Guangzhou (Apr '19)

Traveled again with the same group of friends to Guangzhou from 19 Apr (Fri) to 22 Apr (Mon). Despite already traveled to Guangzhou in Nov last year, I was convinced by my friends to join them again this time. Also, one of our friend's PPS club status from Singapore Airlines was going to expire, so it was our last chance to make full use of it. As we had been to Guangzhou several times, this trip thus focused mostly on shopping and food sampling without any sightseeing.

Leisure trip at a glance

Country / Region: People's Republic of China (Guangdong Province)
Period: 19 to 22 Apr 2019
Flight timings:
19 Apr: SQ 850, SIN–CAN, ETD 0820 ETA 1220
22 Apr: SQ 851, CAN–SIN, ETD 1325 ETA 1730
Air tickets: Return tickets at SGD 301.80 (inclusive of airport taxes)
Accommodation:
China Hotel, a Marriott Hotel – 中国大酒店 (19 to 22 Apr)
Currency exchange rate:
CNY 100 = SGD 20.10 (Apr '19 period)

There is no time difference between Singapore and China as both countries are in GMT+8 time zone. Total damage was about SGD 650 including transport, food & hotel, and excluding personal expenses.

Day One

Took taxi early in the morning to the airport and then headed to Ya Kun Kaya Toast at the basement two of Terminal 3. Had my breakfast there while waiting for my friends to arrive.

Singapore Airlines

Managed to capture the weight of my luggage before check-in (left photo below). However, I forgot to take one during departure so it was rather meaningless to use it for comparison. Boarded SQ 850 and the flight took off on time at 0820 hours. During inflight meal serving, I selected the char siew noodles as my second breakfast (right photo below).
Transport to Hotel

Instead of taking express bus to the hotel, we opted to take metro to our hotel. Bought a "Three-Day Guangzhou Metro Pass" at the airport station for CNY 50. The whole train journey was about 40-mins.

China Hotel, a Marriott Hotel (中国大酒店)

China Hotel Guangzhou is a 5-star hotel located next to Yuexiu Park metro station. Booked this hotel online at CNY 2,160 for 3 nights per Deluxe Twin Room without breakfast.

The hotel was recently renovated therefore had some modern Chinese style elements. This is clear evidence from the decoration at its lift lobby (left photo below) and bedroom (right photo below).
Haiye Tea House (海椰茶居)

We then took metro to Haizhu Square and proceeded to Haiye Tea House to have our late lunch. Perhaps we were too hungry; as soon as the food reached our table, we then seized them without taking any photos.

The dim sum dishes we ordered were similar to those we had previously. The taste was good as last time, and the total cost for this meal was CNY 148.

Yide Road (一德路)

After lunch we began shopping spree at Yide Road. I bought two packs of dried scallops and a pack of dried mushrooms from one of the stalls in the dried food area.

Proceeded to Beijing Road as our next shopping destination.

Haidilao Hot Pot (Beijing Road) 海底捞 (北京路)

Back to this hotpot place for our dinner. Was quite surprised we were assigned to a round table instead of a squarish one. As usual we selected two soup-bases of spicy and mild broth (left photo below), and followed by several hotpot food (right photo below).
Service was attentive and prompt as usual in this restaurant. Total cost for this dinner was CNY 494.

🍔 Haidilao Hot Pot • Beijing Road (海底捞 • 北京路)
Address:	5/F, Grandbuy Gold Jewelry Building, No.395 Zhongshan 4 Road
Access:	Beijing Road Station (北京路站) Exit B or Gongyuanqian Station (公园前站) Exit D
Operating Hours:	1000 hours to 2200 hours

We then took metro back to hotel for a good rest.


Day Two

Tongtai Rice Noodle Roll – Guangxiao outlet (同泰肠粉 - 光孝路店)

Took metro to Ximenkou Station. We had our breakfast in the Tongtai Rice Noodle Roll. Ordered the same dishes as our previous trip, thus did not take any photos. Total cost for this meal was CNY 57 which was tasty yet affordable breakfast.

After visited the Guangxiao Temple, we decided to split up due to our different itineraries. I then took metro to Liede station.

GTland Mall (高德汇购物中心)

Known to be a heartland mall in Guangzhou, it is located besides the Liede metro station (猎德站). Main purpose was to visit its Decathlon store. I was told that Decathlon is much cheaper and has more varieties in China compared to other places. This was where I bought almost CNY 500 worth of items in this Decathlon store.

Had lunch in this dumpling restaurant "俏碗里馄饨面点" (left photo below). From its poster outside, this restaurant outlet sells new style of Shanghainese dumplings at a reasonable price (right photo below).


Ordered a braised beef noodles (left photo below) and a dumpling soup (right photo below). Total cost was CNY 26 and the taste was good especially its savory noodles.

✍ Update:
The dumpling restaurant "俏碗里馄饨面点" had ceased its operation in GTland Mall.

Guangzhou Books Buying Center - Tianhe Branch (廣州購書中心-天河店)

Went to the Guangzhou Books Buying Center again. It is a huge book store occupying five floors of the building (photos below). Spent about half an hour browsing at the books before heading back to the hotel.
Chinese Tea Purchase

Concluded our personal time and we met up in the hotel for our next shopping spree. Went to Gongyuanqian metro station and ended up in one of the shops there for tea tasting (photos below). After several rounds of explanations and tea tasting on three types of Chinese tea, I eventually bought 250-grams of Tie Guan Yin (铁观音) for CNY 75.


Took metro to Panxi Restaurant for dinner.

