Eighteen hour layover in Guangzhou

After a managable 11 hours sitting in the plane, it was a relief to walk around again in the Guangzhou airport. The immigration officers were so slow to work through the queues that I was stood in line for over an hour waiting to get my passport stamped. Eventually I passed through and got directed to a shuttle bus which took us through the city of Guangzhou for a long drive to our hotel accommodation. The neighbourhoods we passed through on the way were very third world looking with rubbish on the roadsides and neglected rundown tennement housing everywhere. It was with a sigh of relief that we pulled into a small side street which lead to a newish looking hotel where we were to stay for 12 hours until we had to return to the airport for the last leg of the trip to Auckland. Breakfast was included so I ate what I could of the chinese buffet and after a refreshing shower managed to get about seven hours sleep. My room was on the 20th floor so I was able to get a good view of the area around the hotel. Some places look better from on high, this wasn't one of them. It was a warm 30 degrees but the sun didn't appear through the heavy layer of smog ( probably industrial air pollution ) that lay over the place. The blocks of ugly concrete flats that made up the streets were badly streaked with black marks from the roof down, and later that evening as the sun set, there were very few lights to be seen anywhere. As we left for the airport the sky was lit with sheet lightening and it started to rain. I made a note to myself that there are some places in the world I didn't want stay for a week and live like a local. This was one of them.