I got a bus directly to Kaiping from Hong Kong, missing out Hong Kong, Macau and Guangzhou completely. It was worth it. I had a few options for where I stayed on the first night:

1. Hong Kong. This would have meant getting a bus back to where I was previously on Hong Kong island and finding somewhere to stay there. This would include the cost of accommodation, the bus to the island and then either the metro to Hung Hom and the train to Guangzhou, or a ferry to Macau
2. Macau. This would have involved going back to Hong Kong island and getting a ferry to Macau. It would also involve finding somewhere to stay in Macau and learning how the Mass Transit System worked (if any)
3. Guangzhou. A bus back to Hong Kong island and then the metro to Hung Hom and the train to Guangzhou, plus booking somewhere in Guangzhou and figuring out how to get to it.

All of these meant more travelling the same day that I got back to Hong Kong and after much consideration I decided to go directly to Kaiping, which is where I wanted to go next anyway. In the airport I found the departures section for local transport and managed to find a bus to Kaiping. There I met Yen, a Chinese person who spoke much better English than the woman trying to serve me. I was trying to ask how ‘downtown’ was written in Chinese, as I wanted something to show a taxi driver when I got there. Both Yen and the bus company worker were very worried that I was not going to find anywhere, but I didn’t think it was going to be a problem. Yen gave me his mobile number and told me to call him if I had any problems.

The bus went to Shenzhen first, where we had to wait for another, bigger bus to Kaiping. Whilst I was waiting on the bus, someone asked me where I was going and whether I was travelling. I had to move seats before we could finish our conversation, but later on, once we were in Kaiping, I got the girl to help me find a taxi. Her and her boyfriend walked me to a taxi and explained where I wanted to go, plus letting me know how much it was going to be. The taxi dropped me at a hotel, which I ended up staying in for the next 3 days.

Whilst I was in Kaiping, I visited several Diaolou and villages in the surrounding area. Dialou are old, colonial-style buildings which were built by locals, on their return from Western countries. They were used to protect the villagers and families from looters and bandits, but are very grand and ornately decorated, whilst at the same time being made from re-inforced concrete. Whilst I was there I visited Zili village, the Majianglong Dailou Cluster and Jinjiang Li village. The Historic Town of Chikan also looked good, but I only had time to go through there by bus. All 3 were excellent, with Jinjiang Li village being particularly impressive.

As Kaiping didn’t have its own train station, the next step was to get a bus to Maoming, which did. Maoming wasn’t in the guide book, so this was un-chartered territory!