Panxi Restaurant (泮溪酒家)

Panxi Restaurant is a large-scale traditional restaurant located on the shore of Liwan Lake (photos below). Together with Beiyuan Restaurant and Nanyuan Restaurant, it is known as the three major garden restaurants in Guangzhou. This restaurant was selected in Sep 2016 to be the "First batch of China's 20th century Architectural Heritage" list.
The interior decoration of the restaurant follows the traditional Jiangnan style (left photo below). We started our food first with Ee-fu Noodles as a staple dish (right photo below).
And followed by four Cantonese style dishes (photos below).

Total cost for this meal was CNY 377.30. The restaurant had nice dinning ambience with acceptable price and satisfactory food.

🍔 Panxi Restaurant (泮溪酒家)
Address:	151 Long Jin Xi Lu (龙津西路151号)
Access:	Zhongshanba Station (中山八站) of Line 5 and about 15-mins walk
Operating Hours:	1030 hours to 2200 hours

Took taxi to Shangxiajiu pedestrian street at a total cost of CNY 18.

HeyTea (喜茶)

After hearing this famous Chinese tea drink chain for some time, I finally got to try one in its province of origin (left photo below). The drink chain started off as a small tea store in 2012 in Jiangmen city of Guangdong Province and now operates more than 650 stores in China. Bought a "喜乐芝四季春" tea with cheese foam at CNY 26 (right photo below). Taste was rich especially its cheese toppings.


After exploring Shangxiajiu pedestrian street for about an hour, we took taxi back to hotel at a cost of CNY 21.


Day Three

Proceeded to Haizhu Square metro station and then walked towards Hotel Landmark Canton (华厦大酒店) for our breakfast. The restaurant is located on the second floor of the hotel.

Tao Heung Restaurant – Qiaoguang outlet (稻香酒家- 侨光店)

Perhaps we were hungry, we ordered eight dim sum dishes together with a big pot of chrysanthemum-Luohan fruit tea in this restaurant (photos below).

The dim sum was delicious and tasty as expected. Total cost for this breakfast was CNY 232.

🍔 Tao Heung Restaurant • Qiaoguang brunch (稻香酒家 • 侨光店)
Address:	2/F, Hotel Landmark Canton, Qiaoguang Road (侨光路8号华厦大酒店2楼A、C座)
Access:	Haizhu Square Station (海珠广场站) Exit A
Operating Hours:	0630 hours to 0000 hours

One Link Plaza (万菱广场)

Started our shopping for the day in this One Link Plaza. I could always discover new and interesting items in this huge mall. Following were some of the items bought by us.

Cypress Wood Boards

Saw these cypress wood boards on sale at CNY 10 each (left photo below). Took a smell on them and found that they had faint fragrance of sandalwood. Even more surprising was the wooden board description with exaggerating effects (right photo below).

Plush Rabbit Pendant keychain

Perhaps missed out in the previous trip, my friend decided to bulk purchase these colorful plush rabbit pendant keychains (left photo below). As had bought three keychains as gifts during my first trip, I did not join in the acquisition this time round.

Gold Foil Money Bag

My friend found this glass decoration in a money bag design in one of the stores (right photo below). Gold foils could be seen suspending inside the bottle which makes it a good decorative fengshui item.

Water Fountain decoration

Bought a water fountain as fengshui decoration instead of the gold foil money bag (left photo below). Got it at CNY 110 after a hard bargain with the store owner.

Pappa Roti (帕帕羅蒂) Café

As usual we had our tea break in this café located on the fourth floor of the plaza. Each of us then got a signature bread set at CNY 26 (right photo below).

Feeling satisfied, we next went back to the hotel to put our purchased items in the hotel.

Dinner

Had dinner in one of the restaurants near our hotel. Ordered some fried tofu dices (left photo below), roasted meat (right photo below), hot and sour fish with picked mustard (bottom left photo) and fried bee hoon (bottom right photo).

Did not record down the restaurant name and cost of this dinner but remembered that some of the dishes were too oily to our liking.

Liuhua Fair-Trade Center (流花中心)

As it was still early after dinner, we decided to explore the Liuhua Fair Trade Center located opposite our hotel. Saw the Decathlon Yuexiu Park Branch was in operation, so we continue our shopping spree in this shop (left photo below). This was where I spent another CNY 500 on the items from this Decathlon shop. Had Costa coffee at one of the outlets in the Fair-Trade Center before going back to hotel.

Luggage Packing

As I had some luggage space, my friend then requested me to pack these succulent plants in my luggage. After going through several turbulences during flight and rough luggage handling, these plants managed to survive well (right photo below).

Day Four

McDonalds Breakfast

The McDonalds restaurant is just located next to our hotel entrance. So naturally it was the best choice for our breakfast on the last day. Got myself a double-grilled chicken muffin and soybean milk (left photo below). Total cost for this fast-food breakfast was CNY 28.50 (right photo below).


Took 9-seater car to the airport after checked out from the hotel.

Café de Coral (大家樂)

After our luggage checked in at the airport, two of our friends then proceeded to the airport lounge. I then went to the second level of the departure hall with my other friend to have our early lunch.

Decided to have it in Café de Coral. Ordered a beef curry set (left photo below) and its total cost was CNY 59 (right photo below). As expected, food cost in the airport is much higher compared to those in the city area.


Singapore Airlines

Glad that SQ 851 took flight on time. As for the inflight meal, I selected chicken patties with mashed potatoes for my late lunch (left photo below). The whole journey was relaxing especially when the great sunset view of Singapore's east coast greeted us at the final route of our flight (right photo below).
The flight landed safely on Singapore at about 5.30 pm. With this, it ended my 4-days trip to Guangzhou.