Riding in a Didi to Conghua, Guangzhou, China

Since watching the TV mini series of Roots about African Americans  in the late 1970’s, I have always wondered about my own roots back in Asia.

Ordering a Didi is easy in China!

This time on our trip to China, we wanted to trace our own roots in our ancestors' villages. Before leaving for our Asian trip, we did a lot of preparations, talked to our relatives, did the research getting ready for our very own roots journey.

We met  J. at his place at in late afternoon after his finished work. Like North America,  the Uber taxi services has gained popularity in China as well. In China, it has a different name, it is called Didi. It is quite sophisticated and we have no idea how to do it. But here in Guangzhou, we see many Chinese people using this taxi service with much ease and efficiency.

Using the app on his cell phone, J. called for an out of town Didi; it specified the cost of the trip and arrived at the door to pick us up in about ten minutes. It stated that it would take us to our out of town hotel in the  Conghua region for 300 RMB.

We enjoyed the nice scenery on the ride. It took almost two hours due to the traffic congestion near Conghua.

Swimming pool at the Hawana Resort Hotel

After we checked into the Hawana Hotel, we called another  Didi to the downtown area for dinner, about a half hour ride.

 ( Wished we booked a downtown hotel instead of this one, which was a little too far from all the actions.)

It was around 8:30pm by the time we got downtown. We walked around the business area a little. It was much cooler and we enjoyed the breeze and cooler air.  The town is much smaller and way less busy and crowded than Guangzhou. We loved it!

After getting directions to a restaurant from an elderly gentleman relaxing on a nearby park bench,  we went in to a dim sum restaurant and had the best meal and conversation so far on this trip at this eatery!

The dim sum dishes were well presented and delicious!

The food was nicely presented, very delicious.  Best of all, there was no disagreement with J. as  he was in a good mood. He told us that for the past couple of days he was under a lot of stress for work related problems. He was talking about how he should deal with difficult clients and tried to learn about the cultures of Chinese.

I am glad that we decided to have dinner in the downtown Conghua area rather than being cooped up in the hotel area where there was not much to see. 

We stayed at the  Hawana Hotel for the night

R.T.

Conghua, Guangzhou

China

Week of July 18, 2016