Exploring China, part II. Hong Kong

The post-holiday blues. When I returned to Nanyang from my Spring vacation I went through what everyone does when returning to work: utter resistance and nonchalance to return to the boring "9 to 5" routine.
This time it was a bit worse than usual as I felt I returned to work for nothing: as the children were still on their holiday break, us teachers had meetings...endless, day-long meetings... Exclusively in Mandarin Chinese.

As I sat in the conference room listening to different head teachers, managers and our school owner giving speeches I was a bit upset: is THIS why I came back from my holiday?? It could not have been more pointless, me sitting there doing nothing, not understanding anything, not participating. Oh, expect for one occasion when ALL the teachers suddenly turned their smiling faces at me and applauded me... My face must have been a sight: my usual smile froze a bit as I had no idea what was happening. I turned to my colleague, who spoke English and who translated to me that the speaker had appraised me for my willingness to join this meeting even if I can't understand a word, and how she noted that my smile and poise was an example to everyone in the room as I was sitting there joining my fellow teachers. I nearly laughed out loud! If they only knew what was going on in my head... But I regained my usual sunny smile, stood up and took a bow. The crowd was wild. That was an absurd moment in my long list of absurd moments that have happened to me in China.

So the absolute reluctance to end my holiday and come back to work was definitely made worse by the four days of meetings and general pointlessness. Luckily, then it happened: I had a message from my recruitment agency that I am to fly to Hong Kong for 4 days to get my work visa! I was so happy to escape the boring reality and happily packed my bags.

Kowloon Park in Hong Kong had everything, even Kung Fu corner!

It was bound to be a little adventure, as from my city there are no direct flights to Hong Kong, so I had to fly to a biggish city called Zheng Zhou first, spend a night at a hotel and fly to Hong Kong the following morning. Sounds easy on paper. But the reality of it was that traveling alone this time, with my VERY limited Chinese, I felt awkward and trapped. I landed at Zheng Zhou and confidently walked to a taxi stand. I had learned the Chinese word for "receipt" as I knew the company would reimburse me the costs if I gave them receipts from the expenses. As I walk to the taxi stand, I have a flock of taxi drivers surrounding me, asking me in Chinese for the address. Miraculously, after I told them I want a receipt, they all looked at each other and waived me off! ...Excuse me! I walked to the next taxi parked in the taxi stand and showed the driver the address. Also mentioning that I need "Shou Ju", a receipt. So he got out of his car and after a long conversation with all the other taxi drivers, they motioned me to wait. Finally a cab comes along and tells me to get in. I show him the address and off we go. It was less than a 5 minute journey and I got charged 50 RMB. As a comparison, a taxi ride from the city centre to my apartment takes 10 minutes and costs me 8 RMB. So I knew I was getting ripped off. I told him I want a receipt and he nodded. He helped me get my luggage to the hotel and I paid him, after which he gave me a "receipt" of which I have seen before in China but which I know not many companies accept as official receipts.

So I was happy I made it to the hotel even if I got ripped off. Little did I know my next challenge was awaiting... The hotel, as my entire trip with flights and all, was booked by my recruitment agency, which had paid for everything. They told me I don't need to pay, so just check-in and I'm all set. Well, the lady at the reception spoke no English. Not a word. I showed her my booking ID and she clickedy clicked away with her PC. Then she told me she wanted money. I refused and her face turned sour. So I gave my recruitment guys a ring and they spoke with the lady. Apparently this hotel did not have a permission to have foreign guests. This was not unusual, as I know in China the government takes a higher fee from hotels which desire to have foreign guests. And as per usual, the rules can be bent. So the lady was willing to take me in, but she told us that I need to pay. So I did. It was not that I was being ripped off again at least, since I knew I would be reimbursed. But the difficulty of the process was so exhausting... I must've spent 20 minutes at the reception trying to figure the situation out with my poor Chinese at first and then calling the agency! Phew. I was absolutely knackered - and to be honest, down in the dumps when I finally carried my massive luggage to the elevator-less 3rd floor with no help from the staff gawking at me... And only to find out that my room had sheets of questionable cleanliness, my toilet was not flushing, the shower head was broken and the tea kettle was filthy. I don't get upset easily about hick ups that happen during travels, but all of a sudden I felt so handicapped and out of place. "Why am I in China", I felt like asking myself. I don't speak the language enough, the cultural differences are humongous, I feel so alien here. I can't stand always being the odd one everywhere I go, being stared at and pointed at. I guess these feelings had brewed at the back of my head for quite some time. It was time to process my thoughts.

