Canton in 2014

A visit to a city is never complete without trying some of its unique food, and I am a big fan of  great streetside food. So naturally the day started with a visit to 银记肠粉点 where I savoured the steam rice rolls so characteristic of Cantonese breakfast.

The rice rolls with beef fillings was absolutely fantastic, although the prawn rice rolls was a little disappointing as the prawns were not as succulent as I had expected them to be. In addition, the serving size was actually quite large so having two plates of them was rather excessive.

Steamed rice rolls with prawn and beef fillings

Feeling guilty and concerned about my waistline, I felt obliged to talk a walk, and what other place to do it than around Shamian Island, Guangzhou's equivalent of the Bund in Shanghai and Clarke Quay in Singapore.

The entire island is covered by lush green canopy, behind which lays the heritage buildings left behind by the trading houses and merchant banks which flourished when Guangzhou, or Canton, as it was known at that time, was the sole port which the Manchurian dynasty permitted trading activities with foreigners.