One Night in Guangzhou

My destination is nearly ten thousand miles away from Xian, an island in Indonesia and will have a stopover in Guangzhou. It allowed me to stay only one night in Guangzhou. Fortunately, there were still a few hours to explore the city.
It took two hours to fly to Guangzhou. After process the transfer on the second floor, I found a hotel which offers free shuttle bus between the airport and the hotel and then left the luggage. I could not wait to see this city in the Legend of Five Ram.
My connecting flight to my destination departed in the next morning. For the lack of time, I searched some information about the city before leaving for Guangzhou. To see commercial streets is a nice idea to see the most wonderful part of a city, I think. In my opinion, it is not a safe place to get around Guangzhou Railway Station, Tianhe has a lot of shopping place and prosperous, however, a bit further. So I choose Beijing Road and Shangxiajiu. I ask for help at the hotel reception and am told that the most commercial way to downtown are is airport bus, of course. Also, they tell me the bus number and which stop to drop at nearest to the street. I take the free shuttle back to the airport. The pick-up point is outside the hall on the first floor. I got on the Bus Line 5 and off at Globlelink Hotel, which is said to be the nearest stop to Beijing Road.
In my imagination, Guangzhou should be a metropolis. In fact, it is, but what I am seeing after getting off the airport bus was truly the old part of it. It retains old street view of former Guangzhou. Old buildings stand on both sides of the roads. The building just looks like what I saw in movie. The first floor is empty indeed supported by pillars for people to walking though. That is the sidewalks. Vendors sell street food or small stuff beside pillars. The sidewalks are about 2 meters wide. Walk 15 minutes west along the road opposite the hotel to Beijing Road.
I was told that Beijing Road was paved based on the old street of Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. That’s Guangzhou’s history. The old road did not exit any more, but nowadays Beijing Road continues its prosperity. There are brand shops, department store and malls, being a good place for young people or tourists to shop. When the night falls, lamps are lit in red lanterns. The street at night is getting busier.
To save time, I took taxi from Beijing Road to Shangxiajiu. Shangxiajiu is located in Xiguan, the old city area. It is the combination of Shangjiu Rd, Xiajiu Rd and Dishifu Rd. Xiguan was the hub of Guangzhou’s foreign trade in Qing Dynasty. At that time, there were mostly gold and fabric stores in Shangjiu Rd, shoes, silk and photo shop in Xiajiu Rd. In Dishifu Rd, you could find many food shops and restaurants. So, if you want to try local Guangzhou snacks, come to Xiguan. Delicious Guangzhou food can be easily found in Baihua Rd, Dishifu Rd around Shangxiajie. I tried Nanxin Double Skin Milk Jelly, cold milk served in summer. Very tasty! In Guangzhou, herbal tea shops are popular and can be found in every roadside. There are many kinds of tea, made of herbal, fruit and so on. I like coconut juice! Many time-honored food shops are here. You will be fully stuffed.
Shamian is the most exotic place in Guangzhou beside the Pearl River. Those western style buildings are mostly restaurants and companies now. It would be amazing to drink coffee in the riverside café, but I had to go back to hotel then. Guangzhou taxi drivers are reluctant to go to airport. I decided to go take airport bus. Take city bus to Haizhu Guangchang (Haizhu Sqaure), waiting for the bus back to airport.