China is a place you love and hate for the same reasons. The absurd, different culture, the food, the crazy traffic, the fact that I'm always the odd one around... Mostly I find myself loving China for these reasons, but then the next day I hate it for the exact same things. It's a strange sensation, I can tell you.

As I managed to get a grip of myself, I made my way outside and found food and drinkable water, which did make me feel a tad better. I was happy to catch the early flight the next morning to Hong Kong: I couldn't wait to leave that dingy hotel. So happily I woke up at 5am after a good sleep and by 6am I was at the airport. I felt that rush of happiness in me again: I was going to Hong Kong, the magical city which was apparently so Westernized that a white girl would blend right in. Happily I discovered this to be the case to a T!

Stepping outside the Hong Kong international airport was like a breath of fresh air: palm trees, modern buildings, clean streets and people who all spoke English! After my previous day's experience I felt like I died and arrived in Heaven. (Yeah sounds dramatic, but I kid you not!) Sitting in a legitimate taxi, I was smiling like a village idiot all the way from the airport to my hotel. Checking in I was greeted by two lovely Chinese men who spoke fluent English and showed me to my room, which was not only clean and modern, but beautiful. I must've  given the biggest sigh of relief and happiness.

Kowloon Waterfront, Hong Kong

A stunning tree in a street corner, Hong Kong

From the moment I landed in Hong Kong 'til the minute I left, I had a great time. Hong Kong is a great fusion of the Chinese and Western cultures: modern and clean, yet it has the narrow streets with that Chinese air in them that I like. Majority of the Chinese people speak English and there are plenty of Westerners working in the city so the city is a big melting pot, in the very best sense. As a food lover I really care about the diversity and quality of food no matter where I am: as I genuinely love Chinese food, after 3 months of eating solely only that, I decided not to have any Chinese food while in Hong Kong. My taste buds loved me for it! I had Japanese, Italian, Turkish and the "real" McDonalds food. I normally eat at "Macca's" twice a year and this time I enjoyed the burgers more than ever! If you've been to any McDonald's (or any other fast food chain) outside Western countries, you would've discovered that they have very different menus. In mainland China the menu is mostly rice and strange looking chicken. I have passed on the experience. So to have a "real" BigMac in my hands...phenomenal. Go ahead and judge me if you will!

What I loved about Hong Kong was that it's China but it isn't. Hong Kong is officially part of China, but they have their own government, their own flag and their own currency. So people of Hong Kong don't see themselves as Chinese people as they do think of themselves as "Hong Kongers". If you ask a mainlander in China though, they will fiercely tell you that Hong Kong IS China. It's a touchy subject which I advice to stay away from, to be honest.

Hong Kong Island

Hong Kong Island

After a few days in Hong Kong I had thoroughly enjoyed not only the food and the people, but the public transportation which worked efficiently (vs. the bus in my city which runs only during office hours), the lush green parts of the city (the parks were gorgeous) and the fact that I could see the ocean. During my travels I have discovered my love for the oceans and whenever I live inland, I terribly miss to hear the lapping of the waves, to see the sun glimmer on the surface of the water or simply walk to a waterfront to smell the air. In Hong Kong my favourite place was Kowloon waterfront, where I could at the same time prance around the promenade, see the city profile and see/smell the ocean.

With my approved work visa in my hand I had to head back to "reality". But this time I felt so invigorated and completely relaxed by the Western atmosphere that I did not mind. I was smiling when I returned to work :)

Kowloon Park

Kowloon Park's flamingoes

I am typing this a few weeks after my trip but I still smile when I look back to my little holiday. It was the perfect get-away, and has given me so much energy. And I am seriously thinking of gaining employment in Hong Kong after my contract here comes to an end. Then again: would it be too easy? Where's the challenge? I guess I have the rest of the year to answer that question :)

Until the next time!

Zàijiàn!

The Traveling Finn

Exploring China, part I

As the Chinese New Year festivities at the work place came to an end it was time to start the Spring Festival holiday: and my first long school holiday here in China. I was excited as I was lucky enough to go traveling to some of the biggest cities in China with a good friend of mine! As she is Chinese this meant that I would have no real language barriers during my trip and also I wouldn't get screwed over with prices.

So off we went! Our itinerary was Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou for 11 days.

