Zhuhai Adventures

From the balcony of our 19 storey apartment we are looking out over the town of Tangija which is a much smaller district of the massive City of Zhuhai; downtown Zhuhai is a 45 minute taxi drive away and home to 2 and half million people. To accommodate their citizens the Chinese build high. We can see clusters of high rise buildings even taller than our Tower to the left of us near the sea, there is another group to the right near the mountains; but straight ahead there are many low-rise buildings interspersed with numerous parks and treelined roads. In fact,once we have done a lot more walking around the town, we begin to identify the town’s layout by particular lines of trees and patterns of buildings – a map spread out before us. 

There is a beach in the gap straight in front of us-I can just make out a line of palm trees, and I want to go there. Rob warns that although it may appear quite close AMaps (Our Chinese map app) is telling him that it is nearly a 45 minute walk away. 

We set out, planning to have a coffee stop halfway. It is 30 plus degrees and 80% humidity, and we walk slowly with water breaks and rests. We pass a huge Ocean Science University and suddenly we are through the town and out onto a promenade of grass and bike paths along the sea front. This is the Estuary of the Pearl river, and across the bay we are looking towards the Cities of Shenzhen  and Hong Kong but they are both in the far distance and screened by green and beautiful mountains. 

Finally, we are sitting on the esplanade looking down at the beautiful sandy beach. There are children digging in the sand, ball games, picnics- it is such a familiar scene; these are the last remaining days of the summer holidays and families are obviously making the most of their free time together. 

Prior to coming to China we had  watched videos of the beautiful seafront, and couldn’t work out why families were not swimming, it has now become obvious, this is the Pearl River Estuary, not open sea; it is the Morecombe Bay or Southend on Sea of China – wade into the waves and you are soon up to your knees in mud. 

As well as regular beach holiday makers, there is an equal number of families enjoying collecting shell fish: oysters,  shrimps and clams which can be found around the rocks to the side of the beach and in the sea.  Children, Grandmothers, Mums and Dads with buckets are turning over rocks and wading knee high in mud to gather some local delicacies. 

This local beach is just one of the many in Zhuhai with the majority further around the bay; a 40 km bike path from here to downtown Zhuhai links them all and I can’t wait to get a bike and explore.

And another beach…

Tonight, we have been invited to a beach-side bar and restaurant a taxi drive away. The Station Craft Bistro was bought by its French owner during the pandemic and is the only building on this stretch of coastline. This is a stunning area; a golden beach bordered by Palm trees stretches elegantly away for a kilometre. At the end of the strand is a short bridge to a small island which is home to the architectural marvel that is the Zhuhai Opera House, the design is inspired by the Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and we can clearly see the two white Clam shells, the ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ in the distance. We are here at sunset and although we face east, the light on the sea is beautiful. If you happened to have watched the tv programme ‘Race Around the World’ this is the beach where the young Welsh couple sat and began to really enjoy their adventure ( I really wanted them to win !). 

Although it is very hot we sit outside on the decking and enjoy a very pleasant night with new friends and colleagues. This is a western restaurant and we eat pizza and salad, and drink craft beer, the food is good but this place is really all about the location.  As the sun disappears at about 6.30pm, the lights come on and at one point there is an exciting fire show outside the Opera House, but we just see a few flashes in the distance. 

On the way back to our taxi we pass a square dance, about 20 people in unison are dancing in the cool of the evening- I take a sneaky video to share with my dancing women friends back home. It has been a really lovely evening, we have discovered a beautiful location and made some new friends.