Guangzhou: Things to prepare before your trip.

After 5 'days' in Guangzhou, these are some things you should prepare before going..

1) Moisturiser and lip balm. 

Being a country of four seasons, this is one thing I prepared.. just like Melbourne, both are necessary. 

After two weeks in Melbourne in 2024, my skin was peeling due to lack of moisturizing and the dry air. 

Melbourne is a lot colder, and Sydney wasn't any much better. 

My lips were really dry, so I had to keep reapplying my Nivea lip balm... (Which coincidentally had bought in Sydney from 2024. Lol)

2) March was hot as. 

End March, just come in shorts and a tee. And moisturiser and lip balm. 

The locals wear long sleeves and jumper. Why? Don't ask me.. I got confused coz it was hot as in the Metro as well as outdoors. 

3) bring a hat. And sunscreen.. 

Sunscreen is good for sun protection and is also moisturizing. 

4) Download Alipay. 

You can link a fee free debit card for international transactions. 

HSBC Australia is good for that. But I don't know about other countries, so don't ask me for more info. 

Fee free bank cards are essential to not be slapped with exorbitant international bank transaction fees. 

Make sure you have roaming on your sim card else you can't use Alipay. 

You don't need to necessarily change currency to cash, as even peddlers allow you to scan a QR code to pay. 

However....

If you don't have Alipay, or can't get it to work, then you need to have some cash lying around so you can at least get a 3 day pass on the Metro...

We used cash to buy this at the Baiyun Airport Metro station. The 3 day pass is valid for 72 hours from your first tap in. 

Hence, if you tap in your card at 20:30 hours on a Thursday, it will be valid until 20:30 on a Sunday night. 

You can always get a local sim card (I guess) after settling in locally at the hotel. I'm sure it is not too difficult.

I ordered mine as a HK/China sim card with roaming on Shopee, so that I could use WhatsApp on my phone. (Whatsapp and FB doesn't run in this country). 

5) Sunrise is around 06:00 or maybe before that .. and sunset starts from 18:00. 

The time is the same as Malaysia in the month of March. I don't know if Guangzhou has daylight savings or not. 

 This beef rice roll is 19 yuan (or cheong fun, as they call it locally).

6) Dining out at local shops is easier than going to fast foods... But not necessarily cheaper. 

They have got into the trend of asking you to scan  the menu using a QR code. You can do that through the camera scan function on the Alipay app. 

I had the most trouble going to KFC, Maccas, and a number of fast food restos where I had to order through the app. 

KFC was the worst... Sigh.  Couldn't order anything and they didn't take orders or even cash. I'm not sure if this applies to all the fast food restaurants, but it made ordering very ineffective. 

So we left and found a normal local diner to order from.

Things you don't need to prepare: 

1) Power Bank- essentially, you can rent a power bank charger for your phone at every corner of the street. 

I didn't try as I had my own power bank.

Unfortunately, metro stations have a baggage check at every station you enter.. which is super strict. 

I believe you can just scan the QR code of the power bank terminal with the Alipay app, and then return the power bank at another terminal. 

As I didn't really look at this option, I didn't rent a power bank to go.