Part of the Lama Temple in Beijing

I usually travel solo, so I admit I was wary about how our trip together would pan out. Also as a married woman with a child, she has no travel experience and so she didn't have in that sense much useful hands-on knowledge. But as she is a lovely person I had a feeling we would have a good journey together. And for the most part everything went very smoothly!

What I discovered when traveling with my Chinese friend was that it indeed paid off to have a local with me! Even though Beijing is a massive city and heaps of tourists flock around the city, some places still speak virtually no English. Not many, but some. Also I experienced that when I asked for prices they sometimes seemed ridiculously high: so when I made my Chinese friend enquire about the same product or service, they were surprisingly almost half price.. I didn't mind since I could use this trick, but what if I would've been by myself? It seems inevitable that majority of tourists get ripped off regularly during their travels in China. Then again having traveled quite extensively in SE Asia a couple years back, this didn't really come as a surprise to me.

Forbidden City's park, Beijing

As we were touring around Beijing it seemed like any tourist would do themselves good to spend a few days in Beijing when visiting China: so many of the attractions lie within city limits! And the most famous of them all, the Great Wall, is only a couple hours drive from central Beijing. As for me, I dipped myself in the usual attractions: the Lama Temple, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, hutongs (ancient little streets), Summer Palace, Jingshan Park.. There is so much in Beijing it's almost overwhelming! Five days seemed too little a time to explore everything I wanted. Also I was told by locals that the attraction I most wanted to visit, the Great Wall, would be a very grim and disappointing place to visit during February. I took their word for it and left the Great Wall to be explored til the next time.

Shenzhen seashore conservation area

The thing that struck me hard when traveling in China was how ridiculously expensive traveling is for the Chinese people. Fair enough, I get paid a lot more than average Chinese teachers, but even for my budget the flights and the odd hotel night were a surprise. My friend and I booked our flights well before the holidays so we got a fairly decent price: I paid for my flights 1400 RMB which was not expensive I was told. If you compare that to an average wage a teacher in my city gets, around 2000 RMB a month, then you have an idea how expensive these flights were. And then you add a hotel night, which is a minimum of 250 RMB per night in the bigger cities.
I got lucky once again as my friend whome I traveled with had extensive family in all the cities we decided to travel to: this meant that majority of the nights during our trip we spent at her relatives homes. This to me was ideal - not only  because this way we saved a lot of RMBs but also because I truly believe that staying with a local means you get extra value for your trip: locals have a lot of knowledge that majority of travel guides have never even thought of. As a bonus, people who usually open their homes for you are lovely and kind so it gives you that extra something to make the journey even more memorable :) And I was lucky as my friend's relatives were good, warm-hearted, hospitable people who made me feel right at home in their houses.

One more temple... Guangzhou

When traveling these three different cities in China, one in the very north of China and the other two down at south, it was surprising to see how much variety there is in everything: the climate and weather, the local dialects, the different food, even architecture. I talked to my Chinese friend about this and she told me that every city in China is indeed different from each other. As it is a massive country I now realise how it makes sense that things vary in different parts. My friend told me that Chinese people even look different depending on which part of China they originate from - unfortunately my eye is not trained enough yet to see these differences in looks. But my ear did pick up the different dialects they spoke in different cities, so I gave myself a pat on the back for that.

Guangzhou city lights

During my holiday I saw dozens of temples, tasted innumerable amount of different local dishes, admired the ancient architecture, experienced both nordic weather as tropical heat, mountains and palm trees, spent time with the locals and inevitably was left with a thirst for more! Coming back to Nanyang, a little city of 10 million people (now I understand why they call it small!), felt so unaspiring. Even if my holiday had some issues - for instance my Chinese friend started to get all panicky about the amount of money she had spent on the trip and insisted on spending next to nothing for the last remaining days of the trip, and then I had a heat stroke which forced me to stay in bed for two days - I still had a great time! I felt like the doors of China had just been opened for me, enabling me to have a sneak peak, and now I wanted to see more!
In saying that I was lucky once again that my visa run to Hong Kong was just around the corner, waiting for my return to Nanyang :) Nonetheless returning back to work was a bit painful - as it always is after a holiday! Some things just are universal :)

My little trip to Hong Kong the following week was quite an eye opener and a different sort of adventure altogether - I promise to tell you all about it very soon. :)

Zàijiàn!

Shenzhen airport was pretty :)