), vehicles that are extremely commonplace in Chinese cities, and we were whisked away to our hotel. We knew the weather was going to be hovering around the mid-30s°C (around 95°F) the entire time we would be here so Anna cranked up the air conditioner in our room to the max, we showered, and hit the hay. One thing that instantly struck me was that our mattress was extremely firm, almost like a couple of yoga mats stacked on a tile floor so it would be interesting to see how I would pull up in the morning.
It turned out I had had nothing to worry about, in fact I realised when I woke up that that hard mattress may have even worked wonders for my back, however, it was the air conditioner that might be an issue over the coming days, because Anna loves the cold, but when I got out of bed the tiled floor was freezing! Oh well, I would just have to grin and bear it.
This would be Anna’s only full free day so it was time to get out on the street and explore Guangzhou:
Guangzhou is the capital and largest city of Guangdong in southern China. Located on the Pearl River, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northwest of Hong Kong and 145 kilometres (90 mi) north of Macau, Guangzhou has a history of over 2,200 years and was a major terminus of the Silk Road.
The port of Guangzhou serves as a transportation hub. Guangzhou is also one of China’s three largest cities. For a long time, it was the only Chinese port accessible to the Europeans. Guangzhou was captured by the British during the First Opium War and no longer enjoyed a monopoly after the war.
Guangzhou is at the center of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area, the most populous built-up metropolitan region in the world. The area extends into neighboring cities such as Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, parts of Jiangmen and Huizhou, as well as Zhuhai and Macau, forming an urban agglomeration of about 70 million residents.
Learning about a new city is always interesting, but for Anna, this was really the only thing on her mind:
Zengcheng, Guangzhou is a district with a history of more than 1800 years, with the harmonious coexistence of Canton culture and Hakka culture, the derived food culture has not only the non-heritage food such as Zhengguo Wonton, Lanxi Rice Noodle, and Goose Soup, but also the special food such as Rooster olives, Yuecun Dace Fish Skin, Paitan Roasted Chicken, and Shitan Whole Cattle Banquet.
She now had her game face on and was searching out the perfect dim sum spot, leading us to a shopping mall with something that always put a smile on our faces, poorly translated signs including one above a urinal telling users not to drop their pee. A robot assistant helped us find our way to the restaurant, Tao Tao Ju, and Anna was ridiculously excited and a tad overstimulated when the menu came. We decided on dumpling soup, two different types of tripe, things that looked kind of like red California rolls, caviar Sui mai, xiao long bao, and a roasted pigeon, complete with its trephined head. It turned out to be slightly too much food as we couldn’t finish the pigeon, a dish we could’ve foregone, because as we would find out it would constantly be an option on almost all menus across the city.
Our first views of the city and our enormous lunch, not bad for S$50.00 (US$39.00):
It was time to walk off all of that food and we would have no problem sweating it out in this temperature. Anna wanted to visit a hipster part of the city, Dongshankou, know for its designers, galleries, cafes, and bars. It was a long and sweaty walk along the river to get there, passing some great scenery and interesting sights along the way. After about an hour we were there and it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting, even after reading about the place, there were vintage stores, small popups, a ton of local designers that Anna loved checking out, one selling T-shirts that said ‘Jane Eyre Fryer, and also strangely named cafes, but it was the bars that were surprising. After the walk there and then strolling around the streets we were extremely damp, Anna begging for air conditioning so we stopped into a very small bar for a drink and some respite from the heat, Butter Beer Company. It was a small, grey room with a couple of taps. At first I was just thirsty so I ordered an Asahi, but how can I come to a place called Butter Beer without trying one of their specialties? The menu was a little confusing; were they craft beers or cocktails? Either way we ordered a drink each and I guess they were beer cocktails containing butter. They were odd, a little sweet, but we had to give them a go. One problem with this place was that it didn’t have a toilet which meant we had to move on and inexplicably there was a giant Chang bar, a Thai beer, across the road so we went in there for the facilities and another drink and strangely they had different varieties of Chang to what I’ve even seen in Thailand including Chang Espresso. Maybe that one is new or I just hadn’t noticed it in the past.
Some scenes from our post-lunch meander and around Dongshankou:
We’d seen pretty much everything we had come to this area for so we went back to the hotel, showered, and then got a ride to the Party Pier Plaza, one of Guangzhou’s major nightlife districts. However, when we arrived, despite checking out the entire area, it didn’t seem all that happening for a Thursday night. There were a bunch of different bars catering to all markets including karaoke places and cowboy bars, but they were all relatively empty. The sun was setting and the city was lighting up so we opted for a prime spot at a rooftop bar and soon after people started to arrive, it seems this place fills up a bit later. The skyline was beautiful and unique boats were sailing down the river, the perfect view for relaxing after a scorching day in the sun.
