Hong Kong Saturday

It's another Saturday night and here I am in Hong Kong after a very long day. It started well with an awesome breakfast which was, this being Hong Kong, insanely overpriced. English style Eggs, Bacon, and Toast with coffee for around US$40.

Our first meeting was pretty much pointless for me but it was Greg's big meeting and I attended for the hell of it. After that the Maks came and took us to the Central Escalators a wonder of the modern world which is rather hard to describe.

We did a bit of shopping, sightseeing, and such before running back for a meeting we were highly anticipating. Sadly it was a no-show and we weren't happy. That left time for a bit more shopping though Greg was the big spender this trip and I didn't really buy much. We ate dinner at the Union Café which was pretty good and relatively cheap with dinner for two with dessert coming in at around HK$605. In Hong Kong that's a bargain.

I went to a local grocery store for fun and bought a Lime flavoured chocolate bar. It sounds rather interesting.

We walked around the mall a bit more and now I'm in the room to pack and go to bed before the long, gruelling flight home. We plan to take the airport express MTR line to the airport. Yay.

Macao/Hong Kong -- Friday

I am now at the Four Seasons Hong Kong. Friday was packed -- it's about 650am Saturday as I finish this post. Woke up early, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my hair* -- met the Maks for breakfast. A real buffet at any rate with lots of meat and stuff. Tasty stuff. Went to the Casino before breakfast to change my remaining RMB to HK$ -- apparently one of the notes was no good. That was a very unpleasant scene. I ended up getting a receipt and will pick a fight with my bank upon return -- I do not intend to be out RMB100 because of this. Anyway, I also got a Wynn Macao casino card just because I thought it would be cool to do. I used it a bit but for the trip I'm out a few hundred bucks -- nothing serious. We got the grand tour of Macao which is still very Portuguese much like Hong Kong is still English but we enjoyed it thoroughly. Lots of pictures of course.

We took the hydrofoil from Macao to Hong Kong around 1230 and it was a cool experience and was $142 Macao Dollars per person (a Macao Dollar is worth about 5% less than an HK$) -- customs was again slow and ponderous but we were in the hotel at 1410 and had a 1500 meeting. I unpacked and showered only to find no more clean shirts except the one long sleeved one. Not good. Ran to the nearby mall, got sweaty in the process, found only one store with a short sleeved shirt (Burberry) and spent HK$850 as not to die of heat stroke. Ran back, changed, and was ready at 310pm then we got lost on the way to the meeting and finally got there at 1540 but they were very impressed we walked. Meeting went until nearly 1810 and then we went back to hotel and dropped off our stuff, and then hopped the MTR (subway) to Jordan where the Temple Night Market is. Spent a bit of money on crappy stuff for fun. Took the MTR back noticing it's got AC! Ate in the hotel lounge and discovered a new drink called a Lime Blush and had 4 at HK$80 each. I am such a pig.

I went to a Boots and Pret-A-Manger today -- just like being in England. Didn't buy, just looked. And I got a Mars bar at 7-11 -- the UK kind and not the US kind. If you're familiar with the Mars and Milky Way chocolate bars their names are swapped in the US as opposed to the rest of the world. Not sure why. But at any rate the UK variety uses proper chocolate and not that crap they pass off in the US.

The final word on this hotel: our rooms have the most spectacular view of one of the most amazing cities on the planet. I would pay triple the rate to stay here again for this view. Even my pictures will not do this justice.

On my way to breakfast, I think I'll drop off one last round of laundry. As if you care.





* if you don't get this I am disappointed

China/Macao -- through Thurs PM

Here I am at the Wynn Macao where the internet isn't censored. I can send e-mail, visit websites and be normal (as normal as I can be anyway). When we last left our intrepid traveller I had arrived at our hotel in Ningbo where my computer was under constant attack.

