On the way to Guangzhou from Hong Kong, I decided to take a four hour direct bus to the city of Kaiping to see the famous Diaolou, currently a sole cultural world heritage in the heartland of Cantonese. It is very easy to take a bus to Kaiping; there are many bus companies in Hong Kong; however, the routes and bus conditions are quite different. I used Trans-Island since its air-conditioned buses seem to be the best. On the bus I made many new friends who wondered why a foreigner wanted to visit Kaiping. With my broken Chinese and I had only four hours to catch a next bus, one Chinese guy on the bus decided to help me tour Kaiping and a town of Chikan for FREE!

At Kaiping, my new friend took me to Zili Village, a part of WHS. On the way I was quite surprised to see many Diaolou buildings, before I came here, I thought Diaolou to be rare and unique buildings but turned out that there are hundreds or maybe thousands of Diaolou, as all new housing estates were built in Diaolou style! At Zili Village, I had to buy a ticket to enter the village, the village was located in the middle of rice paddies and ponds, and there was a nice long wooden bridge connecting ticket office to the village. The surrounding landscape seems to be redesigned for WHS beautification. At the middle of the village, there was a very photogenic lotus pond with Diaolou buildings as the background and WHS sign.

Inside Diaolou, the uniqueness was visible with thick iron doors, iron barred windows, and many defensive elements; Diaolou was truly a little fortress. Western decoration on the top of building was another special thing for these Diaolou. In my opinion, Diaolou is a melting pot of architecture which has also happened in many shophouses in Southeast Asia. A unique appearance of fortress-tower liked with western art on the top is truly outstanding. After Zili, I continued my trip to Chikan, not part of WHS, but a beautiful town of colonial buildings, a nice place to visit. Then I back to Kaiping to take a bus to Guangzhou. Apart from the hotchpotch architecture, I really touched with local hospitality and made my day memorable; Kaiping Diaolou is a very interesting UNESCO World heritage Site of China.