The Guangzhou Revisit

On November 13, 2008, I went on my second trip to Guangzhou. I was picked by the driver at about 5.30 a.m. in the morning. Ron was in the Toyota Innova. We then proceed to pick up Khoo and then Jack. We reached KLIA at about 8.00 a.m. and the flight was scheduled at 11.00 a.m. and subsequently retimed at 11.30 a.m. We checked in our lugguage, got our boarding pass and then went for our breakfast with Khoo. About an hour before departure, we were allowed into the departure hall to wait for our MAS flight to Macau.

The flight to Macau took about 3 hours and 45 minutes. After disembarking from the airline and going through the long immigration check out, we were greeted by Chew who brought along two motor vehicles to take us to the ferry terminal to cross over to Zhuhai. It was another round of Immigration check-out and in again as Zhuhai is part of China.

After crossing to Zhuhai, two motor vehicles from the factory took us to the hotel. A normal 31/2 hours journey turned out to be a long long journey as the road leading to the Pearl River bridge was jammed with motor vehicles. We finally reached the hotel after travelling for over 6 hours. It was about 9.30 p.m. when we reached the hotel. As we have not taken our dinner yet, we asked the management to extend the closing time by half an hour so that we can scrape whatever crumbs still available on the plates and containers.

As it was a tiring journey, we adjourned to our hotel rooms soon after for a warm shower and rest for the night.

The morning after, after a good breakfast, we went to the factory to have our meetings. Before the commencement of the meeting, we were taken on a guided tour of the factory premises to have a look on the set-up. Frankly, I was quite impressed with what I see compared with the last visit and were also informed that all available land has been utilised and should there be any expansion plans, additional land would have to be acquired.

The meeting lasted about one and a half hours and thereafter we adjourned to Huizhou to have our lunch. It was a 'high cholesterol' lunch with hairy crabs, prawns, sotong and others to make you sweat.After lunch, it was about 4.00p.m. and it was back to the hotel again.

Ron, Jack and myself then decided that we should take a stroll down the road to see whether we can get anything cheap or buy some souveniurs for our wives, girlfriends, children etc.

It was while doing window shopping that I found out how naive Ron was when doing bargaining.
Maybe, a kedekut person like me is always a better bargainer. We were looking for some nice jackets and costume jewellery to buy. Ron was interested in a jacket and asked me whether I wanted to buy one. I asked him how much and to my surprise, he said less 20% discount. WTF I think, he must be crazy to pay such a price in China! At a departmental store Ron was attracted to some nice costume jewellery and purchase some for less 20% discount. You know what. While we were walking back to the hotel at about 6.00p.m, we noticed some traders already putting their goods on the canvas sheets laid out on the road. I saw some of the stuff that Ron bought were on display. Gosh! the price was about 1/6 what my dear friend paid for it. He was smart enough to average down his cost by picking up additional pieces.

Our evening dinner was at the same place where we had our buffet crumbs the day before. All Malaysian staff who were seconded to the factory in China were invited for that occasion to be introduced to the directors. I thing those who attended were more interested in the food that anything else. That night we managed to have some decent food. I managed to find some very nice seafood but each time when it was replenish, it was quickly snapped up, their were quick to spot us after two rounds of replenishment, they replace with some other food.

After dinner, Ron and I went for a foot massage in the hotel. It was my first experience after hearing about so many stories. What a horrible experience for me and I got fleeced by that fucking idiot. If it was a nice SYT, it would not be so bad.

We check out the next morning from Huizhou and took a bus back to Macau. The travelling was equally bad compared when the time we came. It was another 6 hours back journey back to Macau and the double hassle of going out from Zhuhai and entering into Macau again.

We then checked into the President Hotel in Macau which is just beside the racing track. Some F3 or A3 races were being held during that time.

Later, some of us took a trip to Venetian. Many have heard a lot of the Venetian and how grand that place was. We were placed in Venetian and the bus driver told us that he would pick us up after 4 hours. My dear group of 'tourists' felt bored after just one and a half hours and asked to go back! For those who wanted to go to the Vemetian, if gambling is not your cup of tea, dont waste your bleady time there unless you are shopping for BRANDED GOODS.

After Venetian, we were taken to a Portugese dinner and this was my very first experience. To me, it looks more like another round of seafood dinner as we have prawns and crabs again. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and opposite it was the WYNN casino complex. Here for non-gamblers, you can witness the nice musical fountain or the fortune tree inside the complex.

The next morning was spent walking to shops around the hotel and had my first experience of 'milk tea'. No more milk tea for me please!

Before my flight back to KLIA, I bought some almond biscuits at the airport. It was pretty expensive though.

Looking forward to my next revisit.