Guangzhou

Saturday

Awoke in the morning to a great view of Hong Kong from my bedroom window. Ate an early breakfast then took a local bus to Kowloon Station. Kowloon is the stepping off point for China and you do all the formalities before boarding the train. Lots of people in the crowded train station and took a while to find the immigration and departure areas. Went through passport control, checked my bags in and hung around for the train to leave. Once the train pulled out the food vendors started plying up and down the aisle.

Arrived about lunchtime, but couldn't find my guide. Ended up walking up and down until all the other visitors and arrivals had left, and there was one Chinese girl waiting for the one lost guest. She only had a sign with a number on it rather than my name and she didn't know the name of the person who she was meeting.

Whisked away in a taxi for an afternoon tour of Guangzhou. Shown the city, Zenhai Tower and Yuexiu Park. After being dropped back at the hotel I ventured out for a walk by myself and arrived at one of the first McDonald's in China. Ordered a Big Mac meal by pointing at the placemats, did the calculations in my head, and came up with the theory that a Big Mac meal was about the same price in Australian dollars anywhere in the world. Had a surreal moment when sitting outside McDonald's I realised that I was listening to John Farnham singing.