Note: These posts are a little late, as I’m already back from my trip and started school again earlier this week. They’re late because didn’t have nearly as much time as I thought I would to post them while traveling. Now you know.

Guangzhou was the first stop on our tour of southern China. Getting off the airplane was nice, I didn’t need to wear my coat, and what’s this? There was actually green vegetation outside! Something Tyler nor I had seen for at least a couple months. Since we were only in Guangzhou for about a day, we simply roamed around, checked out the Pearl River, sampled some of the good local foods (Egg McMuffins are nothing compared to the egg biscuit I had!) and in the evening went tor a night ferry ride on the Pearl, to see the beautifully lit up buildings and bridges.

The next day, about an hour train ride later and we were in Shenzhen, mere kilometers from the border to Hong Kong. We didn’t do a lot in Shenzhen because it’s mostly just a border city and shopping haven for those coming from Hong Kong to buy cheap goods. Not to mention, so much of the shopping and eateries were still closed for the Chinese New Year “golden week” (what they call their week long national holiday). Thus there wasn’t a lot to do in the city, but it was alright, we relaxed and had some really spicy noodles as well as some local beer while we planned on how to get to Hong Kong, as well as what we’d do when we arrived.