China, Guangzhou Part I: Impressive infrastructure

My experiences in Guangzhou

our pretty chinese guide, posed for a snap



I spent 10 days in March in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. This Chinese city is a highly populated and developed market city. I will disgress from my stated blog theme to share my experieces in Guangzhou. We landed at Guangzhou International Airport at 5.30 pm local time after an eight hour flight from Doha on Qatar Airways (respect for whom now I have incresed). Needless to say, being so tired, there was little enthusiasm to make observations. On landing at Guangzhou international airport, the first hint of what to expect is the impressive infrastructure that is in and around the Airport. The facility is massive (by our standards) and very well planned. There is a huge number of travellers,  but the speed of processing passages takes care of that. 

Even though our trip was organized by the China Information & Culture Communication (K) Limited, whose agents were waiting to receive us at the Airport, we were treated to thorough body and luggage checks at the arrival area. It appeared as though first time arrival passengers from Africa black received much more scrutiny than anyone else. From this, one gets scared of what to expect from the people. But the fear quickly dissipated once we met with Anson, our friendly engligh speaking Chinese guide and his team of pretty chinese girls, guides. We realised with time that the Chinese people are generally friendly and engaging, especially if you are about to make a buy....last price, as they call it. The language barrier is a whole topic for a full post. Grim faced Chinese immigration officers, immaculate in their dark suits are as efficient as can be in what they do. You cant help admiring them. No small talk about weather is entertained though!

The Road Network

As we walked past the waiting taxis to the waiting bus, we could see the road network feeding the airport and taking away the passengers into the fledging town. The weather was friendly, very much like Nairobi weather with clear skies and temperatures hovering at 20c

The roads are wide and well carpeted, very very clean. Not even leaves from the many trees along the reads are visible. Most roads are one way. The transport system within the city is in a class of its own. Buses such as the one in this picture are organized and on schedule. There is a bus every 10 minutes. You board from the front door and alight from the back door. The inside of the bus is by far more comfortable than a private vehicle with lots space and TV screens streaming local channels. The buses have no conductor. Payment is nto a machine at the entrance. Most of the locals have electronic ‘mega-rider, cards which they use for the bus rides. The same card is used at the metro train. Once funds are exhausted it is reloaded, just like mobile phone airtime. The typical bus fare for a short distance within the city is RMB2 (Kshs. 24). There is a sign clearly warning against talking to the driver when he’s driving, perhaps to avoid accidents! 

 A calibrated taxi



A street in Guangzhou

The roads connection and intersections are a work of art. There are roads up to 5 stories, one on top of another, so no need for junctions and intersections. The ongoing construction on Thika road appears like child play compared to the networks in Guangzhou!

Calibrated Taxis

Taxis are run both by private sector or Government. the cabs are painted in one color - green or red and are calibrated.  The drivers are in uniform, complete with ties and suits. The best of Taxis is that they are calibrated, so the amount payable is automatically computed from the beginning of the journey based on milage...no haggling with the cab drivers. a taxi ride could be as low as 7RMB (kshs. 84) ..thats from Nairobi CBD to Westlands, which we pay kshs..RIGHT!

Utilities

Pearl River evening view

Pearl river night cruise

Electric power in homes and factories in Guangzhou is guaranteed. We were informed that each last mile connection has a redundancy just in case. Water is also in plenty in the city. The buildings are tall and elegant. The Pearl River has been maintained and is used for cruise tours especially in the evening, a spectacle to watch. I amanaged to catch a ride on the boat for dinner on the last night of the trip. I took some pictures from the boat, which am posting here. There is no better way to relax than this boat ride.

The metro train system


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A plastic train ticket & People queeing for the metro train

Some estimates place the population of the entire urban agglomeration as high as 24.2 million, making it the 2nd biggest urban area in the world after Tokyo. With usch a large population, Guangzhou being such a large city, movement of people must be a huge challenge! Not so. This the authorities have guaranteed by way of a cheap and very reliable metro railway system. Again, most commuters use electronic cards cards which they load now and again. Without the card, one can buy a token for use on a one way journey. The token is an electronic ticket which opens the doors along the entrance and exit. Am not sure what happens when one loses his token, while on the train.