The next day we had a 9am meeting which was, quite honestly, a waste. Later we decided to walk around Ningbo a bit, and besides the usual ladies throwing themselves at us for the obligatory massage, there was little else of note. Everyone was staring at us because Westerners are clearly not a common sight there. Nobody was overtly hostile but it was very uncomfortable in one sense. We when to a quick-mart and I bought some chocolates and a pack of throat lozenges that I would later find out expired over a year ago. Well, they worked so what difference.

For RMB 600 we were able to extend our checkout until 4pm -- the best money we ever spent. We had another brief meeting which went better. After that, we didn't do much until we checked out at 4pm. They tried to bill me for my mini-bar tab twice but that wasn't particularly troublesome I thought. I'm sorry I complained after all at a paltry RMB 41 it wasn't worth the headache -- then the manager came over and said a laundry bag was missing but I tried to explain I gave them two laundry bags and that went nowhere. A good example of why sometimes you just pay and shut up.

We arrived at the Ningbo airport, and like most places in China there was no A/C and the of the lights were off because you could still see a little bit. All five flights at the airport were delayed and we would later learn the Chinese air traffic control system was out that day and they were running manually. Anyway, we're told check-in is at 5pm so we wait and kill time. Finally we check in and go to the gate where we find there is an unspecified delay. Naturally they just announce there's a delay without any details as to why or how long. I am not picking on the Chinese -- the US Airports aren't any better and at least they apologized for the inconvenience.

Finally we board. There is no first class cabin which is why Karen couldn't find seats. If you've ever been on a plane in coach, you know there is one row for each set of windows. China Southern's intrastate flights have three rows for every two windows. I had trouble even getting in the row to get to my seat. It was the most uncomfortable 2.5 hour flight I have ever taken. Of course there was a full meal service, which I declined.

We arrived in Guangzhou (aka Canton) and what a hard landing. Apparently it was our pilots first time behind the yoke of a plane. My cat could have landed the plane better. We were wondering where the terminal was. Why? It was night and we couldn't see the well-lit terminal through the smog. When they opened the plane door the stench was unbelievable. Years ago if you ever went to Jacksonville and smelled the paper mills, it was reminiscent of that only 100 times worse. My ability to describe this cancerous malaise is beyond belief. That old expression "air so thick you could cut it with a knife" is quite appropriate if the knife is sharp enough -- makes the air in Shanghai seem pristine. Disgusting.

We drive to the hotel with our host who actually picked us up and he took us to the hotel. We had booked a hotel but he insisted we cancel and stay at this hotel. I believe I may have mentioned that before. So we get there except apparently he didn't really book the room and didn't believe us when we said our travel agent said the hotel was full. We had no rooms. Being Chinese he had to save face so he did they only thing he could do, which was to rent us a villa. Greg and I didn't realize that when he said we had to share a room and we gave each other the "whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis" look. Turns out we had a four bedroom house for the night which was nearly RMB10000 a night -- and we let him pay, something we're normally loathe to do.

Now, since earlier Wednesday I had been, let me put this delicately, suffering severe intestinal distress. I was told that we had to go to dinner -- and they brought me what was supposedly a "burger" but it had the consistency of mashed potatoes, the colour of pinkish-white, and the taste of a pepper-cream béarnaise sauce (if such a thing exists). Two bites and I almost heaved. The worst burger of all time and almost as bad as the Sea Cucumber from my last trip to China.

Off to bed. I decided to use the shower (after testing the toilet several more times). I was going to wash my hair but after seeing the colour (and smelling) the water, I take a record-speed shower. You think a villa at a "five star" resort would be nice and it was. You think it would be clean and but it wasn't. I look at my socks and the bottoms were black. Icky. And the bed was the hardest bed -- beating out even the Tayhih Landis -- I've ever been on. I sleep until 6am anyway.

Thursday I am up and decide to go for a walk. It's humid and the weather is brown. Yes, you read correctly. The weather is brown. Later that day it would be yellow-brown. I eat breakfast at the main room and return to the hotel. Our ride is a bit late but we're out the door at 10.

