Land Of Giant Dragon CHINA!

As a traveler I always want to travel to new destinations when I travel abroad, This time the country on my bucket list was the land of Giant Dragon China, China has always fascinated me with its huge landscape,huge country with huge population.

I would Thank NDTV GOOD TIMES for giving me this opportunity and gave me a chance to travel to china as part of their Ticket To China promotion.

From the moment I got selected, I had to choose a destination, after doing bit of study on travel portals I selected Guangzhou and Shenzhen as part of my trip to China, had wished I could have traveled to Beijing and shanghai as well but as I mentioned China is Huge and so the distance from Guangzhou to shanghai or Beijing is big as well.

Many Thanks to NDTV Good Times and specially to Ms Tripti Verma for all help and arrangements , without her my this trip was impossible . Thank you for making this trip possible .

My tickets were booked with Southern China Airlines ‎ and my stay was at Guangzhou Westin and Hilton Shenzhen . I took my flight which was a night flight, it was a pleasant flight and we reached Guangzhou on time at around 6 AM local time.. I had took Shenzhen first as part of my trip so I had to catch a train to Shenzhen..

I took the Metro to reach Guangzhou East station from where I got the Bullet Train for Shenzhen. It was a nice journey which ended faster than I had thought. Going on 300 + Km /Hr reached Shenzhen which is good 120+ Km away from Guangzhou in just approx 40 mins.

The train was Neat clean and very nice and fast. China's Metro train system is very vast and huge as everything. I took the metro for my hotel which was a couple of meters away. The weather was pleasant, As Shenzhen is nearer to a beach it's slightly humid in days. But as it was end of winter season I had a good cooler stay.

My stay at Hotel Hilton was a perfect stay ( You can read bout Hilton Shenzhen in my Blog entry https://travellerinsight.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/relaxing-stay-in-city-of-shenzhen/ )

Shenzhen has many options for tourist , One such option for wholesome entertainment was COCO PARK Located in the center of the city, COCO Park is not only a popular shopping mall but also a representative of the area. The mall has 5 levels, covering 85,000 square meters, with a big outdoor square in the center. It is much more than about shopping because there are a lot of restaurants, bars and entertainment in it. There are different major shopping sections in COCO Park which cater to people from every walk of life.

COCO Park has a busy bar street with a number of bars that have both indoor and outdoor areas. There is a Hong Kong cinema called Broadway Circuit in the mall. IN all it is a perfect place for entertainment shopping and lifestyle

After 3 night stay my next stop was Guangzhou, I took a train back to Guangzhou and reached in after noon, let me tell you China has a Vast train system which connects the country. The stations are huge and there are loads and loads of people who commute. The stations are too crowded. I reached Guangzhou in afternoon and by metro reached my destination where my hotel was located .

From the very first look, Guangzhou is too different than Shenzhen, as Shenzhen is a tourist destination, Guangzhou is a metropolitan city, which boost the business and tourism both. It is the 3rd largest city of China, Guangzhou has big sky scrappers, it's to huge, to get to see complete city you need more then 4/5 days and still I bet you won't be able to see it all, as distance is far and as I mentioned it is a big city so the places are far from each other.

I had my booking done at Westin Guangzhou which is situated in the center of the city, and is just 10 mins walk from the metro station, As I mentioned Guangzhou has many skyscrapers and high rises, it also has the Canton tower which is one to the tallest towers in world, once it used to be the tallest in the world but as the world is growing so does taller buildings are, but still it is in top 10 in world.

Canton tower is. 431 meters high and it is a beautiful tower located just next to the pearl river as it flows within the city. It looks beautiful at night when it is lit up in different colors which keep on changing.

During my trip I even went to the Guangzhou Zoo

Which has some beautiful species of animals and when in China the main attraction is a Panda. I get to see 2 Pandas but wasn't lucky enough to see them in open as both were inside there close enclosure. Guangzhou being a big city has many shopping options from Mall to big shopping streets It's all there. Got some good shopping options for all.

Famous being Beijing street which is a big street completely dedicated for shoppers. One thing I must say Guangzhou is a Foodies delight. From dim sums to many Chinese specialties. It basically gives you a chance to experience the real authentic Chinese food.

One thing which every one needs to be careful while travelling to Guangzhou or may be any Chinese city is that THEY JUST DON'T KNOW ENGLISH there will be hardly any people who can help you with English . During my stay i kept Mobile translator on and did take help from the hotel staff . otherwise it was very difficult to communicate in China

Hope you will like my Blog!

This post was originally published on Traveller Insight.