Over the Easter weekend holidays, I made a short trip to the Southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, to explore the bustling and busy city and savour authentic cantonese cuisine. It would also be my first visit to Guangzhou.

Did self check-in at one of the many check-in machines at Terminal 3 to print the boarding pass, and with no check-in luggage, proceeded through immigration to the transit hall.




T3 was busy with mainly SQ departures in the morning.




Our flight would be departing from one of the furthest gates at A21.







30 March 2018
Singapore Airlines
SQ 850
Singapore (SIN) - Guangzhou (CAN)
A330-300
9V-STT
Economy Class
Flight Time: 3H39M


Views of SQ's A330 regional workhouse which would be operating the flight to Guangzhou this morning.






Boarding started soon but even though boarding sequence was announced, it was not actively enforced. Ended up a free-for-all during Economy boarding, which was rather unusual for SQ. Newspapers and earphones were available at the door.






Greeted upon boarding and proceeded to our seats at row 55. A pillow and blanket was available on each seat.




View out the window fom my seat, with cargo loading still in progress.




Flight map. Seat was the 2006-version economy seat, and was comfortable enough for the flight.




Boarding in progress.




The April version of inflight magazines and IFE selection were already loaded.




Customary hot towels offered after boarding was completed.




Browsing through the IFE selection.




The flight was pretty full in Economy at least. Pushed back with the new safety video featuring Singapore attractions played.








We had a rather lengthy taxi to Rwy20C, crossing the road and passing T4.






Taxi and holding short of the runway.








Departing from Rwy20C, bound for Guangzhou.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPTnMp9od4Q&t=80s


Climbing out of Changi.










Decided on a light hearted comedy Pitch Perfect 3 this morning.




Above the clouds.




A round of juices and water was offered shortly after seatbelt signs were turned off. I had a cup of water, which was served warm.




Cruising




Menus were distributed, which includes the meal selection for this flight as well as the returning sector. On this breakfast flight, the very predictable and boring egg selection or noodles were offered. There were barely any changes in the breakfast selection for the past 20yrs as far as I remember.






To have something different (and probably more tasty) for breakfast, I pre-ordered the Hindu non-vegetarian meal. The special meals were served first prior to the main meal cart.




The breakfast offered was a delicious prata with spicy minced lamb and potatoes dish, served along with a tub of vegetables pickles, cut fruits, yoghurt and roll with butter and preserve.




Cut fruits, roll with condiments.




The delicious lamb with pratha and potatoes.




Plain yoghurt.




My friend pre-ordered the Indian vegetarian meal, and was served a main of pizza-styled bread with dhal-like dish. It was quite tasty as well.




Crew serving the rest of the cabin.




Ending with a cup of tea.




Continuing with Fat Amy on the IFE.




After the movie, visited the lavatory, which was well-stocked with amenities as usual.






View of the cabin.




More than halfway through the flight.




Started on the second movie Jumanji.




Flew over Hong Kong as we started the descent into Guangzhou.




Descending into Guangzhou. It was pretty cloudy and gloomy.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7EkMnNQxJY


The cloudy and smoggy skies did not allow views of the city even though we were pretty low during the approach.
















A very smooth landing in Guangzhou Baiyun Intl Rwy02R.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DaRgUmGmr0


Taxied to the gate and passing the new Terminal 2 which would be opened soon.








Parked at the international section of the terminal.




Disembarked.






Last view of the A330.




As expected of SQ, it was a very comfortable flight in economy, with excellent service and onboard offerings on this 3.5hrs short-haul flight.

Cool beans. I noticed two A330's parked next to your gate. Glad Baiyun is opening a new terminal, as it is quite busy there. It's been 8 years since I last been there but I don't see much visible change. Did have as many complaints of the terminal like many others?

Immigration took quite a while even though there were not many arrivals at the time, and we proceeded via subway from the airport to the hotel. For this trip, we would be staying at Garden Hotel, which was the first hotel in Guangzhou with 5-stars status.




The lobby was very grand and impressive.




A pleasant surprise awaits as I was upgraded to a suite, probably due to my Expedia Gold status and the hotel is a participating Expedia VIP hotel.






Nespresso machine and TWG teas offered in the room.




View from the room.




First meal after arrival was at a local eatery near the hotel. Had cantonese congee, rice rolls and more.




After the meal, we proceeded to ShangXiaJiu pedestrian street.