This is Greg's big meeting and it's a disaster. His vendor and the agent are lying through their teeth. Their stories change, their body language says anxiety, and they don't come clean. I pass Greg several notes warning him it's bad news on most counts but he's aware of it, just not how bad. We're talking the body language of: wring hands, massaging thumb into the forefinger web, looking downward, furrowed brows, avoiding eye contact. The guy's a bad lair and is very uncomfortable because he realizes we aren't gullible plus about 1/2 hour into the meeting our guy from Hong Kong walks in so he can't even talk in Chinese to his partner without us being privy. Glad it wasn't my meeting. They send us back to the hotel in the car and invite us to lunch to appease us but we decline and meet our hosts from Hong Kong for our ride to another factory way to the south. Parts of the ride are nice, but I am confident that a factory billowing mustard yellow smoke is a really bad thing.

This factory visit goes swimmingly well. Yay. Then we're off to Macao (Macau to some). We go through the exit process. Leaving China proves to be a chore -- there is almost no English instruction so our host proves helpful -- and the immigration officer is yelling at Greg about something but we don't understand. We begin to worry we won't be allowed out and someone else comes over and finally lets us through. Then we walk about 50 metres to the entrance to Macao, China, SAR but that runs much more smoothly since though there's not much English I can muddle through the written Portuguese instructions. We're in Macau and take two taxis since we all can't fit in one to the Wynn Macau. It's just like Vegas only smaller.

The casino is way different though. Blackjack allows you to bet not only on your hand, but on anyone else's hand on the table -- there are hash marks below each hand for this purpose. And even people standing and watching can bet on your hands. It's very odd. You can also bet a "pair" bet at 11-1 which means if the person gets a pair, you get paid 11-1 -- and you can bet on any or all players whether or not you're actually playing. Also you play your hand out and then the dealer plays his/her hand and draws the second card. Weird. And now you're up to date through Thursday night.

China -- through Wed AM

Let's see. All about China from my hotel room at the NanYuan Hotel in Ningbo, China about 40 minutes south of Shanghai by air. It's 805am Wednesday here so it's 805pm Tuesday there.

The flight from MIA to ORD was uneventful. Everything was on-time -- something unusual for any flight I am on. The flight from ORD to PVG (Shanghai's Pudong Airport) was also uneventful although unspeakably long. It's just too damned far too travel. Way too far. Although this flight was shorter than the LAX to China route we took last year, I think I prefer the LAX route. Why? Well the ORD route gets you in around 2pm instead of 7pm so you can't really go right to bed and your body clock is even worse than normal on such a long flight.

At any rate, there isn't much to report about the in-flight service. The food was okay, the seats were okay, the films left a bit to be desired but that's my personal tastes and is no reflection on American Airlines (who I normally don't like).

We arrive in PVG about 1 hour late due to a strong headwind that made the flight a bit bumpy. I don't sleep much either. We land and are among the first off the plane which is great. We breeze through Health Control -- and they're even friendly! There's none of the white coated medics patrolling the line, we get to passport control (immigration) and even tough they're friendly it's slow. Really slow. Obscenely slow. Nearly 90 minutes in line for us and by the time we were done I'd imagine the people behind us had to wait 3+ hours. Entering a communist country is no piece of cake, let me assure you. They want to study everything. My officer was friendly and even almost smiled :)

Our bags were already at the claim and in a pile on the floor because it took so long. The problem was that we were so busy watching the carousel we didn't realize our bags were already there. That killed a half-hour for no reason at all. We finally figured it out. Customs was a breeze really -- perhaps 60 seconds. Our ride wasn't there -- Karen had warned us the hotel hadn't confirmed our reservation. We found someone from the hotel who arranged a car for us (another 30 minutes) after some language issues. The car ride to the hotel from PVG took nearly 90 minutes due to the Shanghai's traffic. China is reporting the population of Shanghai at nearly 20 million people now (a big increase since my last trip a year ago) with nearly 10,000 cars per day being added to the road -- most in front of us. [This was in the China Daily I read -- they must have anticipated this blog post.]

