I'll let the pictures do the talking =p
Hmm where do i start..
This trip for me had MANCHESTER UNITED printed all over my passport, tickets and luggage even before i left.
And so it won't probably be a suprise for many if this post only talks about my team, Manchester United :p But please bear for a while till my photos are uploaded.
Instead i felt that i grew a bit more after my recent trip to KL (not sideways if you are wondering :p). During the trip, i stayed @ my friend's house and i felt like i was treated like 1 of their own, 1 of their children, brothers and it's really the best treatment i could ever asked for from a host family. The truthfulness and generosity from their words and action really seeps into your heart...
But still, even though it had only been 2 short days in KL, after leaving friends (and their families) there behind, it made me feel a tinge of loneliness that made me wonder why should there be partings and separations in our life again... yes again... like a case of Deja Vu it made me remember that without these seperations, we probably won't cherish the time spent with each other as much.
I'm sure there will be more separations and meetings further down in the path of my life and i just hope i will treasure each and every one of them.
PS: Thanks Derrick & Lex!
Back to Guangzhou at last after a gruelling air flight marathon spanning 6 cities in 5 days. I wonder how those senior citizens can take this type of schedule when I'm already on the brink of giving up after the Beijing - Wuhan flight.
Since we are back here, It's time to do last minute shopping. Not that I have much time though since I only have a day and there is so much things to buy.
Okay to recap, these are the places (in random order) you want to go in Guangzhou for really cheap stuff.
步云天地 - For all kinds of shoes, men, women, children and etc
Roads between 步云天地 & 站西路 - Sells all sorts of sports related merchandise from jerseys and socks to collectibles and accessories.
站西路 - Replica watch & silver accessorieswholesale market
北京路 - A place to hang out, eat and a lot of Giordano-ish fashion outlets
白马广场 - For ladies fashion, level 1-2 only allows bulk shopping if i'm not wrong.
天河电脑城 - 5-6 SLS sized buildings lined up from 1 street to the end, go imagine. There is also a large generic shopping mall nearby - Tee Mall
Xiang Xia Jiu - I don't know the 汉字 for this place but taxi drivers should know. It's very similar to Bei Jing Lu but more catered to the teenagers market like Far East Plaza and old Heeren lvl 5. I did manage to take a picture of the place though.
TBC, need to rush off to catch my flight :p
Edit: Added some more locations
Not much things to note in this city which was named by taking the first 2 characters of the neighbouring cities - Wu Chang & Han Kou. We were here to visit a laser machinery company that could help us in our embroidery work. Turns out the machine was so good that we were really glad we made the trip. I hope this machine can aid us in this lousy financial year!
Some shots from Wuhan airport and the airplane that is about to bring us back to Guangzhou.
Finally, the capital of China - Beijing. Surprisingly, Beijing only started snowing 2 days back and the whole city is experiencing quite a drought.
Again, I totally could not recognize the place anymore as it has developed leaps and bounds over the 2.5 years since I last came. The place the factory in has been developed into a science park-ish location with the country's top research facility being built around this area. Next to the factory of our supplier is China's money counterfeiting prevention centre where they research new technology to keep counterfeiters away... but not like it helps much though with all the counterfeiting rage in Southern China.
We went to this city famous for its embroidery machines just 100KM+- of Yi Wu city by taxi to re-visit one of our old machine supplier to check out how far they have progressed so far for the new machine models.
Turns out this place has changed a lot since i last visited it in mid 2006. They even already have a 6 star hotel built here and it looks more like a city rather than a village now.
1 thing i really have to praise the Chinese is they build things really fast like on steroids. The highway was very nicely built and laid and the journey was really smooth. I really hope Indonesia can learn something from China....
It's even colder here than Yi Wu as it is still not very populated yet, there are even still some shades of it's old village-ish state.
Damn those weather forecast sms service who said the temperature in Yi Wu here is 8 to 4. It's more like -4 to -8 instead. Even Japan's Hokkaido is not as cold as it is here. And we actually walked around 3 full hours visiting shops in this weather.
For a brief explanation, in Yi Wu here you can find all and i mean ALL "Made in China" (small items only though) products ranging from electronic items, hardware to accessories and flowers. It's dubbed the city of small items (小商品城) and in here you'll find people of all countries.
Our hotel room 2
What a day, I felt like i had ran a marathon at the end of it after 8 hours of non stop walking and standing.
But at the end of the day, i felt really good with the stuff i bought. Guangzhou is really a paradise for electronic stuff. In this place 岗顶 located at the 天河 region, there are like 5-6 SLS-ish building side by side each other making this officially the largest electronic/computer store area in the world imo. I came away with electronic stuff at 15-20% off the prices in Singapore.
Earlier in the afternoon I also visited the local watch city which houses the world's supplier for branded replica watches. They really almost had every model you could look for and even had a self made book that attempted to make it look real by using Japanese language. But anyone who understand Japanese would know that it's just gibberish writing which makes no sense at all. But you really have to applaud the Chinese in China here for their business sense and acumen.
Too bad the internet here in Yi Wu is really bad at connecting to certain sites especially image uploading sites. So i can't update the pics till at least when i reach Beijing.
Nonetheless, I'll continue some more tips to help anyone who is planning to visit here.
1) Bargain at least half the price they state to make sure you aren't getting ripped off... that bad. You'll probably end up paying 60-70% of what they originally quote you which is still not that bad.
2) Double check and triple check whatever you buy to make sure it works before paying. You'll not want to waste time travelling to the store again the next day or worse, returning to your country before realising it doesn't work.
3) You pay for what you get especially in China. If you want to be safe, make sure to go for the more popular brand instead of the unpopular local brand. And it's better to choose the product that you want, then bargain for it instead of asking for recommendations based on price as you'll probably end up with an inferior product.
Okay, that's it for shopping guides that i personally learnt when buying stuff here. Let's hope you don't make as much mistakes as i did :)
Dim Sum time with Kong Fu tea
Just reached the hotel and checked-in now. Luckily had a good sleep on board the flight, so off I am to go sightseeing and shopping in GZ.
Just a note, the SIA girls on the GZ flight looks way better than those on the Jakarta flight. Some are even flirtatious, no wonder the scandals involving them.
2) People here can't queue. Lol i know this is an irony considering i just wrote something good about the people. They just love to cut queues like it is their favourite pastime. 1 tip for those queueing up at fast food restaurants, is that here they look to queue horizontally and not vertically. So if you see someone standing by the side of the counter, do not think anymore, he will cut your queue if you don't show that you are not letting him do it either by making eye contact or moving closer up the queue.My schedule is set as follow. *edited as the agency didn't book the tickets fast enough. so we are now on waiting list for the original schedule.
13th Feb Jakarta - Singapore, arriving in the noon
14th Feb Singapore - Guangzhou, early morning flight
21st Feb Guangzhou - Singapore, arriving noon
22nd Feb Singapore - Jakarta, evening flight.
Can't wait to see old friends again after 2 months break
(＊＾ ＾＊)
Also many electronic items to get as it's much more expensive here !
Believe it or not (mostly not, i know you guys bah), my dad has given me the license to drive on the road alone ^____ ____^
Now i can finally drive to anywhere I want in peace without having my mom nag me by the side. I will be driving the Honda CR-V till it breaks down before they'll change it for something else presumably as the car is 4-5 years old already.
Now now where should i go this weekend :p
