china

This essay started as a short summary of my recent trips to China but I kept on typing...now its more of a travelogue...

¤ Shenzen, South China - Sight Seeing

May 26, 2004

My first trip to China! Shenzen is a Special Economic Region of South China (like Hong Kong) and it lines the area between the Hong Kong border and South China proper.

This trip was just a one-day excursion to investigate the famous shopping and restaurants. The trick is to get a one-day day permit to cross the border then get back before you miss the curfew. I imagine the thought of being stranded in South China certainly makes most travelers remember their departure times.

The journey starts with a train ride from where I live on Lantau Island, Tung Chung to Tsing Yi. From there I transfer to another train to Prince Edward and from there to Hon Hum. The trains from there go to the Chinese border and are all very modern and air conditioned. The logistics of this are something I would never bother with in NZ but here, it just seems normal. The worst part is waiting in umpteen queues but after the organized chaos of Hong Kong I’m used to ridiculous bureaucracy so just try to chill out and relax while waiting.

We get through the pointless queues of the border crossing and I find an ATM machine to get some Chinese Yuan which has a value close to 1:1 with the HK dollar. I would later find out that most of the vendors near the border prefer HK dollars!

One of the first malls across the border is a massive multi-storey complex that allows shopaholics to quickly nip across the border, grab a bunch of bargains and get back again without the need for a taxi… all within walking distance.

It was still quite early when we first got there so we wandered down the road to the only place that was open this early… MacDonalds. Not having Macs for about six months, the receptors in my brain that produce serotonin at the smell of grease were working overtime. We just order coffee and wondered if we were going to be stared at all day like this. Then, who should walk in to the place?

Yes, you guessed it Ronald MacDonald. I kid you not. Now, did you know that Ronald is an asian dude, who raps in Mandarin and has a pretty mean high-five…for a short guy. That was definitely a Kodak moment however, in an effort to subconsciously protect my integrity, I forgot to actually take a photo during the whole bizarre scene.

The day was off to a crazy start and I was beginning to wonder what was going to happen next. It was time to check out the malls and I was particularly interested in the super cheap golf clubs that were purported to be, well, super cheap.

As it turned out they were better than expected and to cut a very long haggling session and the comparison or five different shops all with the exact same golf clubs, we settled a deal that saw all three of us come away with a new set of clubs.

Should the sight of three white fellas all trundling identical golf bags through customs have alerted the authorities?…nah, happens every day in South China, I'm sure.

¤ Beijing, Capital City - Work Trip

June 28 2004

I had to get to the airport at 6:00am to pick up my plane tickets after a Saturday ticket debacle of Hong Kong proportions. I eventually checked in and had an hour to kill so it was coffee time.

A group of people sat near me as I was cappuccino-ing and bagel-ing waiting for my flight…they were joking about the smoking facilities…I laughed and the older of the group said “you must be a lawyer or an accountant”…I laughed again and smiled, thinking that was close, once, I just replied “Computers”…my standard response - this seems to keep most people happy since they usually respond with a glazed look in their eyes…

Youbert introduced himself and his son George and his asian wife…Youbert declared that they were Aussies but with their accents I got the impression that they hailed from somewhere else.

After pointing out the smoking room to them and noting that it was not actually necessary to light-up in the smoking room since passive smoking in that environment is equivalent to forty-a-day, Youbert laughed about the irony (and I laughed about the irony of the irony) then he started telling me about why he was in Hong Kong and why he preferred Shenzen to AU and how he was taken from Iraq as a group of young Christians who were persecuted by the locals so the British took them to Bahrain and later AU…many years later he was invited to tell the secret service (Israel mosef whatever…, CIA, MI5) about the buried bodies and o my god - why do I end up getting everyones life story…do I look that…that…that...I dunno.

Anyway, after my initial shock at his barrage we got to talking and he struck me as a really genuine person with a massive chip on his shoulder…both he and his son have asian wives but were very passionate about their Persian descent. If you "believe" in coincidence - we were talking in the airport at the same time as handover of sovereignty was returned to the citizens of Iraq.

China Air flight 108 went to plan and I am fascinated with the camera in the nose of the plane that is on the inflight TV during take off and landing…a brilliant idea! Today, it made me feel sick, still cool though.

We dipped out of the “clouds” (the thickest smog I've seen) and 3-bam landed at Beijing airport. I was booked at the Sheraton Great Wall Hotel but, true to form, it is actually nowhere near the Great Wall…in fact, its about 70kms away! From my room I can see 16 lanes of traffic…and all busy. Most of the cars are Volkwagen Golf clones and many are european makes like BMW and Mercedes but all are made in China.

