There are bare ways to get from Hong Kong to Guangzhou — bus, ferry, high-speed train, you name it. We hopped on the East Rail Line from Sha Tin to Lo Wu. But nah, it was Easter so the train was absolutely rammed 💀
We just followed the crowd through immigration and customs — lowkey felt like a maze, multi-level and all that. One line for locals, one for everyone else. Took like an hour but then boom — we’re in Shenzhen 😭
Now THIS is where it gets kinda mad. To get a ticket? ID. To even get into the concourse? ID + bag scan. Platform? ID again. Leaving at the other end? Yep… ID 💀 There’s defo logic behind it but icl it’s long, kinda stressful, and a bit of a mission.
That said, the train itself? Elite. Proper comfy, fast, assigned seats so no standing like sardines 🙏 We might have hopped off at the wrong station in Guangzhou (watch out for that lol). Ended up at Guangzhoubaiyun Railway Station — and ngl, it’s giving main character energy. Brand new, looks like a whole stadium. Massive open spaces, crazy architecture… proper flex of the huge infrastructure projects over there.
But yeah, it’s not all shiny. You’ve still got the older, kinda run-down buildings mixed in — like most big cities tbh. We didn’t stay long in Guangzhou though, headed back to Hong Kong that same evening.
Train back was vibes — mostly young people glued to their phones, just scrolling endlessly. Same everywhere I guess… but also not quite. Different digital world fr. We had roaming on a Hong Kong network but some apps just said “nope” even on WiFi 😭
Paying for stuff? Whole different struggle. China’s basically gone cashless — you need apps like Alipay or WeChat Pay. Our Mastercard / Visa / American Express cards? Useless 😭 couldn’t find anywhere that took them.
Still though — 100% worth it. Not put off at all. We’re heading back to China next week for a few days so yeah… stay tuned 👀✨