Strolling along the shopping street.







Night view of Customs House.





Along the Zhujiang River.








Exploring the colonial styled buildings on Shamian Island.








A very filling dinner at the well-known Guangzhou Restaurant. The serving portions were humongous!




Night scene of shopping street.




The next morning, we proceeded to the Canton Tower, the most well-known landmark of the developed Guangzhou.




However, the highlight was the mouth-watering dimsum at Shang Dian Restaurant at the foot of Canton Tower!


















Canton Tower from Cultural Park.




Views of the skyscrapers at Zhujiang New Town.








Beijing Road pedestrian street.






Huge Buddhist temple near Beijing Road.






Having a selection of Cantonese desserts. The most popular dessert in Guangzhou is the steamed milk pudding, along with various toppings.




A quaint residential neighbourhood.




Dinner at a very popular eatery offering all sorts of cantonese cuisine.












Back to Zhujiang New Town for the night views.




Skyscrapers and a rainbow Canton Tower.






On the last day, we had a dimsum breakfast at the hotel Chinese restaurant.

Thank you for posting so many great pictures. I have been to China three times but not to Canton. I love dim-sum and your picture make me hungry. SQ is very consistent and keep the quality of service well above the average.

Left the hotel at about 11am to catch the subway to the airport. It was again approximately 45min subway ride to the airport. The airport terminal check-in area was huge!








There was a bit of queues at the SQ counters as it was a very full flight.




Boarding pass was issued. The green sticker denotes the boarding sequence.




Departure immigration and security was much faster than arrival. FIDS showing the international departures. Not sure why flights to Hainan island are considered "international". Maybe due to the island's 'duty-free' status?




Forced to walk through a hallway of expensive boutiques before reaching the gates area.






Some plane spotting at the international pier.








Our gate was at the furthest most gate.





01 April 2018
Singapore Airlines
SQ 851
Guangzhou (CAN) - Singapore (SIN)
A330-300
9V-STC
Economy Class
Flight Time: 3H47M


Boarding commenced and we headed to the aircraft. Newspapers and earphones were again available at the door.






Pillows and blankets on each seat.




Earphones.




Saudia B77W taxiing into the gate.




Boarding almost completed. It was a totally full flight in economy.




After the standard hot towels distributed, we pushed back.




Taxied past a China Southern A380.




It was a pretty lengthy taxi to the departure runway Rwy01 at the opposite side of the terminal. We had a "tour" around the 2 terminals of Baiyun.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMeo8iQlfR0


Holding for a couple of landings.




Departed from Rwy01 bound for Singapore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHesM0Mz8sg






Continued with the movie 'Jumanji', which I watched midway on the earlier flight. A round of beverages was offered from trays and I accepted an orange juice. Also ordered a Singapore Sling to be delivered later.




A snack mix of peas and crackers was then offered.




Flight map.




My ordered Singapore Sling was delivered after a while, and I started on my third movie, the animation 'Ferdinand'.




About an hour into the flight, lunch was served. Lets take a look at the menu.




Lunch service started. My aisle was served by a PRC stewardess who seemed rather new on the job, and a leading stewardess in green who was also assisting with the service.




I selected the International selection of Fish with potatoes. Had a cup of chinese tea to go along.






The starter of Smoked chicken with pasta salad was way too salty.




The main tasted good but portions a tad small though.




The Oriental selection consisted of a shrimp and cucumber salad starter, and main of Chicken in balck bean sauce with rice. Both the starter and main were ok, but nothing remarkable.








Cruising during lunch.




The highlight of the meal was the full-sized Magnum ice-cream bar which was distributed after. Sweet ending to the meal!






Another round of beverages was offered before trays were cleared. Had another cup of chinese tea.






After completing with the movie, we were nearing the destination.




View of the cabin just before descent.




Due to congestion at Changi, we were required for circle and hold for additional 10min.




Descending into the stormy clounds.




Approach and landing on Rwy20R.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uESiAs-rFt8


Taxied to Terminal 2.




Parked at F42 and disembarked. This aircraft would be continuing to Manila on its next flight.








Again, a very comfortable short-haul flight on Singapore Airlines despite being a full flight. Reasonably good food, good service, comfortable seats and wide selection of IFE on the short sectors certainly ranks SQ highly on regional flights.

Thanks for reading and any comments are welcomed.