2019 Guangzhou New Year's Eve Trip

Now writing this 2019 New Year’s travelogue, it’s not that I’m lazy, but I originally had no intention of writing it. Unfortunately, a sudden pandemic meant that even though we had a five-day holiday for May Day this year, my employer didn’t allow long-distance trips. Staying at home was too boring, and I almost fell into a routine of just eating and sleeping, so I decided to jot down this past journey.

Characters: me and my mother. A special trip; previously, I’d traveled either alone or as a family of three. This time, Dad, my uncle, and aunt all went to Beihai together, so it was just mother and daughter.

Time: December 29, 2018 – January 1, 2019. I took an extra day off, making it four days.

Location: within Guangzhou city; we unexpectedly visited the Canton Tower.

Cost: about 2430 yuan for two people.

1. High-speed rail: round trip from Anshun to Guiyang 73 yuan, Guiyang to Guangzhou 323 yuan; the return trains we wanted were sold out, meaning we lost half a day of sightseeing. We bought morning tickets back to Guiyang at an 8.5 discount, 285 yuan each, totaling 1402 yuan for two.

2. Hotel: Hi Inn Beijing Road. We booked a bit late, 203 yuan per night for three nights, total 609 yuan. Had we booked earlier, it might have been cheaper. The location was very convenient, though the room was small.

3. Bus & Metro: didn't keep precise record, about 80 yuan for two.

4. Meals: mostly snacks and simple meals. We spent about 340 yuan together.

Day 1: Dec 28, 2018 – Super Claypot Rice, People's Park, Beijing Road

We departed in the morning, took the high-speed train to Guangzhou South Station, and then navigated directly to Super Claypot Rice (Zhuguang Road branch). We arrived around 4 PM; it wasn't peak mealtime, so the wait wasn't long—less than half an hour. There were seats available in the restaurant, but since we wanted to freshen up at the hotel first, we got takeout.

Cured meat and sausage claypot rice. Without exaggeration, I think it was the best claypot rice I’ve had in Guangzhou (though I haven't tried that many).

Hotel room: a king-bed room, a bit small, but the bay window was quite handy. Every evening we'd bring back takeout and sit there eating with my mom.

After dinner, we went for a stroll. Since we were staying on Beijing Road, we naturally started from there, wandering leisurely to People's Park. We took a short walk around the park—it's not big—then headed back to the hotel to rest.

Across from People's Park, I saw the Guangzhou Municipal People's Government. I kind of envied people working in a heritage building like that.

Day 2: South China Agricultural University, Zhan Tianyou Former Residence, Cantonese Opera Art Museum, Shamian, Wanmu Caotang, Pearl River night view

I can’t remember what we had for breakfast—probably rice noodle rolls and porridge. After eating, we took the metro to South China Agricultural University. I recall when I visited Guangzhou during May Day in 2018, the first stop after getting off the high-speed train was this university, but we were greeted by a torrential downpour and got soaked, so we didn’t explore further. This time was a make-up visit.

Campuses in Guangzhou are quite beautiful, with a strong southern Chinese vibe.

Next we headed to the Yongqing Fang area and first visited Zhan Tianyou’s former residence, tucked in a narrow alley. It was easy to find with navigation, though.

Right in this alley.

Opposite is the Cantonese Opera Art Museum, free to visit. It’s beautifully designed in a garden style—a great place to learn about Cantonese opera and also relax.

Inside the exhibition hall; this is only a tiny part of it.

Exiting from the museum’s back door.

Shamian Building complex. To be honest, we didn’t come here on purpose; we just passed by on the way to lunch.

Wanmu Caotang, closely tied to the Hundred Days’ Reform. Inside, there are texts and photos about the Wuxu Reform. The New Year prints on the courtyard walls were quite interesting.

This New Year, an unprecedented cold front struck, and Guangzhou wasn't spared. Light rain and strong winds made it feel pretty chilly. We went back to the hotel to rest and came out again in the evening.

Time for dinner: we went out to eat and took a stroll along the Pearl River afterward. The night view was truly beautiful—places with water have a special spirit.

Day 3: Sanyuanli People’s Anti-British Memorial Hall, Sanyuanli Anti-British Park, Deng Shichang Former Residence, Haichuang Temple

The Sanyuanli Anti-British event is quite controversial nowadays—opinions vary.

We took a bus to Haizhu District on the south bank of the Pearl River and first visited Haichuang Temple.

Then to Deng Shichang’s former residence (Haizhu Museum). It wasn’t far, but the navigation acted up a bit, so we took a roundabout route to find it.

I dragged my mom onto the water bus again (only 2 yuan per ride) to satisfy my love of boats. I can’t remember which station we boarded at, only that we got off at the North Gate of Sun Yat-sen University station.

We originally planned to visit the Sacred Heart Cathedral, but when we got to the intersection and saw the sea of people, we decided to skip it.

It looked like Guangzhou’s New Year goods street, selling New Year prints, spring couplets, dried seafood, and so on. We felt the festive New Year atmosphere approaching.

We had claypot rice again, this time a double combo with claypot soup. We ate at Min Ji this time; personally, I still think Chao Ji tastes better.

After eating and drinking well, we went back to the hotel to rest. In the evening, we headed to Canton Tower to ring in the new year (actually, we didn’t stay until the midnight bell—I chickened out, worried we’d be stuck and unable to get a ride home, haha).

The best spots were probably Haixinsha or Huacheng Square. The authorities likely restricted Haixinsha due to crowds, so we ended up at Huacheng Square, which was also nice.

Here’s a rare photo with my mom. These days we were mostly out having fun, and the photos I took were mainly scenery; there are hardly any with people in them.

The building on the right is the Guangdong Provincial Museum.

Canton Tower from various angles and in different colors.

Okay, photos taken, ritual observed. To avoid being stranded after the countdown, we left early, took the metro from Zhujiang New Town station back to the hotel, and headed home the next day.

Day 4: Heading Home

Tickets during holidays are hard to get; we only managed to buy train tickets for around 11 a.m. But at least we ticked off the legendary Guangzhou Station.

At that hour, going anywhere didn’t make sense, so we slept in a little, checked out, had brunch, and then went straight to the station to wait for the train and head home.