12-Day Mother-Child Trip with Besties across Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai

The theme of this trip: besties taking kids to see the world together. Taking advantage of the lighter workload during summer break, I used ten days of annual leave, plus weekends, totaling twelve days.

I brought my son Ruibao, and my bestie Xiao Gao brought her son Kele. Our two-adult-two-child travel commando unit set off in high spirits.

On July 29, we took a high-speed train from Xi'an to Guangzhou. After over seven hours, we arrived in Guangzhou. We planned to visit Chimelong the next day and stayed at the nearby Forest Password Theme Mansion. The room had a children's theme, was quite interesting, and offered good value for money. I forgot to take photos, but anyone interested can search for it themselves.

In the evening, a local colleague treated us to a pigeon feast, and for a late-night snack, we had seafood porridge—both were delicious.

On the 30th morning, we moved to the Chimelong Panda Hotel in Guangzhou. There were huge crowds. The hotel lobby had a performance. Xiao Gao watched the show with the kids while I handled the check-in, which took about an hour or two.

After the formalities, check-in was only possible after 3 p.m. The Chimelong resort includes the Animal World, Happy World, and Bird Paradise. Today we went to Animal World first, planning to watch the Grand Circus in the evening.

The Animal World has many rare animals, and the kids had a great time watching them.

The Grand Circus, I remember, started at 19:30. It was quite spectacular, especially the high-dive performance by acrobats at the end.

After the show, we went to the Canton Tower at night for a quick photo stop, so Ruibao could see in person the place I had photographed last time.

The service and breakfast at the Panda Hotel were indeed excellent. If you visit Chimelong, I recommend staying at their themed hotel.

On the morning of the 31st, we considered Bird Paradise and Happy World and decided to go straight to Happy World, since playing with water is the kids' favorite activity. I took so many photos, but now when sorting them, I found they were all gone—what a pity. Fortunately, I had WeChat Moments, so I grabbed a few. We spent the whole day there.

In the evening, we took a high-speed train to Shenzhen. Transportation is very convenient. We chose Mint Apartment in Shenzhen, which was right next to the subway entrance. We went to the hotel and rested.

On the 1st, we chose to visit the Shenzhen Ancient City = Pengcheng Village. This is a historic city built during the Ming and Qing dynasties to resist Japanese pirates. It produced more than ten famous generals, and you can see many coastal defense facilities from centuries ago. If you have time and interest, you can go and take a look.

We had some characteristic drinks, and the weather was great.

We found the ancestral hall of the hundred surnames and made grand wishes.

In the afternoon, we visited a popular internet-famous bookstore.

We took the kids on the Ferris wheel. The Shenzhen Bay Light Ferris wheel is very famous and worth experiencing with kids, though the lines were long too.

On the 2nd morning, we checked out and prepared to cross the border to Hong Kong. We needed to prepare adapter chargers and local SIM cards—Xiao Gao had already ordered them from Taobao. We also exchanged 1,000 Hong Kong dollars at the bank. Since we only planned to stay in Hong Kong for a day or two, we didn't exchange much. For a longer stay, you'd need to exchange more because many places don't support electronic payment or RMB. You can also exchange at the border. Ruibao exchanged some of his own pocket money for fun. Also, it's best to get an Octopus card at the border. The Hong Kong Octopus card is a universal card that can be used for everything, but similarly, recharging requires Hong Kong cash. That's annoying. Other than that, Hong Kong is not big; many places are accessible by MTR. The MTR can be scanned with Alipay. You need a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macau and an ID card to cross the border. The queue was long but moved quickly, except that I was asked if I was pregnant because I was wearing a dress.

The subway from Shenzhen to Hong Kong is slightly different from the mainland. There weren't many people on the train, and people kept a certain social distance. Very few people were playing with their phones; many were reading quietly. If you made a bit too much noise or movement, you would attract stares from others, a scrutinizing look meaning 'be careful'. Kele and Ruibao, who had been playing and causing a ruckus, gradually quieted down.

After arriving in Hong Kong, we stayed at the L'hotel Nina et Convention Centre in Tsuen Wan West. We were lucky to book a sea-view room. The view from the window was superb, but the bedding was a bit damp, and the facilities seemed older than mainland hotels, with few power sockets. The building was very tall—probably over 70 floors—with fast elevators. The front desk deposit required only Hong Kong cash, and no amount of persuasion worked. Also, Hong Kong seems to have a very strong sense of rules, very rigid, and low efficiency. Mainland hotel check-in is quick, but here we queued for over half an hour even though there weren't many people. After finally getting our room cards, we couldn't enter our room upstairs. We went downstairs to ask what was wrong. I said 'Excuse me' to the front desk, but was immediately told to queue. I queued for another half an hour. When it was my turn, the staff swiped my card and said it hadn't been properly activated earlier, and now it was fixed. There was no apology for wasting my time; they seemed to think it was normal. This felt very different from the mainland—poor service awareness.

After checking in, we went downstairs to eat. The prices here were really high. A very ordinary tomato and beef brisket rice was 88 HKD, and other dishes were similar. Plain noodles or rice noodle soup were also about 50-60 HKD, with very small portions. No wonder many Hong Kong people earn money and spend it in Shenzhen. Restaurants were cramped, with tiny tables. There was no situation like on the mainland where people sit and chat while eating. Eating is just eating—finish quickly and leave. One or two people cannot occupy a large table; you have to share with others. We were used to ordering several dishes and eating slowly, but we found that locals order one dish and rice per person, eat quickly, and clear out. Our habit of ordering several dishes and slowly eating and chatting seemed very out of place.

In the afternoon, we went to Disneyland first, buying a two-day pass. Today was just a reconnaissance trip. The Disney direct metro line had its own style and decoration, quite interesting. There were also Disney headbands, great for photos.

