Last week I got the opportunity to take a business trip to China. Here's a brief run-down:
Saturday midnight-
Flew out from Perth on Cathay Pacific business class to Hong Kong. Business class is awesome and I am now spoilt to travel any other way. I managed to sleep for about 6 of the 8 hour flight. The other two hours I drank wine and had some decent food, for an airline. Prior to departure I went to the Cathay Pacific Business Class lounge where I had a snack, a beer and read the newspaper. I am officially an entitled traveller now!
Sunday morning-
Arrived in Hong Kong. 1 hour stop-over and then off to Shanghai, again on business class. Domestic business class isn't up to internation BC standards but it still beats hanging out with the peasants in the back.
Later Sunday morning-
Arrived in Shanghai. We were met by a driver who took us to our hotel about an hour away from the airport. We were driven in an Audi town car. My level of entitlement continues to rise. Me and my colleague arrived at the hotel, checked in, unpacked a little, changed and got a taxi for downtown Shanghai to an area called "the Bund". Neither of us knew much about it other than it's a famous place in Shanghai. Almost as soon as we arrived we were greeted by three mid-20's Chinese people that asked me to take their picture in front of a historic building. As I finished we struck up a conversation and they offered to show us around the area. As it turns out they were actually Chinese tourists from Inner Mongolia on vacation, and they had only arrived two days prior but had spent the entire time in the Bund area. They wanted to practice their English on us and as a result they didn't shut up for 7 hours. I didn't mind but it was exhausting. They ended up taking us to old-downtown Shanghai (think traditional Chinatown but really traditional and really big) for a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. While there we bought some very nice Jasmine tea that I brought home. After tea we strolled around downtown Shanghai for a couple of hours. Then they took us to a real Chinese "hotpot" restaurant and luckily ordered everything for us. We passed on the chicken feet. They insisted on paying for the dinner. Considering that these people are young, make next to no money, spent almost everything they had to come to Shanghai and we are travelling with other peoples money, it was incredibly generous. Later we got to see downtown Shanghai at night where all of the buildings are lit up like Christmas trees. Very cool. They then got us a taxi, explained to the driver where we were going and said goodbye. They were very nice and at no point did I feel in any sort of danger, even when we were asked by a local girl to pose for a picture with a caucasian couple and the lady told me that they'd been robbed in Shanghai every day they were there.
Monday morning-
Got picked up in the same car and went to work for the day.
Monday night-
Flew from Shanghai to Zhongshou in southern China. Oddly enough, we were picked up by the same car again. If you haven't heard of Zhongshou that's because it's just a small city in China...of 6 freaking million people! That actually counts for 'small' in China. Shanghai is well over 20 million and that's just the people they know about. It took us about an hour and a half of driving through slums and Soviet-style 'projects' architecture that seemed to go on forever. Then we arrived to downtown Zhongshou. Our hotel was along a river in an area that used to be used as a shipyard. Now it's a tourist destination and I can see why. The entire riverfront, including trees, buildings and bridges were covered with different lights. It was an amazing spectacle. Even though it was nighttime it was very hot and very humid. It didn't get any better during the day either. We walked along the river for about an hour, got back to the hotel, had a drink and called it a night.
Tuesday morning-
Picked up by the same car again. This time we were driven in a different direction and we were soon out of the slums and into a pseudo-rural area. It was not wild by any stretch nor was it developed. Mostly it was full of fish and tree nursuries. We drove for about 30 minutes and then arrived at the river where, along with about 10 other cars, we drove onto a ferry that looked like it should only hold about 5 cars in total. The supplier we were visiting is actually located on an enormous island and presently the only way to get there is by ferry. As a result, many of the workers live on the island.
Tuesday evening-
Same car drove us to a ferry terminal in nearby Guangzhou. Guangzhou is another small city in China with a population of about 4 million. The ferry was not a vehicle ferry but rather a passenger ferry. It took 70 minutes to go from the ferry terminal directly to the Hong Kong international terminal. Once in the terminal we had to take the airport subway to our departing terminal. It took a couple of different trains until we arrived. When we did we went to the Cathy Pacific business class lounge, had a drink and bite to eat before boarding the plane at about 11pm. Yet again, Cathy Pacific business class is awesome and, if you have the means, I would highly recommend it.
Wednesday morning-
Arrived in Perth at about 5:30am. Fortunately, despite going to 5 cities in 3 days we never left our time zone so it wasn't too painful. Got a cab home. Had a shower, saw the kids off to school and went to work.
General observations:
-I found the Chinese people, in general, to be very nice.
-I prefer Chinese food made in places outside of China.
-This was certainly the most 'exotic' business trip I've ever been on.
-I can't wait to go back to China and also to other places in Asia. As it turns out most people in the world either speak English fairly well (except in Newfoundland) or they want to learn to speak English (except in East Montreal). It sure gives mono-lingual people like me an advantage in trying to see the world.
-I thought it was hot in Perth. It's nothing compared to south China in the summer. Hot and humid!
-There is so much poverty in the world I almost feel guilty having the lifestyle I do...almost. People in the West, including me, take so much for granted. If nothing else, travelling to places like China does the soul good in that it's grounding, even with all of the luxuries thrown our way on this trip.
-People in Texas like to say that "everything is bigger in Texas". I've been to Texas many times and I can unequivocally state that everything really is bigger in China. Sorry Texas.
-It was kinda neat to be a visible minority for a brief amount of time. There was a lot of people staring at me and asking for a picture with/of me. I could see how it could become irritating in very short order though.
-The world is awesome.
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