As I've mentioned previously, my father-in-law, who lives in Guangzhou, is gravely ill. My wife is going out next week by herself, but I'll probably join her in mid- to late-May for a week or two. I will, of course, be visiting with my father-in-law some of the time, but due to family politics (unrelated to me), I think its best if I plan on occupying myself for much of the time.

I've been to Guangzhou a number of times and have already exhausted the "touristy" kinds of things to do. I'll probably take the train up to Hong Kong for one day to visit my company's local counsel. My wife has also promised the company of her best friend and former college roommate, with whom I am also friendly and like very much, who lives in Shenzhen. However, I don't want to impose too much on our friend and I've also been to Shenzhen and Hong Kong many, many times, and know those cities very well, too.

Aside from sitting in the hotel room and posting to FT, I'm trying to plan out some things I can do to keep myself busy and out of my wife's family's hair. I have a few words of Mandarin, absolutely no Cantonese, and, aside from shopping (which I kind of hate), I can't really think of much to do. Guanzhou is a reasonable walking city, though it has become somewhat more dangerous since I first started visiting. Shenzhen is definitely not a walking city, and a one-hour express train ride one-way can get old fairly quickly.

Any suggestions?

I don't know whether there's regular ferry service in Guangzhou, but I could kill a morning and afternoon in Macau (been there before, too). The Guangzhou train station is kind of chaotic (as are most Chinese train stations), but I'm sure I could manage it if there was some interesting town within an hour or so. I'm sure I could borrow a car from one of our friends, but my wife would freak if she thought I was driving around in China and I don't want to add to her stress (and, to tell the truth, I wouldn't want to drive in Guangzhou, though Shenzhen might be more manageable).