Bernard has been attending Canton Fairs since 106th session whereas this will be my first! Have been looking forward to this trip as it has been almost a decade since I've last visited Guangzhou. My maiden trip to the Canton Fair for the 110th session! Rise and shine early for our morning flight to GZ. Had our breakfast at Ya Kun after checking in. 

It was a small plane that we took with China Southern. Thank God we managed to get an emergency seat that gave us more leg room and allow us to have a more comfortable flight. =)

Q: How do you know you are in a China airport? 
A: When you bugged by a crowd of illegal taxi drivers once you step out of the customs.

Got past them quickly and headed for the airport shuttle area and found the bus that will take us to our hotel.

Stayed at Guangzhou Hotel for our 4 nights there. The price of hotels during Canton Fairs are usually 1.5 to 2 times more expensive than usual. With the increase in price tag comes a mini fruit basket, buffet breakfast and free Internet connection.

Our hotel was near some wholesale centers along 一德路 Yide Road. Prepared for lots of walking these few days. Once we checked in and deposited our luggage, we went out to search for some suppliers. Christmas decor was everywhere and even CNY decor too! I have been to the wholesale places previously but it was Bernard's first visit. We have the same interest in sourcing out good buys. =P

Canton Fair (Phase 3) starts the next day and we got there via a shuttle bus provided by the organisers from the hotel door step- once of the reasons why we chose this hotel. The exhibition compound is just humongous! Bernard keeps saying that it is 8 times ALL the halls in our Singapore Expo area! 真的是大开眼界！There was just everything you can find under the sun! Knowing how cheap things can be. And it comes with quality too. Everything Made In China!

We started with the Area A and we walked non-stop from around 10am till 5.30pm, with a short lunch break in between. Most convenient place for lunch was McDonald's. To have fast food served faster, customers were only offered three choices of set meals: Big Mac, McSpicy and Grilled chicken, all with chicken nuggets in place of fries. We joined the queue but when it was our turn we were only left with one choice: Grilled Chicken! It was that popular! Guess McDonald's was one of the few foods that the foreigners could identify with here in GZ.

Stopped by a booth selling massage chairs and spent 20 minutes on one of the best! Good relief to our leg muscles after 2 long days of walking. Exhibition closes around 6pm but we had to leave earlier to avoid the rush. Took the shuttle bus back to our hotel and rested a while before going out for dinner.

Second day of exhibition, we covered Area B where the International Pavilions were. I also love the Food Pavilions where we got most of our samples; samples like mushrooms, wolfberries and candies! =) Lunch was once again McDonald's. This time we headed to another Fast Food area where they serve fries, compared to yesterday's nuggets. Fearing that they will run out of meals again, we went before 12pm.