We finally arrive at the hotel. It's very nice and overly obsequious service which most people (but not Greg and me) like. You can't even press an elevator button without someone running to do it for you. Check in was a breeze (Le Royal Meridian Hotel) and the hotel is only two weeks old with some very cool rooms. I have pictures which I will post on my Flikr Blog when I return. Nice views, etc. I must report that the food at the hotel was VERY sub-par and Greg agrees with me on that. The JW Marriott Shanghai has much better food. I fight to sleep that night with little success.

The next morning (Monday) we hire a car to take us to our first visit and that was RMB2400 -- wow! The exchange rate is about 8 to 1 so divide by 7.78 to convert to dollars. Interesting ride but idiot me left the camera in the boot so no pictures there. We're warmly greeted by our host after we navigate the private security force at the main gate. Boy are they a huge company -- nearly one MILLION square foot facilities. Like all Chinese companies, everything is hot because due to electricity shortages nobody is running the AC because they'd rather have it for their operating machinery. I will skip the factory visit details because you don't care. We take the car back to the hotel and are barely in time for our next meeting.

There is a nice table and chair that look inviting so Greg and I decide to sit there and wait for our host to arrive. Well I'm talking to Greg and don't notice the chair is on an island and has a small shallow lake around it with very very very very very still water about 1/2" deep. Of course I stand in it to the amusement of everyone. This proves the Chinese CAN laugh at you despite their culture. The next meeting was only a few miles away but still a 45 minute car ride. I will spare you those details. We go back to the hotel, eat, and decide to take a walk down Nanjing Road. After being accosted by pimps and prostitutes so many times in the first three blocks, we give up and go back to the hotel because we're so not enjoying it.

What follows Monday night may be one of the worse nights of sleep I ever had when I wasn't sick. It was horrible. Although in bed around 1030pm, I don't fall asleep until after 2am and by 315am I am up for good.

I should mention I am unable to send email properly and this has been a problem the entire trip. Bellsouth doesn't allow email relays from Chinese ISPs. My work ISP is having trouble too but I file a tech support ticket and they find a way for me to use Webmail. Even AOL's webmail is mostly accessible: webmail01-03 don't work but I did manage to find out webmail04 is not blocked in China right now so that's how I've been sending e-mail. Also try to view a GoogleVideo Dave sent me but that's blocked in China and clearly says so. My laptop has Norton Firewall installed and I am constantly getting intrusion alert warnings. Scary stuff. BBC News website is totally censored and not accessible. Google's 'view cached' is off. Even the TV news is censored by moments of silence in certain stories, especially those involving Chinese news.

We take a taxi Tues AM to the airport (the local Honqguiao airport and not Pudong) and are very apprehensive about it, but it turns out to be a breeze and even some limited English signs. Boy, are these local flights crammed. I am unable to fully sit in my chair it's so small, narrow, and close to the one in front of me. I use my mobile and try and get Karen to change the flight Wed to business class but it's full because of the Chinese holidays. Ah well, we arrive in Ningbo's beautiful new airport and it's uneventful. Except our ride isn't there. I am unable to get my mobile to connect to anyone -- ultimately learning you need an extra '0' to dial a Chinese mobile.

A nice Chinese lady uses my mobile to call the factory and find out where our ride is. The guy said I didn't answer his email (not true because I even have his reply) but if we take a Taxi to Yuyao he will pay. RMB300 out of my pocket as he doesn't even greet us at the gate. The meeting is not auspicious and we leave for the hotel not long after knowing we won't do business with these people. Our second appointment is on-time and goes much better. We return to hotel, have an Italian (yay) dinner, go for a walk and buy chocolate (double Yay!) and reutrn to the hotel where I sleep from 9pm through 6am -- a long time for me.

It's Wed AM and I decide to type this blog entry despite the repeated attempts (according to Norton) to hijack this computer. I also am curious at the fact that Blogger is giving me fits and won't allow me to post. Not sure if it's real or temporary block. In a few moments I have an appointment so I'll finish here.