We made it to China finally!

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China Splendid - or Amorous feelings of China!

Ahh! We did not do the blog last night because we went to China and only got back about midnight. This was such an eye opener for us. We had wonderful guides Fiona (who was the government allocated guide) and Derek from the travel company.

Anyway a brief rundown of our morning was the girls sort of fluttered through their journals while we waited to go outside and organize a very early lunch - which is just as well…..but I will explain that in a minute. The night before we had found a wonderful little al fresco restaurant where we went yesterday so this morning for our very early lunch at about 10.30am was our initial destination. Now you have to take this in the context that people are just starting to get going at about 10am - before that very few shops are open So they were very keen to give us their breakfast menu but we had already cased out their pizzas so in the end that was what we ordered. Here in this end of Kowloon there are not many Chinese places that are either suitable to take the girls to or where we can understand the menu well enough!. Although I know that Derek made some comments about Kentucky Fried Cat (Meow!) so even with our learning the phrase “Wo buchi gourou” I don’t eat dog we still are not sure we could be aware of what are eating (or ordering) if we can’t read the menu!

Anyway, we finished our meal with a ‘little’ hiccup (Charlotte spilt orange juice all over herself so an emergency change of clothes was in order) we headed back to the hotel to change her and have a coffee while we waited for our guide. He finally arrived about 5 mins late (which is pretty good considering traffic and all) and we got on the bus to head over to the Ferry Terminal. All the time, Derek was keeping up a running commentary about what you can and can’t do in China. Some of the information he shared would turn you grey! When we got to the ferry terminal we had to go through customs (and another stamp in our passports) and Derek was telling us about the ‘haircuts’ that aren’t haircuts, how important it is to stay together, beggars and especially keep the girls close because they will be such an oddity - not only 2 girls but also 2 Anglo girls!

On arrival in China we had to go through Customs again, and in the order in which we are listed on the Group Visa. Mark was #1, Nicola #2, Charlotte #3 & Beth #4. They were going to make us all go through separately but in the end Nicola was able to go through with the girls. It would seem that it is easier for the customs people if you stay in your number group as we found out later coming back to Hong Kong.

We were met at the China (Shenzhen side) at the port of Shekou by Fiona (the State guide) and Apple (the State photographer) on the bus. Derek informed us at this point that as he was employed by Greyline he could not be our guide for this part and that he was going to hand over to Fiona. We first went to the Snake Mouth statue which is an amazing statue of a woman (known as Eva) who had the body of a snake because Shekou means literally the mouth of a snake. Then back onto the bus to the Mangrove Park to see ……..mangroves????! yep Mangroves! Mark couldn’t wait to tell all that we have a diverse range of mangroves at home. He was totally underwhelmed by the whole Mangrove park. DPI wouldn’t even get excited by this. They were so “Not there” according to Mark~ We even took some photos of this =) for you to see! We had a big group photo taken at this time and we will show you all when we get home!

One guy fainted and they complained about the heat repeatedly. Mark asked them why hadn’t they been to Cairns to find out about similar heat and humidity. On the tour were some Aussies and some South Africans and Americans. There were 2 other children (boys) who were much bigger/older than the girls and Derek had to pull them back into line a couple of times. The girls were awarded the term “lovely”.

While we were there we saw 4 couples having their wedding photos taken in the white wedding gowns and suits. We were informed that the Chinese couples like to have their photos taken like this.

Back onto the bus again to the Museum which was State Run. They showed us some amazing art work which consisted of Jade in various colours. It would seem that the Jade (especially green) gets darker as they get older and that means that they will increase in value. Also each colour denotes a different attributes. Dark green is family harmony and happiness, light green is health, yellow is wealth, dark green is business success & pink is love . Also white is not appropriate to men. These pieces on display are sold at ‘cost price’to encourage foreigners to buy them. One big piece which was a 4 fold screen was worth apparently $US30 000 but would be sold for $US5 000 including shipping and packing in order to continue the foreign investment in Jade. Now we obviously did not buy that piece but we did buy a smaller dark green jade junk. It is interesting to note that when you buy those sorts of items you must buy from the government stores and make sure you get the Certificate of Authenticity. All money raised in these Friendship Shops/museums is directly used to fund the local schools. One comment made was that the government by far prefers to use the foreign money to fund education in China. We also got a pair of ruby earrings for Beth and a couple of smaller amulet/charms. Because we had purchased in the showroom we were allocated our own salesperson Joey who tried very hard to continue our shopping with us. Alas! I think we disappointed her because we did not make any other big purchases.

