52 Hours in Qingyuan, China: My First Stop on a Post-Pandemic Travel Sprint
The first stop on my 9-city sprint across South China. Two months post-surgery, I took a train to Qingyuan in search of noise, nature and a reason to get moving again.
Two months after Achilles tendon surgery 🩼, I was limping around Guangzhou with big savings 💰 and too much free time 🕰️.
I had planned to rent a second apartment closer to the city, because living in Guangzhou’s Higher Education Mega Center 🎓 felt like being stuck inside an unfinished textbook 📚.
I needed friction ⚡
I needed noise 🔊
I needed options ✌️
—
I toured a place — decent enough.
A young Chinese couple 👨👩👦 lived there.
The husband was boiling eggs 🥚 while I followed the agent through the apartment like I was casing a robbery 🕵️♂️.
They smiled.
I smiled… socially 🫠
Classic China apartment moment.
The vibes were off. But I was probably gonna rent it anyway.
Then?
The agent ghosted me. 👻📲
So I did what any rational man on crutches would do:
Planned a 9-city tour of South China.
One city per week.
Leave Tuesday afternoon 🚄
Return Thursday night 🌙
52 hours max.
No excuses.
No refunds.
Let’s go. 🔥
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Qingyuan was stop one.
No plan. No clue.
Just heard the chicken was good 🐔.
I hopped on the high-speed train 🚄
30 minutes later, I was in nature lite™.
The next morning: Gulong Gorge 🌫️🌿
I booked a tour.
The bus was full of aunties and uncles in matching vests 👵👴🧥
And before we even got rolling, I got hit with the Four Auntie Questions™:
“你是哪国人？” 🇺🇸🇵🇷
“来中国多久啦？” ⏳
“你做什么工作？” 💼
“你有中国女朋友吗？” 💍❓
Translation:
Where you from?
How long you been in China?
What’s your job?
Do you have a Chinese girlfriend or nah?
They smiled 👀
I smiled 😅
My foot screamed 🦶💢
Still recovering. Still swollen. Still stiff.
But hey — it was Qingyuan or nothing.
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Gulong Gorge was rainforest-meets-theme-park chaos 🏞️🎢
There was a waterfall 💦
There was mist 🌫️
There was a man from Singapore 🇸🇬 with his Chinese wife who wanted to talk about San Francisco 🌉
I nodded politely and zip-lined into oblivion 🪂
Then I stood on a giant hand statue ✋ over a canyon like I was in a Zhang Yimou remake of The Karate Kid 🥋🎬
For the photo. 📸
For the algorithm. 💻
For the plot. 🧃
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And of course…
I ate the chicken 🐓
sautéed greens 🥬
beef balls 🧆 (because chaos follows me)
It was a reset-your-soul meal 🍽️
The kind of food that whispers:
“You didn’t die today. Good job.”
Almost made the foot pain worth it.
Almost. 🫠🦶
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Final Verdict:
Qingyuan was a soft-launch adventure 🧘
Perfect for limping, laughing, and pretending to understand Mandarin in front of strangers 🧏♂️
Qingyuan hao. ✅🐔
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This is part 1 of my 9-part series
《52 Hours in X》 — a fast-travel experiment through post-COVID China.
One city 🏙️. One story 📖. 52 hours ⏱️ at a time.
Next stop: Kaiping 🏰
Spoiler: there were castles… and confusion 😵💫