"Chang Sha" Kaiping by karen75

Chang Sha is a town situated in Kaiping (or Hoiping). My Mom's parents have an apartment in Chang Sha as they come here every year to live for a few months.

This was my second visit to Kaiping. The first time was in March 2005. I came back to celebrate Chinese New Year with my parents and my Mom's family. Chang Sha, where we stayed, has changed quite a bit since the last time I was here. They now have a massive grocery store chain (Vanguard) as well as lots of other new businesses. I've also noticed lots of new condo/apartment developments from my many car rides to lunch and dinner.

The meals / food that I had on this trip has improved a bit since my last visit but I'm still not a fan. I tried the chicken again and found it still had this chewy, rubbery texture that I did not like despite my Grandmother trying to tell me a million times that the chicken here was better then the chicken from back home (Canada). No, Grandmother, I disagree with you 100% - now stop asking me to try the damned chicken.

I managed to sneak away to McDonalds for a Fillet-O-Fish. Yummy. On my last night, I had an awful dinner at a restaurant. Made a pit stop at McDonald's for a Fillet-O-Fish combo. I was in heaven.

A tip for those visiting McDonald's in China - they only give you one packet of ketchup for your fries. They might give you a second packet if you ask nicely. Ketchup lovers, beware.

It was a neat experience being somewhere where everyone spoke my dialect of Chinese.

Chang Sha

Both of my parents were born in Kaiping. My dad was born in a village in Xian Gang. My mom was born in a village in Bai He. While in Kaiping, we hired drivers to take us to the villages my parents came from. More on that in the "things to do" section.

Everjoint Hotel

This is a view across the river from where my Grandparent's live. Lots of people stroll along the river during the day and at night. There really isn't much to do in this town besides walking around in the local markets. In speaking with some of the local people who live here, I asked them if they've ever visited Hong Kong, which is approx 4 hours away by bus/car. A lot of them said no, because they couldn't afford to. I felt bad for them because there is so much to see outside of this place and some of these people are in a sense, trapped.

• Pros:Everything is cheap, my dialect of Chinese is spoken here...
• Cons:Really bad air
• In a nutshell:It was a good experience seeing where my family came from..