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June 7th - Last day in Hong Kong
After being rained on constantly all day yesterday I hoped today would be different. I woke up to the biggest thunderstorm I have either seen and heard. A black storm warning was announced! But it wasn't all that bad. We got up at 6:30 to take Kath to the airport. After saying our goodbyes we headed to Starbucks near the Star Ferry on the harbour where we were meeting Cooper and Phil who stayed in a hotel in Kowloon called the Ramarda.
We then spent the next few hours shopping in a massive super mall right on the harbour Kowloon side. Then at 3 oclock we made our way to Donnguan!
We took the MTR to a place called Lo Wo were we could cross the boarder from Hong Kong into China. The MTR is basically the London underground but 20 times, cleaner and more efficient.
At Lo Wo we made our way through hundreds of people, through all the passport controls and were now officially in CHINA!
Even the difference from Hong Kong immigration to China's was amazing, Phil described the difference as like going from Manchester Airport to Humberside.
It was outside the building when I first heard the sound of China… someone Hawking up and spitting which is apparently very very common.
The coach ride takes you along what was probably lovely countryside and now is a rows and rows of high rise building that are either falling apart or completely collapsed. It seems that they build them all in a hurry and don't know what to do with them. The difference to Hong Kong is obviously staggering. One thing I remember is that for the first time you don't see hardly any western words. An hour of trying to fall asleep on the coach and we arrive in Dongguan, a place were 8 million people live and most of the city is only 20 years old.
Everything seems to be spaced out in Dongguan. One massive paved walkway leads to massive high rise building which has a massive paved walkway with another massive high rise next to it.
The major staring begins with a family stopping in there tracks to watch me walk by with mouths open wide. It something that if you look out for you will get annoyed with but if you try and ignore it then it isn't too much of a problem. Plus you kind of feel like a really rubbish celebrity.
Cooper and Grahams flat has a striking resemblance to the flats back in Manchester, being on the 11 floor of a high rise building makes for a massive view.
After dumping our bags we set out on to the streets on Dongguan and got some grub at what can only be described as a chain of Chinese cafes called The Swan. The food is really nice and I end up choosing steak and peppered noodles for 20pence, with a side order of staring.
Then time arises for the fantastic meeting of Mr Graham Blaimires!!!!!! At the bar he manages called Fiasko in a surprising nice looking part of Dongguan. Much beer was had in this German bar then back to the flat for more drinking and bed.
June 8th - My first day in Dongguan
We Slept in till about 1 the following day which was great and did a lot of wondering around the Wal mart/shopping centre type thing near by. We also went to Dongguan peoples park, which has an old looking tea house were you sit and basically drink gallons of tea in little cups. Apparently most cities have a peoples park for the residence to sit and while away the hours. However you don't see many people just sitting about, there's very little seating and most people squat.We then went back to the flat and chilled out.
June 9th A complete non day
I spent most of the day on the internet writing up blogs and trying to upload photos. I The photos didn't want to load so I'll try again another day.
Went to a Brazilian BBQ restaurant which was really nice but its all you can eat and we all ate our weight in beef.
Then back to the flats for some beers a film and bed.
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