Sense and Sensibility-ness-ing-ly

Brisbane > Melbourne > Hong Kong > China

OK, I'll state straight out that having never travelled in a plane for more than 4-5 hours, I really didn't know what to expect with the start part of this trip. Looking back now that I am settled into the hotel in Zongshan... the flight bits were a breeze...

Flight Brisbane to Melbourne was, as usual, pretty uneventful. Got off the plane to see my parent's smiling faces - they are in Melbourne at the moment, so came up to have dinner with me. After a good chat, I went through customs and managed to leave my phone just after the security check. Didn't notice until 5 minutes later and went back - there was a security guard grinning talking on the phone - to my parents!! Got that, and then off to the Qantas Club to meet up with compatriate Chris Robbs and hang out until flight time (23:00). QC is great - thanks Chief for organising that!

Flight to Hong Kong was OK - 9 hours, didn't sleep that long (about 4 hours). Got to watch two episodes of The Office (USA) and two episodes of The Office (UK), "Mrs Henderson Presents" & half of "Traffic".

Off the plane, through Customs - HK airport is huge (and very empty at 6am)!! Went to get into a taxi - hoping that we'd get a bit of a tour one the way to the ferry terminal - and the adventure began. Some official looking guide said to "catch the blue taxi" (I knew we should have caught the red taxi!). So we did. We drove around the airport and the AsiaWorld Expo building for 30-40 minutes... in the end, and after numerous phone calls to someone the driver knew that kinda spoke English, we went back to the airport. Found the train station that we walked past in the first place. The very nice guy there wrote down in English and Chinese where we wanted to go, and then caught the train into Kowloon station. Got the taxi to the ferry terminal OK (at last, the taxi system works).

I have well overused the only two phrases of Chinese I know already - only 10 days to go (and many more phrases to learn).

We got our tickets, checked in our bags, and went looking for breakfast. Had some kind of "sliced pork, schezuan style with noodles" and 'something'... we think it was bamboo (bloody big bamboo!!).

The weather in Hong Kong was really overcast, so really beautiful, but couldn't see much.

The ferry ride was OK, managed to catch up with a little bit of sleep. Getting off the ferry in Zongshan and through customs was OK, could have been anywhere with lots of chinese writing on the wall. Walking out the door, after meeting our driver from Guli (with the sign!)... WELCOME TO CHINA! It's like a whole other country - you can't get there by bus! Just amazing - the heat hit me through the door, the landscape just totally out of a travel guide, and people EVERYWHERE.

Driving to Guli (factory in Xiaolan), learnt a few things about driving in China:
1. Everyone uses their horn - to let you know where they are, where you are, saying hello to someone, reminding you that you nearly hit them, etc, etc.
2. Road rules are merely a suggestion.
3. Everyone uses their horn.
4. It really doesn't matter which way you drive on which side of the road - just don't hit anyone.
5. Speed limits are merely limits in your mind.
6. Everyone uses their horn.
7. If you can't afford a car, get a motorbike. If you can't afford a motorbike, get a pushbike. No bike, just walk wherever you want anyway.

Guli Security Products is a HUGE place. Hope to get a tour in the next few days. Just massive - 2,500 employees, 300 of which  are admin, the rest are manufacturing staff. We caught up with George (CIO - our boss), and had lunch with him and the other Management Development Program (MDP) delegates in the "executive lunch room". Very nice, very authentic chinese food. I am taking the stance on this trip that "I'll try just about anything once, and then if it tastes good and doesn't kill me, I'll keep with it". I am drawing the line at heads, though. No heads.

Got the car out to Guzhen where we are staying (Guzhen International Hotel), and checked in, had a shower, checked e-mail, relaxed, etc. So, after that, and with George still at work, Chris and I decided to go for a walk around. I am sure it was as weird for the locals as it was for us - a tall, thin Australian with a South African accent and a large, loud Australian walking down the street in, what is really, regional China. Guzhen is the 'international lighting district' of China, so every second shop sells light fittings or globes. Seriously. We wandered around, and found some big monument, KFC, the hospital, and lots of chinese people staring... a lot.

Eventually found a nice pool hall and hung out there playing on a full size table for a couple of hours, waiting for George. Then, when we found George, back to the pool hall (current score status: George 2 - SM/CR 2, George 1 ripped pool table felt - SM/CR 0). So, we got a call from Boonmy (MDP delegate from Oakleigh) to come down and meet with the rest of them - off to dinner. After looking at what really was a pet shop (lots of fish, turtles, snakes, crocodile, etc) and us deciding we couldn't eat much of that, it was off the to Japanese restaurant in the hotel. Teppanyaki and sake for everyone! It was a lot of fun - good sashimi, teppanyaki was amazing. Had eel, matsu zaki beef, oyster, massive prawn... yum. And lots of sake.  ;)  Good ordering, JJ!

With the promise of a massage on, dinner ended, but somehow we ended up at the karaoke disco in the hotel too... just plain weird. Not enough words to explain it - this one is best talked about over a meal (if you are interested). Walked out past the line of women... 'nuff said. So... off for the massage. 70 minutes of the most AMAZING foot massage - George, Chris, Boonmy and I all lined up in comfy chairs, foot soak/massage, back massage, etc, etc. The quickest 70 minutes of my life. The four girls were very chatty, and according to Boonmy it was because they all thought I was cute (apparently). Leave that one alone, I think.  ;) 

In bed by 12:30pm, and just crashed (on an amazingly hard bed - that, after the massage, quite incredibly felt good). The promise of a 2 hour massage tomorrow night will get me through any tiredness tomorrow, I think...