Then it was off to drop half of the group off at the Cultural Centre. Derek made the point that it was probably a good thing we didn’t take the girls because of the weather (being extremely hot) and would be very long. We did hear that the choices on the menu there included Cat and Dog. After they were dropped off we headed for LoWu Commercial City. 5 levels and over 1000 shops! I think we have only managed about 500! We did check out the bargains and bought a few goodies. But I think Mark and Charlotte and Beth will tell you a little more after.

The whole “Missy missy” thing does become a little overwhelming from time to time (could be something to do with the 20 people each calling out to you at once!) Beth did get upset at one point with the touching of hair and there was one in particular who dogged us and yelled out to us to buy something from him! Beth did not handle that part very well.

At 10pm last night just before we came home we saw a most disturbing sight - 2 women having a cat fight in the middle of the shopping centre over the bottles in the rubbish bin next to the lift where our group was congregating. Both the girls were frightened because they **REALLY** got into it only a metre or so from where we were. The guide moved us round to the other side of the lifts but unfortunately they (the women) then rounded the other side of the lifts. The worst part of this is that this is how these people make their livelihood scavenging the bins for bottles so that they can then sell them and keep the money they make. It is a life and death struggle in effect. Finally at about 10.15pm we had both guides and almost everyone - one gentleman had gone missing - and Derek was starting to stress out severely because as he said the visa was good for one day only and a missing person affected all of us because it was a group visa. In the end the man was located at Customs! His wife and the other guide were phoned and they came running down. We literally only just made the very last train! We made it back to the hotel at about midnight in the end.

Some interesting facts:

It is cheaper for Hong Kong residents to purchase property in Shekhou to live in $HKD500 000 for 100msq as opposed to not quite a toilet area for the same price in Hong Kong.

Fiona was working out her period of being indentured by the Government for 2 ½ years because they funded her college education. She is from a poor Shenzhen family and completed a degree in Business Tourism with a specialty in English.

Fiona earns approx $HK1 000 per month and out of that comes her payment (equivalent to our Hecs) this is considered quite a high rate of pay for China.

Along the highway to Lo Wu you can see the electrified fence with the guard towers which are manned, stopping people from making their way to Hong Kong from China. It was pointed out that there are “No Excuses” accepted for crossing over the fence.

Even here though there were beggars who “borrow” babies to assist in making you feel sorry for them. We were informed if we come back 3 months latter the same beggar would have a different baby - seems there is more success with keeping the pretend infant small. Thankfully we only saw one like that and some beggar children.

Marks Input

At the BBC restaurant in LoWu City, the steak sandwich with chips - as it was described on the menu - was certainly the highlight of the day. Potato chips out of a packet, thins yet not even crinkle cut  It was the funniest thing that I had seen yet and there have been some very imaginative attempts at western culture and eating habits. KFC was repeatedly referred to as something other than chicken, and given our one experience with it we could well understand the comments. This aside we met a number of lovely people in China and pretty much saw the “happy” face due to Shenzen being so prosperous though we were pleased that we done this trip with a guide and as one day. It was certainly a good opportunity to have a look and give better preparation for any future trips.

Charlotte’s Input

I bought two packets of Yu-gi-oh cards after going to three shops and looking at them. I got both packets for $50 HKD or $10 AUD. They are the new release sets are 1st Edition sets. I Also looked at a lot of things like a Spiderman bag with I loved but did’t get.

Elizabeth’s Input

I was very happy with my purchase of a Hello Kitty watch for which I paid $15 HKD or $3 AUD. It is blue with a big square face with Hello Kitty on the face and band. Miss Kitty has a bow.

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Photos

Mangroves! Mangroves! Mangroves!
Here are the mangroves that the Chinese are so proud of. It is funny to note that Mark considered this very amusing way to pass the time on this tour.

"The Pitts"in China
Here we are in front of the statue in Shekhou showing Eva with the snake body.

Lychee trees in the mangrove park
Just like in FNQ the lychee trees did not bear to well this year. We were reliably informed that the lychees that we buy from China come from the Shenzhen area in Southern China

Ah! Those Chinese Bins!
See, whenever we go on holiday and Mark has the camera he takes photos of bins, grates and road signs. And as you can tell he has struck again. These were found in the Mangrove Park.