Gaungzhou, China

I got in. Clean shirt, clean shaven. On the other hand, I was carrying a backpack and plastic carrier bags, so I wasn’t that sophisticated. On the train I met Gregg, a Brit who has been living in Guangzhou for 5 years, and Hong Kong for 12 years before that, designing plate glass doors for metros all over China and Asia. We got talking and he kindly offered to call a friend of his who used to source toys, a Guangzhou local with thick scouse accent called Billy. Sarah was waiting for me at the station, had been for half an hour, and she showed me the way to the hotel via the Metro. I think most of the metro has been built since I last visited Guangzhou (2000), including line 2 which features Gregg’s plate glass doors.

The people in the hotel don’t speak English, at all. Its pretty nice, I’m not used to staying in hotels, air conditioning, TV complete with CCTV 1-10 (Central China TV, great acronym), and the cochroaches seem quite shy. I though of James Bond in the shower, I’m sure he saw off some assailent by electrocuting them a hotel bathroom, should also be possible here with the plug next-to-showerhead set up I have.

We nipped out for some sort of steamed pancakes, cooked on a cloth, in a simple place furnished with metal tables and stools, it was tasty.

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