What did residents of Hong Kong tell me when asked about Guangzhou? 'It's where all the pollution comes from!' 'Forget it, it's just an industrial place!' 'People are rude over there and they don't know how to eat!'
I spend a day with clear skies and slap-happy, curious and friendly Chinese visitors and staff in Guangzhou's Chime Long Water Park the next day. Brand-new water slides manufactured by Canadian WhiteWaterWest make the Mainland yell: a funnel-shaped Tornado slide, state-of-the-art water coasters, speedy-slippy body, belly and tube slides complemented by a large wave pool wetten the soil adjacent to the classic and dry Chime Long Paradise theme park.
China has a far better water park than any country in Continental Europe, which goes to show where the biggest currency reserves of today are located.