Train ride from Shenzhen vs. bus ride

Shenzhen is a major industrial city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. Shenzhen is 134km from Guangzhou by Road.



There are options of taking a flight, the bus or the train. The train journey is faster than the bus and will cost RMB 85 (Kshs.1,020) while the bus will cost 65 (Kshs. 780). I went by bus and returned by train. The orderliness of the transport is quite notable, with buses and trains leaving on time. Buses also have clearly designated paying and pick up points. For financial types and auditors like myself, its nice to see that there are possible little revenue leakages as all revenues are recorded centrally at the point od issuing travel receipts/tickets. No wonder there are no old buses on the fleet. 

The Electric buses

Moving along the last lane of the roads are electri buses. At first I coudnt get how they operate, but later i noted that they remained hooked onto an overhead cable by thick cables attached to the roof of the bus body. They therefore move along the path of the cables dropping and picking passengers along the ring of the city. what a spectacle!

Recreational infrastructure

The city authorities of Guangzhou have created numerous and modern parks for recreation within the city. I visited some of the most popular areas. Perhaps we do better than them in that most of the recreational areas in Nairobi are Natural (Nairobi National Park, Aboretum, Ngong Forest, Uhuru Park?  - forget about the many pubs and getaway joints around Nairobi). In Guangzhou, all recreational parks are disturbingly modern and man made. Why? Have they destroyed all the Natural attractions like we are busy doing? Still the cleaniliness and orderliness in maintenance of the parks and collection of revenues surpasses our best.

A 'Huma street' in Shenzhen



Human streets

There are many streets in China that have been closed to traffic for people to relax or shop. I found this particulary appealing given the congestion in Nairobi CBD and lack of recreational facilities, in most towns in Kenya. NB: Human streets are not littered with hawkers and young men selling, boiled maize & women underwear!  Eastleigh could learn so much from this. In fact Eastleigh is the closest we have of Guangzhou in East Africa.

A Tale of 5 rams

Central to the history of Guangzhou is a bizarre story of 5 rams goats. This story suggests an ancient believe in some supreme being, which now runs contradictory to the unreligious nature of majority of the Chinese people. The monument of the 5 rams is in Yuexiu park. Here goes the story;



The 5 Rams of Guangzhou



More than 2,000 years ago, Guangzhou was a barren land with people who despite hard work were suffering from famine. One day five immortals in five-color garments came riding on five rams, playing their legendary music. The rams held sheaves of rice in their mouths. The immortals left the sheaves of rice for the Guangzhou people, gave blessings to the city and left. The rams turned into stone and the city of Guangzhou became a rich and populous place. Guangzhou got the name of the City of Rams and the City of Ears.

Yuexiu Park is the largest park in downtown Guangzhou. Covering an area of 860,000 square meters (212.5 acres), the park is made up of three artificial lakes and seven hills of Yuexiu Mountain; hence the name Yuexiu Park. A huge marble stature of the 5 rams is set on a hill in the city, at the park and is a major attraction to touristS, city residents and visitors from the rural areas in China.



Flowers at the Guangzhou museum

Yuexiu Park is a perfect combination of cultural relics and ecological tourism, reputed for its pretty water and hills as well as cultural relics. The main places of interest include the stone sculpture of the Five Rams, Zhenhai Tower, the site of the Ming Dynasty City Wall, and Square Cannon Site. The Five-Ram Sculpture is one of the most famous structures in Guangzhou. It has become the emblem of Guangzhou City

The Guangzhou Opera house
The Opera house is an 1800 seat imposing structure overlooking the Pearl river. The structure was designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid. The 70,000m² scheme, China’s third-largest theatre. 

I have be grateful ot Mr. Gao of the China Information & Culture Communication (K) Limited for organizing this very educative tour. Should you wish to contact him, he is based at Postbank House, 5th floor. 020 8014333, 0722 463737, 0738 453888 Office: He organizes trips to China and has a group going down every month. Next on line is the Canton Fair which is comin next month.



Recreational park



Pearl river in the night