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Similar to the Beijing itinerary earlier this year, I had planned for a major or several smaller attractions during the day followed by a shopping street in the evening. In this trip, I managed to revisit a couple of attractions but also got to explore some new tourist spots as well as resampled some of my favorite cuisines.
Leisure trip at a glance
Country / Region: People's Republic of China (Guangdong)
Period: 10 Nov to 13 Nov 2024
Flight timings:
10 Nov: TR 100, SIN–CAN, ETD 0530 ETA 0930
13 Nov: TR 101, CAN–SIN, ETD 1045 ETA 1500
Air tickets:
Return tickets at SGD 294.27 (inclusive of airport taxes)
Accommodation:
IBIS Guangzhou Yuexiu Park Metro Station – 宜必思广州越秀公园地铁站酒店 (10 to 13 Nov)
Currency exchange rate:
CNY 100 = SGD 19.20 (Nov '24 period)
There is no time difference between Singapore and China as both countries are in GMT+8 time zone. Total damage was about SGD 550 including transport, food & hotel, and excluding personal expenses.Here's the overview of the trip itinerary:
Day 1 – Breakfast in Changi Airport then boarded flight TR 100. Took metro and checked in to IBIS hotel. Visited Yuexiu Park and Guangzhou Museum. Shopped along Yide Road and in One Link Plaza.
Day 2 – Had breakfast in Tao Heung Restaurant, then visited Chen Clan Ancestral Hall. Food-hunting along Xihua Road. Visited Guangxiao Temple and Liurong Temple. Shopped along Beijing Road. Visited Guangzhou Books Buying Center. Had dinner in Teem City Shopping Center.
Day 3 – Visited Nanyue King Wen's Museum. Walked along Baohua Road and visited Yong Qing Fang. Visited Archaeological Site of the Nanyue Kingdom Palace and revisited Beijing Road. Had dinner in Anime Star City Market.
Day 4 – Took Didi car to Airport. Had breakfast in the airport before flight check-in and boarded flight TR 101.
Changi International Airport
Scoot Airlines is using Terminal 1 of Changi International Airport for its flight. No further description is needed for this airport. The IATA code for this airport is SIN.
Starting from 25 Oct 2024, passport-less clearance has fully implemented in all four terminals in Changi Airport. Singapore residents and foreign visitors can clear immigration by simply using facial and iris biometrics without the need to present their passport. This is evidence that all human counters had been replaced by electronic gantries at the immigration clearance hall (left photo below).
Another clear indication that Changi Airport's traffic volume had exceeded its pre-pandemic level was the packed departure gate prior flight boarding (right photo below).
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (广州白云国际机场)Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is an international airport serving the Guangdong province. It is located 28-km north of downtown city center. The IATA code for this airport is CAN which is derived from Guangzhou's historical romanization name "Canton".
Terminal 1
- Scoot Airlines is using Terminal 1 while Singapore Airlines uses Terminal 2 of Baiyun Airport. The interior of the terminal hall is sleek and high-ceilinged in design (photos below).
There are many shops and restaurants for passengers to spend their remaining Chinese Yuan or Renminbi (photos below).
Even after immigration clearance, passengers can continue their shopping spree (photos below).
Special Exhibition
- Besides the safety instructions, there were special exhibition on temporary display in the airport. Themed "Fusion of Chinese and Western – Liwan, Chancheng, Nanhai and World Exchange and Mutual Learning", this exhibition allowed passengers to understand the cultural and commercial exchanges between Canton and the World (photos below).
Transportation
Getting in/out of the Airport
Besides car or personalized transfer services, there three modes of public transport available.
- Buses
There are several lines travel to and from downtown and this is the most cost-effective option. But the average travel time can take about one to two hours. - Taxi
Taxi is convenient and fast for door-to-door transportation, but also the most expensive way, about CNY 130 to CNY 200, to get to or leave the airport. - Metro
Better option as the Line 3 of the metro system operates from 0600 to 2300 hours at a frequency between 5 to 10-mins. Travel time takes about 35 to 40-mins to reach downtown.
Guangzhou Metro (广州地铁)
The Guangzhou Metro is a rapid transit system of Guangzhou city that consists of 17 lines, including Guangfo Line and Zhujiang New Town APM, and 323 stations (photo below).
Train Fares
- Fares start at CNY 3 for a trip up to 4-km in distance, with additional CNY 1 added for the next 4-km, 6-km and 8-km accordingly. Typically fare range from a couple of stations at CNY 2 to the longest journey at CNY 22 per ride.
Fare Payment
- Single-ride tickets in the form of an RFID-enabled plastic token can be purchased from the automatic ticket vending machines located in the metro station.
