Not Your Typical Tourist

A Life Between Two Countries, And All In Between

All In Between

Fenk Attitude 锋态度 stay near Guangzhou Railway Station

It was Fenk Attitude Hotel Guangzhou Railway Station on booking.com, Attitude Hotel Guangzhou Railway Metro Station Traditional Chinese Medicine University on Agoda and Frontal Attitude Hotel on their business card!

Airport Bus from Guangzhou Baiyuan International Airport to downtown

Fenk Attitude was chosen due to its close proximity to Guangzhou Railway Station. The Metro from airport ceased operation around 11pm. I read on Tripadvisor here there’s one bus line that runs to Guangzhou Railway Station after midnight. So, Airport Bus is our next best (budget) bet to downtown without breaking the bank – it costs us 50 RMB for 2 pax + a short taxi ride 12 RMB. The taxi ride was needed as we missed our stop (my bad really). After walking for 20 mins from the next stop, we decided continuing with taxi. Big thanks to the taxi driver for taking the trouble translating the hotel name from English to Chinese 锋态度 (Fēng tàidù) and gps-ing to the location! There’s a separate blog post that I’ve written here if you’re looking for info on the Airport Bus to downtown after midnight.

Walking in, the funky-looking lobby smells of cigarettes (oh no!) .. Only one staff on duty and he had trouble checking us in – after taking some time locating my booking, then he was out of key cards! After contacting someone, the problem was solved by locating unused ones at housekeeping room to issue new one for us .. so kudos for quick-thinking at 2am!

Night and daytime staff seemed to speak little English – be patient. They’ll use translation app to communicate when necessary – be nice. English issue happens in many countries; not only in China.

We found guests smoking at the lobby area on subsequent days. So if you’re sticky with it, best to try your luck at other hotels. The ciggie smell is not prominent during day time with proper ventilation, so just in the evening when the lobby’s main door is closed.

Cost and room

We paid CNY 877 (THB 4,500) for 3 nights, for a king standard bed room. This room reminds us of our stay at Citizen M KL with the room layout and the curtain blind, albeit at a lower quality.

First stepping into the room, it smells of cigarettes and I found cigarette ashes on the toilet’s bin. We were too tired to complain and just slept with the smell lingering. Thanks goodness that the smell disappeared our second day after a long day out in the city, so we didn’t change our room. Overall I was happy with the bed and pillow’s quality – that is very Citizen Mish kind of luxury. There are many charging points (incl. for USB ports) with quirky amenities – again, that’s Citizen M.

Writing this the review now, found this term on our Agoda’s booking confirmation : “the property accepts only Mainland Chinese citizens. Guests must present a valid PRC Identification Card upon check-in” .. But that’s not true, they accept non-Mainland Chinese citizens with may foreigner guests staying there!

Surrounding area

Ziyuangang Road is an interesting area – many wholesale shops selling bags, leather items, local eateries and we also found an African restaurant (Ifunanya Food) with many Africans loitering around. Curious to the why of the Africans, a bit of reading post the trip revealed that Guangzhou is the Little Africa of China – so that explains the many Africans we saw since Ziyuangang Road has many leather/bags wholesale shops, including Tianhong leather mall (天泓皮具城) not far from the hotel.

We had our meal few times at this area – decent cheap food – a tick to our “eat like locals”.

There’s a connecting bridge from Ziyuangang Road to the Guangzhou Railway Station/Metro. It’ll cut through stairways that leads to ground area – a stairway sometimes with people napping, playing card and a glimpse into the life of the residents. Do take note that we saw a sign indicating that the walkway closes at 11.30pm – we never got back that late, so unsure whether it’s strictly enforced.

The walking route from Fenk to D1 Metro entrance

Walking through the bridge, stairways will lead us towards a police station, then it’s the D1 entrance to the Guangzhou Railway Station Metro.

So final verdict – Fenk Attitude 锋态度 does its job at that price, so we were pretty much okay with it. DND (Do dot disturb) sign is electronic, activated with key card it seems – so we had housekeeping coming in daily when we were out instead of our usual DND practice. The plus of that is daily water bottle replenishing, but we couldn’t stop daily-towel changing which is really unnecessary.

Fenk Attitude Hotel Guangzhou Railway Station 锋态度酒店广州火车站 or Attitude Hotel Guangzhou Railway Metro Station Traditional Chinese Medicine University 锋态度酒店广州火车站地铁站中医药大学店
No.82, Ziyuangang Road, Sanyuanli, Guangzhou, China 解放北路梓元岗路82号, 广州, 中国
Tel: +862086368685
Nearest Metro: Guangzhou Railway Station, Entrance D1

Not Your Typical Tourist

Travel opens up a whole new world, which is cliche but true. I am a strong advocate for independent and solo travel. I was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia but now live in Bangkok, Thailand, resulted from a chance encounter in 2009 with my why-are-you-Thai bf. I am now split between two countries. One country for my bf, another for the family, for the occasional weekend together.