China Travel Advice

Q: I'm travelling to Guangzhou from Hong Kong in October for the day with 5 others. We really want to ride the cable car at Baiyun Mountain and travel on the Pearl River. Are there signs in English and can we recognize the bus numbers? Also I believe there is a fast ferry from Guangzhou to Hong Kong as well as the ferry. Can someone give me so tips?

Turbojet Sea Express operates fast ferries (catamaran) between Hong Kong International Airport and the Nansha ferry terminal outside Guangzhou. Shuttle buses take arriving passengers from the airport to the ferry terminal. The turbojet ride lasts 1 h 15 m. At Nansha ferry terminal, buses take travelers into Guangzhou. The trip costs HK$200-300. Note the difference between Turbojet and Turbojet Sea Express. The former operates fast ferries among Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen. Check out the info on the turbojet service between Hong Kong Airport and Guangzhou (Nansha)at http://www.turbojetseaexpress.com.hk/eng/route/service.html. You can book with them at http://www.turbojetbooking.com/. Below is more detailed contact information:

Company Address : Shun Tak - China Travel Ship Management Ltd
83 Hing Wah Street West, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Telephone no. : (852) 2307 0880
Fax no. :: (852) 2786 5125
E-mail Address : enquiry@turbojet.com.hk
Enquiries Telephones : Hong Kong : (852) 2859 3333
Macau : (853) 8790 7039
Shenzhen : (86-755) 2777 6818

International toll free tel : +800 3628 3628*
*Available in China, Macau and Taiwan

There are also ferry links between China-HK Ferry Terminal in Kowloon and the Nansha Ferry terminal.

You can, of course, take a shuttle bus or a train to go from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. The whole trip should lasts no more than 3 hours.

As for signs in English in Guangzhou, you'll find them here and there but you cannot count on them. Many Chinese, especially the young, speak some Chinese; you can try to ask around if necessary. Some taxi drivers understand a little English, but, again, you cannot count on it. One thing you can do is to have your destinations written out in Chinese characters for you so that you can show people - taxi drivers or bus conductors, for example - where you want to go. Place names in Latin alphabets are not very useful; it is always a guess for local Chinese, especially in Guangzhou, where people speak the dialect Cantonese instead of the official Mandarin.

Buses are clearly marked - numbers written on bus or placed inside windshield. Make sure you know which direction you're going since to-buses and from-buses carry same numbers. Destinations written out in Chinese would help you in situations like this. If you stay in a hotel, you can ask for directions at the front desk before you set out for your tour of the city.