Our flights were in and out of Guangzhou so we needed to go there for one more night before going home. We booked a (rather luxurious) hotel and took the train from HK to Guangzhou.
Our intention was to for once enjoy the hotel and the 18th floor views on the Pearl River, and only go out to get something to eat. To do this, we took a small ferry across the river (paid by a friendly local, since we had no 1 RMB notes or coins and it was totally impossible for the cashier to accept a 5 RMB note).
We found bar/restaurant which seemed to be nearly empty at the time, managed to order some food and while we looked away, the bar was suddenly packed with people.
Then some locals noticed us and wanted to welcome us to Guangzhou. This was done by bringing us beer and toasting, and shaking hands ferociously with everyone. And the correct way to toast, this was explained to us non-verbally but very clearly, is to drink the glass in one go. And the same with the next guy. And in a couple of minutes, same again.
This quickly lead to hand-shaking turning into hugging and promises of eternal friendship. This is only my interpretation, since the guy (a police office of some sort) knew exactly 2 things in English; "Welcome to Guangzhou" and "Happy New Year".
Fortunately we were forced to escape to catch the last ferry back across the river.
Taking the ferry somehow landed us in the middle of very early hour preparations of some kind of giant sea creature market. Most of the thousands of crates seemed to contain sea snakes (alive, of course), which were being sorted into smaller crates. Frogs' eyes were being popped out (also while alive) maybe to keep them from jumping away from their boxes.
On the next morning there was only the long way home to be made.
Now, at home, all that remains is to get my courage up and check the credit cards balance, and decide what I need to sell to cover them. Donations welcome.
sunnuntai 10. tammikuuta 2010
Le Grande Finale at Hong Kong
Our trip is coming to an end. Last 3 days were spent in Hong Kong.
3 days is not much in a place that has so much to offer, but we managed to see some of the must-visit places, like the harbour and the peak.
There is a spectacular laser show every night in the harbour, one that everyone visiting HK should see.
When you do, please tell me how it was. We had planned to go and see it but plans were quickly changed when the Happy Hours -column of local newspapers' Entertainment section revealed a 3-hr all-you-can-drink special in a very pleasant English-y pub in a shopping mall close to our hotel.
The waiter of the pub had to be lured into admitting they really did have this kind of liver-punishing promotion. But once the sweet-talking was done, they really lived up to their promise, and kept the vodka, whisky, gin, beer and quality wine flowing freely. All this for a mere 200 HK$, less than 20 €. That is not bad for a place where a decent glass of wine rarely sells for under 60 HK$.
So the Grande Finale Party started off pretty well. The festivities grew pretty loud, as the other patrons consisted of a party of 15 locals, celebrating one girl's birthday. She was treated a very special gift, a Finnish version of Happy Birthday, performed by a trio of Distinguished Finnish Gentlemen, the third being a local resident, Ville M. (who by coincidence possessed a vip card of the pub). Hopefully no recordings of the act survived.
Fortunately we were not the only musical act in the establishment. The real music was provided by a pianist and a very talented (and very attractive) Filipino singer, Victoria.
Later we visited some more bars (and got Victoria to join us). Of these there is not much recollection, except that we were more than once taken for attendees in some toy convention of trade fair.
3 days is not much in a place that has so much to offer, but we managed to see some of the must-visit places, like the harbour and the peak.
There is a spectacular laser show every night in the harbour, one that everyone visiting HK should see.
When you do, please tell me how it was. We had planned to go and see it but plans were quickly changed when the Happy Hours -column of local newspapers' Entertainment section revealed a 3-hr all-you-can-drink special in a very pleasant English-y pub in a shopping mall close to our hotel.
The waiter of the pub had to be lured into admitting they really did have this kind of liver-punishing promotion. But once the sweet-talking was done, they really lived up to their promise, and kept the vodka, whisky, gin, beer and quality wine flowing freely. All this for a mere 200 HK$, less than 20 €. That is not bad for a place where a decent glass of wine rarely sells for under 60 HK$.
