Granddoctor Alpo and I agreed to meet at the Guangzhou Airport at the start of several days traveling in China. I figured it would be easy to get there. No problem getting as far as the Guangzhou East Railway Station – first ferry from Pak Kok to Aberdeen, bus to Hung Hom, Intercity Through Train to Guangzhou. Then things started getting interesting. There was no sign of any transportation to the airport from the neighboring Tianhe local bus station. All information and signs were only in Chinese. I couldn’t find anyone who spoke English. Luckily, I was able to access Google on my phone and found that I had to get to Tianhe Dasha first. Eventually I was able to find the correct local bus and transfer to the Airport Express bus, just in time to meet the arriving flight.
We didn’t have any idea where to go from the airport. Checking the destinations of the outgoing busses, we found one that was leaving for Foshan, a destination recommended by Alan’s colleague. The bus dropped us off at a stainless steel wholesale market in a barren outlying industrial area. We didn’t know where to go or how to get there. Just as we were starting to despair, we met Feng Qinhang and Zhang Fei. They bought us lunch and pointed us in the right direction.
