China is planning to strengthen its transport sector over the next 15 years. As it shapes a new domestic transport framework, touring a city cluster over a weekend becomes an easy task. The third episode of a series of travel guides to China's four big city clusters introduces the southern Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay covers an area of 56,000 square kilometers. Having the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, and Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other seven cities from Guangdong Province in the area, the international transportation hub for air and sea has a huge advantage in tourism.
Guangdong Province: A representative taste of China
Cantonese cuisine is one of the most widely served styles of Chinese cuisine in the world. /CFP
White cut chicken, roasted suckling pig and fried beef rice noodles… wherever you're from, you may be familiar with the dishes, because Cantonese cuisine is one of the most widely served styles of Chinese cuisine in the world.
In Guangdong Province, the birthplace of Cantonese cuisine, a foodie's typical day must start with morning tea with all kinds of dim sum, followed by lunch and dinner feasts with soup as an appetizer, and conclude with midnight seafood snacks.
Between meals, you can visit some iconic sightseeing spots, such as Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Memorial Hall honoring the pioneer of China's democratic revolution, the 600-meter-tall Canton TV Tower skyscraper, and the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, an academic temple complex from 1894 that now houses the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum.
Hong Kong: Shopping and leisure paradise
This undated photo shows a night view of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. /CFP
As a free port, Hong Kong has long been hailed as a shopping paradise. From clothes and cosmetics to electronic products and fine watches, you can always buy things at a fair price without sales tax.
A classic tour of Hong Kong also includes taking a tram up the Victoria Peak to overlook the Victoria Harbor, and a family tour in the Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park.
Besides bustling streets, the city's natural beauty is also amazing. The 100-kilometer MacLehose Trail is highly recommended for hikers. Wearing your sneakers and a casual outfit, are you ready to embark on a journey to experience beaches, reservoirs, and wild forests and mountains?
This undated photo shows the A-Ma Temple in the Macao Special Administrative Region. /CFP
Macao: Fusion of East and West
Some think the Ruins of St. Paul's, the ruins of a 17th-century Catholic religious complex, are the face of the Macao Special Administrative Region.
But the city blending cultures of East and West have also kept its traditional local belief alive. The physical testimonies are A-Ma Temple and Na Tcha Temple, which show local people's act of piety to the legendary ancestor A-Ma and the children deity Na Tcha respectively.
This undated photo shows the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge linking the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, and Guangdong Province. /CFP
In October 2018, the 55-km-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge opened to the public, strengthening greatly the economic and cultural cooperation and integration between Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong Province separated by waters.
With an incredible 360 degree view of the vast blue South China Sea, it is a great pleasure to drive on the world's longest sea crossing bridge. And if you are lucky enough, you can even see the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin group playing with the waves.
Read more:
Four city clusters not to miss in China's 1-2-3 Travel Circle
Travel guide to China's four big city clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region
Travel guide to China's four big city clusters: Yangtze River Delta
Video editor: Zhang Dian
Video scriptwriter: Wu Yan
Cover image designer: Feng Yuan