We flew out from Heathrow to GuangZhou, China, their airport is called “BaiYun” which means “white cloud”. We thought that we would have to sleep in the airport for the 14 hour layover, especially since we would have needed a visa to leave the airport. Once we landed, we followed the sings to transfer and they directed us to a s desk for 24hr/144hr layovers since our flight wasn’t until the next morning. They told us that we will be getting a free 24-hour visa and a free hotel room with a free breakfast. The entire time, we were so excited to eat Chinese food in the motherland.
We got our visa’s and were lead towards the border. I went through easily, but Antoine got held up. They kept asking him for his plane ticket. I went to help using my extensive knowledge in the Chinese language, and the officer asked us for our return ticket. I explained to him that we are going to Australia for three weeks, we don’t have the return ticket yet. Antoine somehow understood what the officer wanted, and tried to pull up the email confirmations on his phone. Turns out, when the staff that gave us the visa, accidently gave him a 144-hour visa instead of the 24-hour one. Antoine was sent back to get it replaced.
Finally, we are past security and customs. We don’t get our checked-in luggage, but there’s no complaints there. We go to the help desk and they let us choose a hotel from a list they have. We pick a hotel that is apparently 5-stars. It’s a 20-minute drive from the airport and has a free shuttle to and from the airport. We wait about 20 minutes for the shuttle, and pile in with a bunch of Chinese people, and one family from New Zealand. We get there, they take a copy of our passports, and hand us a room key. There was a wedding happening somewhere else in the hotel. The room has two single beds, and a view of some air conditioning systems. It is well sized, and the bathroom has a bathtub, a shower, and a weirdly large toilet. We put our stuff down, and head out to find something to eat.
We go downstairs and ask some staff members where we could get some food, they point to the back and tell us that the street food will open in a few minutes. We decide to pull out £20 worth of cash. The street of restaurants is just directly behind our hotel, and no one speaks English. There are no signs in English, and no translations. There are food carts in the intersections, and the streets are mostly empty. We try to make out what restaurant serves what, but with my complicated skills in Chinese, and Antoine being mainland white, we had no chance. I called my Dad over video, waking him up from wherever he was for his work trip, thinking that it is later in the morning wherever he was than in California. He answers, luckily, and I show him the restaurant names, he picks one out that says “dumplings”.
I keep Dad awake, just incase the menu is also difficult, but it’s mostly pictures, except for the part where you pick the dumplings. I try to ask our server for help, she basically just tells me to use Google translate. So I do, and I pick a pork and white cabbage dumpling and a type of Chinese pancake. I show dad the rest of the menu, and he tells me that we picked good. The dumplings arrive first. Antoine immediately wants another order of them. We ate 30 dumplings that night. We took out £20 pounds worth of cash, and our entire meal cost about £4.
After we finish eating and pay, we head back to the hotel. We grab some complimentary toothbrushes, combs, and vanity kits, take a long shower, air out our clothes, and sleep in our free beds.