Guangzhou's Oi Kwan Hotel: a slightly mouldy golden oldie

The best place to stay in Guangzhou (or Gong Jau, as it's really called) is the Oi Kwan Hotel - especially if you don't mind mould, a smell and wall colouring courtesy of a million cigarettes and carpets that do not invite close inspection.

But it's a three-star hotel with three-star prices, verging on two, and doesn't pretend to be anything else - so shut up, all you joyless grumblers on TripAdvisor!

Best seen from afar, this slim and elegant art deco-ish structure is perched on the edge of the Pearl River, smack in the middle of the beautiful remnants of Guangzhou's former grandeur, a legacy of a time when the city controlled much of the trade in southern China and hairy foreigners were safely stuffed away in their enclave on Shamian Island, a short stroll from the Oi Kwan.

This island, a sand spit really, has had something of a facelift recently. More than a bit shabby a few years ago, and propped up mostly by the White Swan Hotel, a centre of China's once-thriving adoption business, Shamian has recently seen most of its colonial buildings restored to their former glory. Yes, restored! Not knocked down.