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POSTED: 20 JANUARY 2012

Destination: Guangzhou

The warm greeting from his Chinese guide Jack takes MIKE SMITH a little by surprise ... in a manner of speaking.

Unlike many English-speaking Chinese guides across the vast mainland, where the accent is very much American, Jack’s voice had a mixed British twang, with pronunciations changing each sentence.

One minute he sounded like he was imitating Cockney actor Michael Caine. Then he seemed to mimic Rex Harrison from the hit musical My Fair Lady. Even a bit of northern Lancashire accent made its way into his commentary.

“When did you live in England?” asked an interested member of the party. “I haven’t been there,” he replied shyly.

Jack soon revealed that his English tutoring had come courtesy of a lingua phone.

“One of a kind,” we thought to ourselves. And it didn’t take long for us to adopt Jack as our own for the remainder of the stay in the capital of Guangdong province, Southern China, which, too, presented a few pleasant sightseeing and cultural surprises.

Jack’s knowledge of Guangzhou (formerly Canton), and of Chinese culture and traditions was appreciated as we went about our two-day escorted tour of the bustling city of 13 million inhabitants.

Guangzhou, which shares the Pearl Delta region with Hong Kong and Macau, may not demand the same respect of tourists as capital Beijing and ritzy Shanghai, but the city’s Chinese and colonial history is strong. And the fact that it has a wealth of ancient tombs, temples and other culturally significant sites, speaks volumes.

It’s a city festooned with gardens, the main streets lined with meticulously groomed trees and flowering evergreens. To help ease the growing traffic problems, motorways criss-cross the city limits as they do in other major Chinese cities.

And because it lies at the mouth of the fertile Pearl River Delta, farming is predominant on the outskirts and along the peninsula leading to Macau to the east.

To reach this fascinating city with its mix of colonial and Chinese features takes as little as nine hours on the direct China Southern flight from Sydney (China Southern is the world’s third largest airline – it carried a staggering 76 million passengers in 2010 and only recently added the first of its five ordered Airbus 380s to the expanding fleet).

After a good night’s sleep in the new lavishly decorated five-star Sofitel Guangzhou Sunrich, we were greeted with clear skies for Jack’s tour, first stop the majestic 1931-built Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall with its blue coloured octagonal shaped roof and surrounding gardens dressed with red-flowered kapoks, the city’s floral emblem.

Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), a revolutionary who, as the Father of the Nation, united the country, was considered one of the greatest leaders of modern China. His role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty during the Xinhai Revolution was well documented, the memorial hall built as a tribute.

To showcase Guangzhou’s popularity on weekends, Jack made sure we visited one of the parks - Yiexiu Park - to not only marvel over the giant hilltop granite statue of five goats – it commemorates Guangzhou’s mythical origins – but to join the groups of fit locals as they played a game of passing shuttle cock-like objects with their feet, shoulders and heads and not the hands.

Another green haven in this sprawling city is Renmin or People’s Park (formerly Central Park), which spans across almost 50,000 square metres and is a hive of activity on weekends as locals sing and dance, practise Tai Chi and play games of table tennis and badminton.

A magnet for its historic colonial roots and general tranquillity is Shamian Island, a sandy isle sandwiched between the Pearl River and a canal which during the Opium Wars of the mid-1800s was divided between the French and British.

Trading companies from Britain, the USA, France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and Japan built stone mansions along the waterfront here, their construction characterised by Western-style yet climate-adapted detached houses with hipped roofs and large verandahs.

Today, those Victorian buildings and the neighbouring spruced up churches and green squares are used as backdrops for photographs of young models and newly-wed couples.

Two grand historic hotels – White Swan and Victory – also share the island, the former, a waterfront hot spot for a meal and drink, unfortunately closed for accommodation due to extensive renovations.

For more on the city’s Chinese history it’s worth the admission price to visit the Nanyue King’s Tomb Museum, with its ancient treasured exhibits, and the small yet intriguing Chen Clan Temple where guests have the chance to join in a traditional tea ceremony.

Of course, one of the joys of visiting this corner of China is to dine on the cuisine, Cantonese style, the number of restaurants as lengthy as the menus and the many dishes served during the traditional yum cha or dim sum.

Overlooking one of the many canals which have been restored to cater for guests on gondola-style cruises is Panxi Restaurant, its private dining rooms and larger lounges and courtyards a colourful hive of activity on weekends.

Rising above sprawling Guangzhou are a number of new towers, the most recent – 600-metre high Canton Tower – appealing for more reasons than one.

Not only can guests grab a bird’s eye view of the city and surrounds from the 428-metre observation deck. They can also go for a ride inside one of 16 “bubble cars” on a Ferris wheel-like journey, 450 metres above the ground.

A novel way to see the sights from the tower is on the 100-metre long “Spider Walk”, countless steps that form an outdoors spiral staircase between the 33rd and 65th floors. Talk about reaching greater heights.

“I’ll meet you at the top,” Jack said in typical Cockney fashion before boarding the elevator. “It’s much easier.”

Above centre: View of the Pearl River along the waterfront of Shamian Island.

Above right: Models on Shamian Island.

Left: Foyer to the Sofitel Guangzhou Sunrich.

Right: Statue of Five Goats in Yiexiu Park.