Traveler 02 · The Foodie · Thank You, Guangzhou

July 5, 2026

Finally, real morning tea

The teachers took us out for morning tea today, and I made sure I was first through the door and first to order. Har gow, siu mai, chicken feet, and obviously cheung fun — I photographed every basket before anyone was allowed to touch it. The others have accepted this is just how meals work with me now.

My official cheung fun verdict: the rice sheet should be thin enough to see the shrimp through it, slippery but never mushy, and the soy sauce poured around it, not drowned on top. This place got all three right. I delivered a short speech about it; the others just kept eating, which I chose to read as agreement.

The volunteers taught us the tea rituals too — rinsing the bowls with hot tea first, tapping two fingers on the table to say thank you when someone pours for you. I tapped so many times my fingers got a workout. A meal where even saying thanks has its own choreography? This city takes eating seriously, and I respect that deeply.

The teapot never stopped — someone refilled it before I even noticed it was empty.

Eating my way to goodbye

One day left, so this morning I wrote an actual list of everything I still needed to eat, and treated today like a mission. Cheung fun one last time at breakfast for a final verdict — still perfect, for the record. Then the campus canteen at noon, because even the everyday food here deserves a proper farewell.

In the evening a few of us walked along the Pearl River, and I realized I remember cities by taste. The tower was glowing, everyone was taking photos of it, and I was thinking about steamed shrimp dumplings. That is just who I am, and this trip has made no attempt to change me.

Thank you to GCC, to our teachers, and to the volunteers who kept saying "you have to try this" and were right every single time. My camera roll is now eighty percent food and I regret nothing. Guangzhou, keep the cheung fun warm — I am absolutely coming back for it.