PHOTOS: Ryan Sheridan’s Tour of China – Day 7

Waking up early is an unfortunate side effect of jet lag but on Friday it was a good thing. There was over 30 hot natural water spring pools to go try out calling to us from our hotel rooms. Having the time to relax in the morning was needed today.

We travelled back to the Mayson factory where we made a video for the factory of the process of making these amazing guitars. It was great to see every stage of the guitar being built. When it came to the end of the video I got the biggest surprise of the trip. Alex (founder of Mayson guitars) told me he was making me a signature guitar for me. An amazing feeling and what an honour.

Once again we were travelling around Guangzhou seeing the real China that people don’t usually get to see. We stopped at a public park and decided to play for the people walking by, again it was crazy to see such amazing support. The backdrop of the skyline of Guangzhou was breath-taking.

We travelled to Shenzhen on Saturday by high speed train traveling at 300kmh through jungle and paddy fields. Great to see. We arrived to a Mayson shop in Shenzhen where posters promoting the gig were on the window and all down the street.

Yesterday we arrived at the amazing venue. Soundcheck went well and we were ready. I couldn’t believe the amount of people that were pouring in the door come 7 o’clock. The support is great and I’ve only been here one week! Gig was amazing, the crowd were absolutely going crazy. Singing back at me for “I’m Alive” was a special moment.

A running joke is to say it’s Jimmy’s birthday at a gig, so I said it without thinking that 5 minutes later a cake would arrive on stage. Jimmy’s 23 going on 40 at this stage.

Today was our first rest day before hitting the road again tomorrow. China is an adventure with something new around every corner and the excitement for the future is hard to hold back.