I normally love my overseas buying trips and look forward to them with great excitement. The same was for this trip until I landed in the horrid place. My trip started off very well. I was recently upgraded on Emirates Skywards plan to a Silver membership which meant that I was allowed an extra 12kg baggage allowance aswell as being able to board first with the Business and First Class passengers and having access to the Business Class lounge in Dubai airport. This made travelling MUCH easier and I enjoyed putting my feet up and catching a few more zzzs when I arrived in Dubai.
I seemed to have one unfortunate event after the other once I landed in China. Firstly I was stuck at the airport with no money and no way to get to my hotel. I hate travelling with cash on me so normally when I arrive in a new country, I draw money and off I go. Unfortunately things arent that easy in China. There was no ATM in anywhere in sight, I landed at 11pm so the banks inside the aiport were closed and worst of all NO-ONE speaks English so when I was asking them where the nearest ATM is, they stared at my blankly. After travelling 23hrs to get there, my patience was starting to run thin and all I wanted was a hot showered and my bed. Anyway I managed to find a taxi company that I could pay by card and luckily I had printed off my hotel details so I could show the taxi driver in Chinese and off we went.
I arrived at my hotel 30 minutes and was pleasantly surprised. The hotel was lovely and my room was very comfortable, modern and clean. I was starving and had heard very bad stories about the food in China so went for the safest option and ordered a cheese burger and chips. It wasnt that bad but for all I know I could have been eating a donkey patty and it would have tasted good as I was so tired.
I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and how green China was. It really was a beautiful city I was in and not the old, dirty city I was expecting. The roads are all immaculate and are all lined with beautiful big, green trees. A nice change from the concrete jungles im used too.
The next 2 days shopping went ok and I managed to find what I was looking for but not without having to really search. The chinese do not negotiate as much as Thai people do so that was difficult and it was also lugging my shopping around. I got wise to this on day 2 and found a lovely old man to walk around shopping with me, carrying all my goods. Vital find!
I then decided to take a trip down to Shenzhen which is 1.5hr train trip away. I spent 20 minutes trying to explain to the taxi driver where I wanted to go, the train station was then 30 minute drive away. After waiting in the ticketing queue for 15 mins the lady behind the counter asked me for my passport, I explained that I didnt want to leave the country, merely travel down to Shenzhen she rudely told me 'no passport, no ticket' and motioned for me to step aside. I asked around trying to find a local to buy me a train ticket to no avail as they couldnt understand what I was saying. I then had to catch a taxi 30 mins back to the hotel, collect my passport, spend 20 minutes explaining to the taxi driver to take me back to the train station and another 30 min journey back. I was furious to say the least.
The language barrier is a HUGE problem in China, especially the region I went to as its a very old city so its still very traditional in many ways and therefore no-one can speak English. Unless you show your taxi driver in Chinese were you want to go, you will spend an hour explaining and wont move an inch. I attempted to ask the staff at my hotel to assist me but this too proved difficult as they couldnt speak English very well either.
The food in China is not great by any means. Because its quite an old city they dont have many western restaurants besides Mc Donalds and Pizza Hut which I ate at for 10 out of the 12 meals whilst I was there. I was so sick of fast food by the time I left, I vowed never to eat Mc Ds for the next 3 months minimum. Funny how I found myself at the golden arches 3 days after arriving home but more on that later.
My best part of China were the children. That nation produces the cutest kids I have ever seen. I could have come home a mother of 10 if the parents had consented to me stealing there gorgeous kids its just a pity they dont grow up so attractive ha ha
Another thing I liked about China was the cheap massages although they werent as easy to come by as in Thailand.
Some strange things I saw:
All in all it was a success business trip but definitely not my most favourite place in the world and I most certainly wont be rushing back!
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