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On Plane to Guangzhou - 2am 24 November 2011
This plane trip is taking forever! I tried to sleep several times then spotted some lights from land below. "Yay, we are in China!", I thought. Sadly no, think the lights were actually somewhere in Indonesia - checked the only onboard entertainment available (the flight route screen) and there are three hours to reach our destination...
The next three hours actually went quite fast. Got a free mandarin lesson from the Tianjin seaman sitting next to me. With my limited Mandarin and his limited English - and the help of my phrasebook - we were actually able to have some good conversation. Was funny when he asked what I was going to do in Hong Kong. "taying with my 'pangyao' (friend)" replied, happy that I knew the word for friend without looking up my phrasebook and my seaman friend was suitably impressed..
Waiting in Hung Hom Station, Hong Kong - 2pm 24 November 2011
Wow, what an intense first day in China. Too rushed to even feel culture shocked yet. Finally relaxing now with a Diet Coke and Lemon (best flavour, why can't they make it in NZ?!) and waiting for a phonecall from Caleb, or for him to show up at Hung Hom. Is pretty hard to communicate with my Roaming not working over here, and have already spent NZ$40 on checking my emails via phone since that is the only way to contact me.
Arrival at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport - wow. There is a stark contrast between China and Hong Kong when it comes to being hassled and scammed by touts. Hong Kong seems pretty safe, but coming off a 9h flight in Guangzhou Airport, half asleep at 4.30am, I was not in the mood for bombardment by dodgy taxi drivers. They were there at the arrivals hall though, immediately spotting the unsure looking blonde girl - "you want taxi?", "no take my taxi!", "here's my card". Shaking my head I rushed to the bathroom and stayed there for 20min until I was ready to face the touts and the staring. I then wandered around the airport, reinstating my confidence, and eventually headed down to the arrivals area where the buses to town departed - and I knew that I had to take bus 2A, that would take me to a hotel where I could catch a bus to Hong Kong. The bus didn't depart until 7am, it was 6.15am. I had a bit of fun, leading a tout to think I was interested in the taxi, following him out, then I saying that I didn't want a taxi, I wanted a bus. The touts try to say that there is no bus, but never believe anything they say or you will get ripped off!
Arriving at the hotel at 7.30am, I managed to get a ticket for the 8am bus for Hong Kong. "This is all going so smoothly", I thought, so it was about time that my travels threw some challenges my way. The first things I noticed when I arrived in Guangzhou was the smog, but also the amazing sunrise above the smog. China's sun is amazingly big and orange and you don't see sunrises like that in NZ. The vast scale of the city also hit me. Kilometres upon kilometres of tower apartments placed next to each other in a haphazard fashion, many with trees growing on the roof! Some towers were so close together that you could open your window and climb into the neighbours apartment in the next tower. The trip to Shenzen was also surprising. 165km is the journey from Guangzhou and Hong Kong, but I could not tell where one city ended and the other began. It was 165km of tower apartments, taller than any apartment buildings I have seen in NZ.
Then things got a little unnerving. There were two customs stops, each with their own large lines, and as a kiwi girl I am not used to the push-shoving. I find it considerate to let the older people go in front of me, but they were the worst at pushing! So I learnt to push my way, but not before missing my bus! Luckily another bus driver nodded me onto his bus and we headed to the next customs stop. This line was massive - thousands of people and took 45min - 1hour to push my way to the customs desk (and I used to complain about the lines at Beer Barrell at 12.30am on a Saturday night - they are a tiny fraction of the line that we had to wait in) Even though I pushed as much as possible I almost missed my second bus. It was leaving but I managed to wave down the driver and he nodded me onto his bus again. Tip for travellers - don't worry about how foolish you look, or the fact that other travellers might be talking about the clueless foreigner in their own language, humiliation is a thousand times better than being stranded in a place you have no idea about.. if you play up your helplessness you may even score a free bus ride ;)
First Night in Hong Kong - 8am 25th November
Met up with Caleb after his work and wandered the streets of Causeway Bay while him and the boys had rugby training. Such a cool place! Both the flashest mall I have ever seen - seven storeys high with every designer imaginable, and street markets selling food and clothes. I am going to head back there and try a kebab on the street because the lines are quite big so they must be good! And have a peek in one of the many chinese medicine stores. Had the biggest slice of pizza imaginable (I saved half for breakfast this morning!) at a very cool place in Wan Chai.
Almost ready to catch the bus to Tai-O fishing village today, then will hopefully get out to Discovery Bay on Lantau Island and go over to Cheng Chau or hire a bike, and the Buddha on the peak of Lantau Island.. so much to do!!
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