The most popular form of payment is by the Alipay or WeChat Pay (left photo below). Just flash the 'transport' code to the reader at the gantry (right photo below) and entrance will be granted. Almost in real time, the transaction will be shown in the application after exited from the station.
Train Station
- Station entrances can be easily located from its bright signages on the elevated platform (left photo below). Stations of newer lines will have a modern and sleek look such as the "Caihongqiao" station (right photo below).
Train platforms also have various designs and layouts (photos below).
Transfer between different lines can be a hassle, sometimes do expect to walk 2 to 5-mins and through tunnels or stairs to different level when transferring.
Train Cabin
- Metro train arrives at a frequency of 5-mins during the off-peak hours (left photo below). Its cabin is clean and spacious (right photo below), and announcements are made in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.
Security Checks
- All hand-carry bags or luggage from passengers entering any metro station would have to be scanned. The scanning machines used are similar to those used in the airports. Therefore, do expect to wait a little longer in the queue before boarding the metro during peak hours.
Misleading Information
- Station lookup in the popular search engine "Gxxxle" tends to give incorrect status that some of the stations are "Permanently closed" (left photo below). The search for a leisure park also gives the same result (right photo below).
Similarly Chinese metro stations are no longer showing on "Gxxxle" maps. In fact, these metro stations are still in operation. To date, there is no confirmed reason behind this misleading information.
DiDi Ride (滴滴出行)
| Besides metro trains, I also hired a DiDi car to bring me from the IBIS hotel to the Baiyun Airport. The DiDi application can be found in the Alipay application and no separate download is needed. Similar to Grab application in Singapore, status of the arriving car can be tracked from the App (right photo). At the end of the trip, the actual cost of the trip will then be shown to allow payment (far right photo). |
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IBIS Guangzhou Yuexiu Park (宜必思广州越秀公园地铁站酒店)
The IBIS Guangzhou Yuexiu Park was booked via internet at SGD 192.92 for 3 nights per standard room without breakfast (left photo below). This 3-star hotel is located just 5-mins walk from Yuexiu Park metro station Exit C. Its lobby is situated on ground floor, and has a spacious waiting area with a seperate dining area for guests who opted to have hotel breakfast (right photo below).
This standard room had a comfortable queen-sized bed and a couch with side table for me to have my supper comfortably (left photo below). The attached bathroom was clean with basic amenities provided (right photo below).
Interesting Observations
- Automated car parking system spotted near the IBIS hotel and next to 'Guangzhou Liuhua Fair Trade Center' (photos below). Happened to witness a car being lifted to the top layer after the driver parked and left the car. Was amazed that the whole process was fully automated. Definitely a good innovation for places with limited spaces to have open air carparks.
- Charging of electronic products in the public have been made convenient by the charging stations that are strategically located. Electronic motorbikes can charge anytime along the pavement (left photo below) and patrons in the shopping malls can charge their phones at convenience from the power bank stations (right photo below).
- One creative way to avoid confusion and taking the wrong purchase by customers is to sort the orders based on ending number (left photo below). I was able to identify my packed items effortlessly after a short wait at the counter. Another convenient gesture by this fast-food restaurant is to provide disposable gloves for fried food (right photo below).
It has been a long debate whether it is environmental-friendly between using disposable gloves and hand-washing. The dispute started where substantial amount of resources are required to purify the detergent-tainted water before releasing back to nature versus just to incinerate the plastic gloves. - Speaking of disposable items, the well-liked household and consumer goods store 'Miniso' began to launch a series of disposable travel items in Nov 2024. These items included undergarments, socks, blankets, face and bath towels, pillow cases, bedsheets and even trash bags (photos below).
Similarly these disposable items were also sold in Singapore about the same period but wrapped in English packaging instead. - Political slogans can be found in most parks and gardens to remind citizens and tourists that it is a socialist country (left photo below). Even bookstores have a panel of 'recommended' books on the ideas and agendas from its leader and political party (right photo below).
- Businesses often able to grab the latest trends, and introduce cute and novel products to consumers. For example, the various characters from the popular Chinese drama 'Joy of Life' (庆余年) (left photo below) and the building blocks of the various music albums from the Chinese pop music icon 'Jay Chou' (周同学) in the form of piano, radio or projector (right photo below).
Some useful links:
- China Discovery - Guangzhou Tours:
https://www.chinadiscovery.com/guangzhou-tours.html - KAYAK - Guangzhou:
https://www.kayak.sg/Guangzhou.17708.guide - Guangzhou - Wikivoyage:
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Guangzhou - Guangzhou - Wikitravel:
https://wikitravel.org/en/Guangzhou