Guangzhou

God willing, next week, I’ll set out for Guangzhou, in order to visit the Canton Fair. Here’s some useful stuff I collected on the net:

Learning the spoken Cantonese language

Update: Don’t bother learning Cantonese, learn Mandarin instead.

Yes, people in China speak in different dialects/languages, and Cantonese is spoken in Guangzhou. There’s plenty of resources on the net for this language, even some videos, but the most natural way of learning for a beginner, that I stumbled upon, is perhaps the course Learn Cantonese at learnchineseez.com.

This course teaches you the language from the ground up, well… almost. You start by learning simple words, than simple phrases composed of those same words. In this way, you build a firm foundation, and get instant gratification.

This method is very similar to the way a child learns to speak. First you learn to speak tones/syllables, than words, than sentences etc. The only thing which I found problematic with learnchineseEZ.com, is that you don’t get to learn the basic tones of the language. But still, this would require a lot of dedication on part of the student, and isn’t crucial.

Hotels

There are a lot of hotels in Guangzhou, but if you want the best hotels during the Fair, you have to book very early.

Other tips
Be sure to check-out the TripAdvisor Guangzhou forums

These are some tips I got from a very friendly Guangzhou-informed person I contacted via TripAdivsor:

Mosques – as far as I know, probably just 2-3 or them – are all in the same area (west part of the city centre).

Huan Shi Zhong Lu is the street where a lot of halal restaurants are.

Do you need to be “very” careful with pickpockets in GZ? Oh yes, I’d be over-alerted rather than otherwise. It happened to me twice – lost a brand-new mobile phone on a bus (another time almost lost it but managed to scare the thief to hand it out before he tried to get off) and lost my wallet as I was walking in the street and someone (Urguis) unzipped my bag! It can be avoided easily though, just try not to use rucksacks, keep your valuables (DC, mobile phone, passport, wallet) in sights at all times. Walk alone – that’s okay, as long as it’s not too late – say later than 11pm. Just keep away from small and dark streets, you’ll be fine.