Guangzhou Eats: Halal Food in Canton Fair 2014

If you happen to be a Moslem and will go to Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China, I will tell you one of the “safe food” I found in Canton Fair’s food court last year.

Canton Fair is where the businessman and traders from all over the world gathered and I met A LOT of Middle Eastern businessman there. So you don’t have to worry about being in a Moslem in China and couldn’t find any food that doesn’t contain pork meat.

How do I know that they’re Moslems? 

Well, first is their face, if they happen to be a Middle Eastern blooded guy (d’uh). But, surprisingly there’s another way on how I found it out. My middle name is Athina, taken from Arabic language; it’s common in Indonesia to name your kid with Arabic words even though you have absolutely no Arabian blood running in your family. So every time I handed my name card to them, they would go all “Aah, you’re a Moslem!” or “Assalamualaikum!”, something like that.

Now I know why it feels so good to find other “Moslem Brother” in a nowhere land where they eat pork and everything. It warms your heart.

So yes, like other Moslem who has a tough time finding halal food, I too had a hard time finding what to have for lunch. But, fear not, Moslem Brothers and Sisters! I present to you: Guangzhou Salam Catering Development Co.,Ltd  (totally exaggerating it, hahaha. It’s actually only one of the kiosks in the huge food court).

Let's zoom in...

See that "Halal" sign among the menus

Basically they have chickens and beefs on their menu, served with rice and potatoes and vegetables. The price is reasonable I guess, it was about 25-35 yuan (USD 5.00 – 6.00). I bought the chicken dish. The portion was ridiculously large; I couldn't finish it although I was pretty hungry at that time. It tastes pretty delicious and you won’t tell the strange smell they usually have on foods in Chinese dish (Indonesian will know).

Yummy!

You can eat this food on the “Halal Food Table” in the food court. It’s nice that Canton Fair set these separate aisles for them who eat Halal Food. You can eat your meal without being afraid you’ll get your plate splattered by pork oil from other people’s plate (?). Too bad I didn't take a picture of the “Halal Food Table” sign, but they have it in every food court, so don’t worry.

Anyway, there are always other options to find something to eat. It’s to bring your colleague who speaks Chinese to make sure you order the no-pork-dish. But, since they cook and serve it in the same equipment with the pork dish, well, you could tell a little bit of porky taste. If you’re too paranoia about this, you can choose one of these halal food in the food court. I’m sure they have lots in every food court in Canton Fair. Yay!

Guangzhou Travels: Guangzhou Pearl River Night Cruise

One of my Chinese work colleagues took me and my other Indonesian friend to Guangzhou Pearl River Night Cruise while we were there for a business trip. This boat cruise is supposed to take you around the river, back and forth, to see Guangzhou Tower a little bit closer.

Guangzhou Tower is also known as Canton Tower, I don’t know which one is the popular name. When I was there, I thought it’s famous as Guangzhou Tower instead of Canton Tower. But I’m not really sure because everybody was speaking Chinese, LOL. 

Guangzhou Tower looks like Tokyo Sky Tree, in my opinion. Both of them also functioned as Television Tower. Guangzhou Tower’s height was beaten by Tokyo Sky Tree in 2011. I visited Guangzhou tower during night time so I get to see it color changes. The color changes in like, every 5 seconds, I guess. It came out colorful, or one color like gold, blue, purple, red, etc. See the left picture, it's soo colorful. Meanwhile, Tokyo Sky Tree doesn't change the color periodically in one night, and I visited it in day light, so I only got this picture in the right.

 

From my hotel in Tian He district, it took about 20 minutes taxi ride to reach the boat port. It’s a small port for tour purpose only. I’m sorry I don’t know the port name, or the location name. I just went where my colleagues took me. Haha.

In front of the port building

The ticket was about 80 yuan/person if I’m not mistaken (about USD 16.00). This is for probably around 1 to 1,5 hours ride (vaguely remember).

I went there at around 8 PM so it was a bit windy, but I visited in April so the weather was still pretty nice. The boat was decorated with colorful little lamps around it. I think it’s a little bit tacky, but oh well who cares. 

The boat decorated with lamps all over it

Inside the boat, we were served with Chinese Tea (refill) and peanuts. There were tables covered in white sheets just like in a restaurant, with a wide window right beside these tables.

After sitting for 10 minutes, we decided to go to the top of the boat. There were also tables here, but the atmosphere is more romantic with all the candles and the flowers and the starry sky. Just the right place to propose your girlfriend (yeah right).

The scenery from the top of the boat

All of a sudden there was this Chinese guy shouting with loud voice and was pointing to a certain area on the boat. I was shocked and thought if there’s an accident or someone was jumping out to the water. But people were so calm and they started to make a line. Apparently it was for taking pictures, and people have to move very fast to take turn to get a good picture angle when the boat was passing right below the Guangzhou Tower. 

It was so fast that I didn’t have time to gather up my cute face and suddenly the cameraman told me to move my ass because it was the next person’s turn. The picture was printed immediately while we’re on the boat and we have to pay 20 yuan (USD 2.00) to take it. You don’t have to pay if you don’t want the pictures, though. But it was already printed, and it looks like this business strategy is paying them off really well.

Also they print your picture in a small size to put it into a keychain. It was a D.I.Y. All you have to do is take one key chain and put your picture in it. Voila!

Tada.. Awkwardly posing while holding my camera

About 6 months after I visited Guangzhou Tower, I went to Japan and visited Tokyo Sky Tree. I sent my Mom the pictures of these 2 towers, and I proudly tell her everything about them and how happy I am to have the opportunity to visit them. But she’s all like: “Why are you so obsessed with towers? Last time it was tower in China, and now it’s tower in Japan. What is so special about towers?”. Apparently I suddenly became a tower-freak to her.