So the Grande Finale Party started off pretty well. The festivities grew pretty loud, as the other patrons consisted of a party of 15 locals, celebrating one girl's birthday. She was treated a very special gift, a Finnish version of Happy Birthday, performed by a trio of Distinguished Finnish Gentlemen, the third being a local resident, Ville M. (who by coincidence possessed a vip card of the pub). Hopefully no recordings of the act survived.
Fortunately we were not the only musical act in the establishment. The real music was provided by a pianist and a very talented (and very attractive) Filipino singer, Victoria.
Later we visited some more bars (and got Victoria to join us). Of these there is not much recollection, except that we were more than once taken for attendees in some toy convention of trade fair.
tiistai 5. tammikuuta 2010
New Year in Boracay
Boracay was somewhat as expected, only multiplied several times.
The main attraction is White Beach, a several kilometers long waterfront with hundreds of restaurants on it. And thousands of tourists, too, that's what Boracay is all about. Local living takes mostly place on the other 7100 islands that make up the Philippines.
The beach itself is great as far as tourist beaches go, any beverage, massage, snack, complete meal or a shiny 10€ Breitling watch will be served to your beach chair with a smile. Genuine or fake, hard to tell, but anyway much more than one gets in almost any other country. But sooner or later the mostly excellent seafood will give you food poisoning, 2 out of 5 of us got it this time. So make sure you smell the lapu-lapu you selected for your dinner before it goes to the grill.
So Boracay is not for those who seek to get away from it all, unless their away means being in the midst of thousands of other away-getters. Still, it is a relaxed place, where things tae time to happen and not much can be gained by trying to hurry things up. The adjustment to relaxed timetables started already on the way to the island. We were uncustomary well in time in the airport (minivan - ferry - couple of taxis) only to find out that the flight was not only delayed by 4 hrs but also rerouted to a different town. This however gave us some time to add some well deserved shut-eye to the one hour we managed to get the previous night after finishing the going-away party and before leaving the delightful Tropical Villas, Panglao.
At the time of writing, we're already left Boracay behind, as well as our friend Mr Must-1, who joined us on New Year's Eve. He'll join us later again in Hong Kong. Sickeningly brown, no doubt. And then the well fueled and loudly argumented late-night debates of the future, past and present of Mother Russia are likely to continue. Hopefully they wont get us thrown out of a hotel the second time, though.
The transition to this brand new, still unspoiled and innocent decade was spent on board a partying boat in front of the White Beach. The fireworks were quite spectacular, even if the wine was not.
So the next destination is Hong Kong. ETA 15 minutes.
The main attraction is White Beach, a several kilometers long waterfront with hundreds of restaurants on it. And thousands of tourists, too, that's what Boracay is all about. Local living takes mostly place on the other 7100 islands that make up the Philippines.
The beach itself is great as far as tourist beaches go, any beverage, massage, snack, complete meal or a shiny 10€ Breitling watch will be served to your beach chair with a smile. Genuine or fake, hard to tell, but anyway much more than one gets in almost any other country. But sooner or later the mostly excellent seafood will give you food poisoning, 2 out of 5 of us got it this time. So make sure you smell the lapu-lapu you selected for your dinner before it goes to the grill.
So Boracay is not for those who seek to get away from it all, unless their away means being in the midst of thousands of other away-getters. Still, it is a relaxed place, where things tae time to happen and not much can be gained by trying to hurry things up. The adjustment to relaxed timetables started already on the way to the island. We were uncustomary well in time in the airport (minivan - ferry - couple of taxis) only to find out that the flight was not only delayed by 4 hrs but also rerouted to a different town. This however gave us some time to add some well deserved shut-eye to the one hour we managed to get the previous night after finishing the going-away party and before leaving the delightful Tropical Villas, Panglao.
At the time of writing, we're already left Boracay behind, as well as our friend Mr Must-1, who joined us on New Year's Eve. He'll join us later again in Hong Kong. Sickeningly brown, no doubt. And then the well fueled and loudly argumented late-night debates of the future, past and present of Mother Russia are likely to continue. Hopefully they wont get us thrown out of a hotel the second time, though.
The transition to this brand new, still unspoiled and innocent decade was spent on board a partying boat in front of the White Beach. The fireworks were quite spectacular, even if the wine was not.
So the next destination is Hong Kong. ETA 15 minutes.
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