The meeting at IBM was a bit of a disaster but we continued on, having learned a few lessons about working in China. The meal out with IBMers was canned so I rang Henry to see if he was up for a beer.

The Hard Rock Beijing just happened to be around the corner from the Hotel, so a couple of Beijing Draughts and a live band were the order of the day. We were outnumbered three-to-one but i was struggling to work out if the women there were “professionals”...anyway, it had been a long day and Henry and I wandered back to the hotel before midnight, knackered.

29 June 2004

Woke up early…had a shocking nights sleep…don’t know why…must have breakfast…mission: locate and destroy blatently expensive hotel breakfast food: I had 15 minutes to complete the mission before catching a taxi to the office - starting…now.

After breakfast I was back to normal and wondering why I had to pay the ten times the price of yesterdays lunch for todays breakfast. I found out later... yesterdays cheap lunch was todays diahorrea. You gotta love travelling on a weak stomach. Every strange land has its matching strange bowel movements, sorry about that.

Another day at work was spent trying to define an appropriate set of services for the customer and this has taught me a lot about dealing with both the Chinese and Western systems here as well as IBM China which operates a little differently than other IBM countries. I was warned about the need for patience and courtesy…those of you that know me will be sniggering about now…

...had the usual fun, hailing a taxi but directions were easy now that I had the hotel name and address written in Chinese. Knowing the correct fare helped as well!

Got back to the hotel around seven thirty that night so I called Henry who met me at my hotel. He has been to Beijing twice before so we headed to the street markets. Wandering through the streets, smelling the smells, seeing the sights but not tasting the food - was great! Looking at the deep-fried scorpions, dog-meat kebabs and grasshopper-on-a-stick was not giving me an appetite.

All the "food" was very cheap of course, as is most of the local food here. For comparison, lunch at a restaurant was 16 yuan (about $NZ3.20) for Beef with Japanese noodles and I couldn’t eat it all, it was massive, but Starbucks is $20 for a coffee, more than lunch…so it is relatively expensive here…but still half the price of a coffee in Hong Kong :)

Anyway, Henry heard about this “bar” that had a stage show and I thought, why not, we’ll just go in for one beer and see what its like…heh heh, always just the one beer eh?!

We were greeted at the door by the “hostesses” and had to pay a cover charge. Upon entering, we were then set upon by a swarm of bar hops who own the table you sit down at…whatever you do don’t pour your own drink…your taking his job away!

Then the hostess/mama san/madam (what ever you call them in this town) would offer you a choice of girls but since she was a little better looking than say, your average super model, it was a nice distraction to say no, “me just drinking, me just drinking!” Typically, Henry asked what the price was…about 300 yuan to have a supermodel for the evening – different world here.

Cover charge and a bizarre combination of stage acts – where else would you see a parade of “models”, a violinist doing rock and roll, pop and classical music and a couple of Chinese comedians.

First up were the “models”, must have a hundred girls all dressed in various skimpy outfits reminiscent of a Las Vegas stage show with feathers and large silly hats and dancing…then the violinist with the electric violin…absolutely amazing what he could do with it but…but why in a girly bar?

Next up was a couple of comedians which was very funny in Mandarin…ok, I was a few beers short of sensible at this stage.

June 30, 2004

Well still tired, no surprise given last night but today is customer presentation day so I gotta get goin’

The drive out to see the customer wads interesting as we drove past Tiananmen Square and the Winter Palace on our way out to the technology park were the customer has their premises.

I presented in English and the translation to Mandarin was done by my Cantonese speaking collegue…don’t ask…suffice to say the customer loved the solution and wants to see a demo so the meeting ended with tea in paper cups and lots and smiles and handshakes.

Another hour in a taxi back to the hotel and check my mail before another night out.

Henry and I ended up going out to a pub attached to the Traders Hotel where Henry was staying and it was an American style bar believe it or not…very good except most American bars don’t have young women approaching you asking if you want to spend the evening with them…of course I graciously declined their professional advances…at least, I think they were working…

July 1, 2004

We decided to have a night-off so I spent the whole day working from the hotel on the broadband internet link provided…handy.

July 2, 2004

Since we “saved ourselves” last night we decided to lear up a bit and check out the big city once again. Henry had discovered this cool restaurant with very authentic Peking Duck and we ate there before checking out some night clubs.