The reconnaissance was very satisfying. We picked out gifts we wanted to buy and planned the general route for the next day. Then we returned to the city to visit Victoria Harbour. Fortunately, Ruibao had Alipay, and we had little Octopus balance, so we used it sparingly and tried to use Alipay for the MTR. If a store didn't accept Alipay, we used Octopus.

Victoria Harbour was beautiful—impossible to capture in photos; you have to experience it in person. We took the kids on a boat ride.

On the 3rd morning, we ate at this place. Everyone agreed that the milk tea here was indeed delicious and authentic.

Then we started checking off Disney attractions. Every ride had a queue, everyone wanted to try every ride, and every ride was fun. We managed to get on almost all of them, and our legs were nearly wrecked, but it was totally worth it. Afterward, everyone agreed they wanted to come again. We said, 'Let's make a pact to come back after you get into college,' haha.

We watched the Lion King show, which I loved. Do all post-80s have a soft spot for Simba? I certainly do—my eyes got misty during the show. During the evening fireworks show, I actually cried.

The Disney castle at night was especially beautiful. The fireworks display was stunning. I watched quietly, feeling many emotions, mostly moved and happy. I was very grateful to be able to bring myself here in my lifetime to experience and witness such beautiful scenes.

On the 4th morning, we checked out and took a ferry to Macau.

We bought tickets at the Sheung Wan Pier. There were many departures, very convenient. But Macau has two piers—the Macau Peninsula Pier and the Taipa Pier. You need to choose which one is closer to your hotel. Our booked hotel in Macau was near Taipa, so we chose Taipa. The ride took about an hour—I forgot the exact time. Upon arriving in Macau, transportation was convenient. The bus cost 6 RMB per ride regardless of distance, but exchange-rate-wise, it's cheaper to use Macanese pataca. We didn't exchange any, so we mostly used Alipay for shopping and RMB for buses.

On the ferry, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge looked quite spectacular. Along the way, I taught the kids about the history of Hong Kong and Macau and the dates of their return. The kids' general impression was that Hong Kong people are quite unwelcoming to mainlanders; the main languages are English and Cantonese. Whenever they heard someone who couldn't speak English or Cantonese, they knew they were from the mainland and wouldn't even crack a smile. Macau people were different. When they heard you were from the mainland, they would enthusiastically greet you and start conversations.

After arriving at the Macau hotel and checking in, we ate downstairs. Coming from Hong Kong's high prices, Macau felt cheap everywhere. We enjoyed shopping. The weather was still hot and sticky. Kele couldn't walk anymore and didn't want to explore. I still wanted to visit the Ruins of St. Paul's (大三巴). Ruibao hesitated between going back to the hotel to rest and accompanying me, but chose the latter. That moved me quite a bit. He said, 'You don't know the place well, and your English isn't good. If you get kidnapped, I'll have no mom.' Even though he was exhausted, he accompanied me all the way and walked back to the hotel.

Macau has many pharmacies, and the medicine seems to be good. My ankle had been hurting from all the walking these past few days. I bought a pain-relief patch at the pharmacy downstairs, and it relieved the pain quickly. It was good value—about 20 RMB per bag with 20 patches. I regret not buying two more bags.

The Grand Lisboa building—I took a photo on the way to dinner.

A photo taken on the way to the Ruins of St. Paul's.

The famous Ruins of St. Paul's. No wonder construction workers in Hong Kong and Macau earn very high salaries—around 30,000 to 50,000 RMB per month. The various old buildings with different styles are truly impressive.

On the 5th morning, we checked out and stored our luggage, then started a one-day Macau tour. First, we went to Margaret's Café e Nata for Portuguese egg tarts. The kids boasted they could eat a whole box, but in fact they didn't even finish half a box. Not because they weren't good—they were extremely sweet, with a pure milk and egg fragrance. The egg tarts and milk tea were both good. There was also a pork cake that Ruibao really liked; he ate two. The prices weren't cheap. Across from the egg tart shop was a clothing store selling kids' and adult casual wear, quite nice and good value. If you go, you can take a look.

After breakfast, we set off for The Venetian Macao to eat, shop, and sightsee. There were many affordable clothes and foods, and of course, a gambler's paradise, filled with the smell of money.

In the evening, we crossed the border to Zhuhai and stayed in a rental near Gongbei Port. On the 6th, we visited the Love Post Office. The kids played in the sand and looked for seashells at the beach, staying in the water all the time—they couldn't be happier. We had some authentic and affordable seafood feasts.

On the 7th, we spent a day at Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, an ocean-themed park. At lunch in the restaurant, we could see many penguins playing through the glass. The kids loved it. The fireworks show in the evening was also beautiful. Unfortunately, we arrived too late for the roller coaster, and it had stopped running, which was the only regret of this trip.

On the 8th, I took the kids to the Zhuhai Space Center to see the air show, fulfilling a study-tour day.

On the 9th, we flew from Zhuhai back to Xi'an, ending this happy trip.

To summarize with my bestie: traveling together is definitely cost-effective. We visited many places, and on average, each family of one adult and one child spent about 15,000 RMB. The only downside was that we planned too little time for Hong Kong and Macau. I was too greedy—I wanted to go everywhere, but time was short. Next time, we can plan a separate trip just for Hong Kong and Macau, exploring thoroughly and having a proper time. The kids also gave good reviews. They went to many places, ate what they wanted, drank what they wanted, and saw what they wanted. They just didn't get enough of the Disney rides. We promised them that after they get into college, we'll go again and have a full tour. Until then, haha, don't even think about it. There are still many great places in our motherland to explore step by step. Having been to a place is enough.