Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 4:01 AM
Subject: China - Day 3
I woke up and looked at the clock. “$#!% - Its 1:00 AM!” At 10:00 last night I could not keep my eyes open and now I was wide awake. Not good. This time change really has me messed up. I did manage to fall back asleep around 4:00 but was up again at 5:30 so I decided to admit defeat and get up. At breakfast (little steamed dumplings filled with shrimp and vegetables – really good!) I read the local English language paper, the South China Daily. A couple of interesting articles; one on the apparently common practice, especially among younger Chinese of circumventing China’s internet censorship of sites like Google, foreign news services, Facebook, You Tube and the like – locally they call this “scaling the Great FireWall”
My only obligation today is to get from Hong Kong to Shekou, part of the city of Shenzhen in Mainland China – this will be via ferry boat from Hong Kong Island with one stop at the airport on the way. The entire trip takes about 75 minutes and cost 30 Hong Kong Dollars, about $5 US – quite a bargain. It was less expensive than last year and actually far less than the $150HKD posted price at the ticket office. The girl at the ticket window did not speak much English so I never did understand why it was so cheap but I was not about to argue with her. The ferry terminal doubles as a Heliport with regular service to Macau – the Las Vegas of South Asia not far from here. The terminal looks more like a shopping mall on the inside with many stores and eating places – and thankfully a coffee shop – It was only noon and I was feeling tired already – lack of sleep I guess. The ferry terminal in Shekou is a big contrast to the one in HK – It looks and functions like it was designed by a communist bureaucrat. Everything is painted the same shade of gray and nobody smiles. After getting my passport stamped, I fed my luggage through an x-ray machine which nobody was monitoring – at least not that I could see.
My hotel, the Nan Hai, is next door to the ferry terminal. It is quite a nice hotel – right on the harbor with private balconies on ever room, but it has a few quirks too. The closet is impossibly small – not even deep enough to hang your clothes without turning them slightly sideways. Inside the closet is a safe, a flashlight, and this really scares me – a gas mask! OK, I suppose the gas mask and flashlight are in case of fire and probably would be helpful in that event, but really – this makes me nervous.
My friend Larry was nowhere to be found, so I decided to take a walk to another favorite spot (surprise, it is a pub) called McCaffreys a few blocks from the hotel. I had a couple of pints of Guinness, we will call that lunch, and had a fun conversation with a New Zealander living in Shenzhen for 6 months on business. I learned something new, that in NZ they enjoy the same redneck sports as Americans – stock car racing and wrestling – who knew? Leaving McCaffreys I kept walking away from the hotel and saw a sign advertising “Sea World Shenzhen” 2 blocks ahead – I thought this was worth checking out so I followed the sign. This did not turn out as expected – no fish tanks or killer whales here. Shenzhen Sea World is a collection of bars and restaurants surrounding – I swear to God, a ship planted in the middle. The ship, as it turns out, was once the French presidential yacht but it looks more like a small ocean liner. It has been converted into a hotel and shopping mall. After looking around Sea World a bit I stumbled into a place called “Beatles Bar”. I seriously doubt Paul or Ringo have any connection to this place – there is Rock and Roll memorabilia on the walls trying hard to pass itself as stuff from the Beatles, but it looks more like junk from a garage Same. Oh, by the way, like nearly every other bar in Shenzhen, this one is also filled with working girls. At least Shenzhen is consistent. Larry arrived around 8:00 and we enjoyed a few beers while preparing for tomorrows meetings. It was getting late, around 11:00 when we left for the hotel. I then realized I had not eaten since breakfast in Hong Kong. Oh well…
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| The friendly, helpful staff at Beatles Bar is waiting to serve you... |
Day 4 preview – Why on earth do they eat so many feet here?
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