A few hours passed and it was once more time to eat, but this time we would tone it down a bit, just some noodles would be fine so we walked around the restaurant area and found a place that perfectly suited our needs. We ordered our food and I got a beer that looked like it came in a 980 ml (33 fl. oz) gas canister, ordered my noodles, and then went to the bathroom. Public toilets on the street in China can at times be pretty bad as I discovered in Beijing, but the toilets in bars, restaurants, and malls are usually completely fine. That was not the case this time. As I approached the stall there was already the strong stench of ammonia, the reason being as I would soon discover was that the sole urinal mustn’t have been cleaned in years! Besides the cigarette butts, you could also chip off the residual piss with a chisel, but I just held my breath and went about business. I wanted to be out of there as soon as possible in order to be able to inhale again so I turned the door handle to exit… and turned… and turned… and turned. Yup, I had trapped myself in possibly the dirtiest urinal with a door handle that didn’t work. I texted Anna for help, but she obviously she didn’t notice so after several different approaches to fix the situation I ultimately kicked the door open and welcomed the relatively fresh air that came with finally being free before maniacally scrubbing my hands over and over. I returned to our table and ate my noodles while showing Anna photos of the toilet, and then we went back down to the rooftop bar for a couple more drinks, but it couldn’t be a late one, Anna had an 8:00am start the next day.
The Party Pier and some of its facilities in all of their splendour:
Friday, September 18, 2026
Today was the first day of Anna’s conference, but she had time to meet me for a coffee and some lunch and despite the fact that we were already eating, I received strict instructions to keep an eye out for claypot rice restaurants while walking around that afternoon, particularly in another nightlife area.
My day was spent wandering around, mainly looking for a store called Vinyl Place Cafe among other shops, a place I definitely didn’t expect to find. I bought a few things and continued to roam around and before I thought Anna would be free I went back to the hotel and dropped my stuff off. She was going to be longer than expected so I decided to walk over early to the area where we would be hanging out, searching for claypot rice as per request, but to no avail. Anna was still quite a while off so I tried to find somewhere to kick back, my initial choice not opening until later in the evening, instead finding myself in Hooley’s Irish Pub. Yes, you can find an Irish pub in pretty much any city in the world, but this one happened to be showing the AFL Preliminary Final between Sydney and Fremantle, the winner of which would play in the Grand Final.
Anna was eventually able to come down and although my search for an appropriate restaurant had come up fruitless, she had once again done her homework and decided where we were going. We sat around in Hooley’s for a bit while upset Sydney Swans fans commiserated and then we were off to Anna’s restaurant of choice, Da Ge Fan, that once more had an abundance of pigeon dishes on the menu. We started off with some really good pigeon-shaped sticky buns followed by noodles, and then came the claypot rice that she had been craving, this time with pigeon gizzard. We like eating chicken gizzards in Singapore so why not give this a go? “When in Rome” and all of that.
It was now time to find somewhere to spend the rest of the night and this time we found a new entertainment district. We walked past a security guard monitoring an impossible amount of screens, weighed up our options, and eventually sat at what seemed to be the most happening outdoor area at a cowboy bar named Mr. Rocky. Here Anna drank wine while I stuck to one-litre beers and the bathroom inside was far nicer than the previous night, however, the sign on the steps I assume was warning that they can get slippery. At least that’s how I interpreted the sign that said “Carefully slide’. As usual the the people on the next table started chatting to us, most likely because it consisted of two female staff members out with their boss and I think they were trying to escape the work talk. Another great night in a new city talking to complete strangers.
Friday afternoon and evening out on the town:
Slowly progressing
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Saturday would be quite similar to the previous day, but one thing we noticed after eating pigeon gizzards is that whatever comes out of you afterwards is pungent! This would be one of Anna’s busier days and I’d seen everything I wanted to in the general walking vicinity of our hotel and I didn’t feel like being driven a long way, but during Anna’s break there was a shopping mall she wanted to have a look at so that’s exactly what we did. The mall itself, besides some more amusing signage, was kind of generic, but she was definitely enjoying the air conditioning.
The other AFL Preliminary Final between Brisbane and Hawthorn was on later in the afternoon so I slowly made my way down to Hooley’s again, pulling up a seat near an old Australian man. We got talking about old school punk rock while his girlfriend communicated with him via Google Translate, something that seemed a bit odd, but then he mentioned he owns an apartment in Thailand and has a girlfriend there too. Time to cut ties and spark up a conversation with the drunk Brits on another table, one of whom had had a melanoma in the back of his eye, the other concerned he had rabies from being bitten by a dog in Türkiye. Definitely more interesting that talking about the exploits of an elderly sex pest. The guy with the eye issue was keen to chat to Anna so when she arrived the four of us had a hilarious time just talking, as well as shifting the topic back to punk with the other guy. I also got speaking to the Irish owner of the place and it was really quite fascinating the way he described the development of the city. He had been living there since the mid-2000s and he told me that 20 years ago where we were sitting was just rice paddies with buffalo grazing! It may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but also not really a stretch considering this comparison of the city from 1994 (above, right). Anyway, we continued chatting until I finished the Guinness pint I won for getting “exactly” on the line on the ‘G’ of the pint glass in one sip on a previous one and it was time to eat yet again. Anna had decided to go out with a bang so we were soon at a fancier place, Bingsheng Taste, this time among other dishes having a type of mushroom soup, different varieties of incredible char siu, a bunch of other miscellaneous fungi in a salad, and then the piece de resistance, a traditional claypot rice dish exactly how Anna had wanted it all along. It was our final night so to top it off we walked through the city while a drone show went on above and found a bar for a few quiet drinks before getting back to the hotel.
Our last day in Guangzhou:
So that’s it for our latest awesome China trip, Anna’s just started planning another one in Sichuan province for next year and I can’t wait for it!
Any Questions or Comments? Leave Them Here!