July 3, 2004

Earlier in the week I had booked a trip to the Great Wall and today was the day. I joined a small group from the hotel and we set out on a whole day tour of outer-Beijing. The bus was complete with a Kiwi, a German, a Canadian, an American and the tour guide a local from Beijing although his English was very good so I suspect he was moonlighting from his day job.

He was full of interesting facts about the city but when we got talking about the wall and the borders with other countries he was a little evasive. No one here was willing to discuss even slightly controversial topics. This place is so full of massive contrasts, in one bar we were propositioned by some professional ladies while standing right next to a soldier from the Peoples Liberation Army (who seem to “guard” most of the bars in this town)…and yet people have a great fear of not conforming to Government opinion and all telephone and Internet links are filtered and monitored by the Government. So on the one hand, there is a lot of subversive elements and on the other hand a very dominant political fear.

July 4, 2004

Back home to Hong Kong…did I just say that? I mean, back to Hong Kong…kind of like my second home, for now anyway…that’s still sounds weird…

¤ Zhu Hoi, Pearl River Delta - Golf Trip

31 July 2004

There are many, many cities less than two hours ferry ride away from Hong Kong. The Guandong (Canton) area in particular is known to have over sixty golf courses – yes, sixty.

Like Hong Kong, though, they are usually frequented by billionaires and and zillionaires so consequently the price for a round of golf can be higher than what I paid for my golf clubs! With this in mind, Ray had done some research on the Internet and discovered a brand new course that was much cheaper. The cost of travel and a round of golf in china was half of one of the clubs here in Hong Kong and Ray played there as a test round to try it out. Once I found out how good the course was, I thought I'd better try it out for a laugh.

The ferry left central Hong Kong at 8:30am so I had to get going early. The weather looked like being another hot one but I didn't worry about sunblock since Hong Kong's "haze" usually prevents any sort of sun burn even for a whitey like me. The ferry is one of those "jet cats" but there are hydro-foils and all sorts of passenger ferries operating around the pearl river delta. The trip only takes 1 hour and 10 minutes and takes us right past Macau. If fact hu Hoi is literally just a stones throw from Macau and, apart from the hassle of customs, we were in China before 10:00am.

Exiting the terminal building we were set upon by a gaggle of taxi drivers harranging us to take their taxi and one guy who insisted he had a "brand new car" got our business. We tried to ask him to use the meter but he insisted we bargain for a deal 70 yuan...no forty...sixty yaun...fifty yuan, OK, sixty...turns out the meter would only have run to about 45 yuan, although the taxi ride took over half an hour so the price was right either way - about ten bucks!

The Stone Garden Golf Course is so new that when we got there, the clubhouse was still being built! It is set in an area known as the stone garden because of the strange shaped stones found in the area. Some of them balanced precariously above cliffs. Not being daunted by the lack of clubhouse is all part of the “fun” of China and once we got on the course all the stresses of actually getting there melted away.

The cost of a round gets you a return ferry ticket as well as a golf caddy but since there was no clubhouse we only had snack food we found at the ferry terminal and some slightly cold Gatorade. Playing in the 35C temperatures was not too bad until I realized I was slowly turning pink! The air is so much clearer than Hong Kong and I got a little roasted.

As you might gather, I’m not used to playing with a caddy. I'm even less used to playing with a cute young lady caddy - pleasantly distracting but not the best for a low score. (snigger). I’ll avoid the obvious golf puns... Ray and I had great difficulty trying to ignore the water that surrounds almost every hole…not having to carry the clubs and getting advice on the draw of the greens, was a great help though.

While I was wishing that the caddy spoke better English I could not completely ignore the water. Since the whole place is built on a kind a marsh next to a river, the course resembles the land next to a jet-sprint boat course. On three different holes there are two separate fairways to choose from…one that is wide and safe but very long and another that goes directly to the green but is fraught with water and sand hazards. I'm not kidding when I say that this course would not look out of place in the 2004 Extreme Golf Holes of the World Annual.

On several holes I flubbed a tee shot into the water and had a closer look to see if the ball was near the edge. When I put the club into the water at least twenty little crabs would come out of the silt and madly swim away - for some reason, quite humourous looking. Many of the water hazards were teaming with fish and crabs…not what I expected.

The rest of the round went quite well - when I ignored the water - although I can't remember the last time I lost six balls in one round. The best shot of the day was a fantastic drive over 200 metres onto the narrow fairway that is only fifteen feet wide. When we walked up noone could find the ball and it must have rolled into the water - your typical golf/fishing story I guess. The score was over 100 but I made a couple of pars so there is definitely another reason to go back to China.

Rich