Day 8
On the day that we had to leave Shanghai, a breakfast fiasco started. SIGH. What happened was, after we got up, we packed up and then left for the breakfast. Once at the entrance, we told the waiter our room number and he said that only two people can go for the breakfast. And then my mother was asking why because it was three people in that room and we paid for the tour so it is already included. There was a whole lot of bickering back and forth, we stood there for at least 5 minutes talking. And then my mother told me and my sister to just enter first, and then my mother was walking behind us, but the waiter grabbed her by the arm and said "you can't do that, etc, etc." And then my mother saw the bus driver and told him what happened, but the bus driver said to find the tour guide and tell him since he can't do anything, then off he went to grab his breakfast. And then my mother disappeared and started talking to them again and ended up she told them the wrong room number in Mandarin. O.M.G. An argument for nothing. And she says she knows Mandarin, we could've just told them in English. But I got to say, that waitress and waiter was quite polite.
We bumped into our tour members, a family of four, a mom, dad and two children around 5 and 7. We also told them what happened, and they told us the same thing happened to them. Apparently, the tour guide told them that the children does not get breakfast tickets because they are not registered. So, they have been paying for the AYCE breakfast at the hotel all this time. And the tour guide told them to talk to their tour agency. They are also from Vancouver, but signed up under a different tour agency from us and they paid for the tour for 4 people so it was incomprehensible. I would be beyond peeved and livid if that happened to me.
Back to the breakfast. There's quite a wide selection of food at the Renaissance Shanghai hotel - a mixture of Asian and Western food. And instead of going up to pour your own drink, the waitress come around to pour drinks for you. They ask you what you would like to drink, if you don't know, you can ask them what they have to offer. I am not sure if you need to tip, but I don't think so since it is an Asian country? We didn't. There's so much stuff I wanted to eat, but I didn't eat as much as I want because I was scared I would get a stomach ache. Love the orange juice! And I love how there's cooks there making fresh sunny side up eggs in front of you.
After breakfast we went back to our room to tidy up.
Lol. It says that this is not a clothes line. I thought it was a first. In Asia, they have these clothes line that you can pull out of the wall in the washroom to hang clothes. Pretty cool.
Once we got to the lobby, we had to check out. I've noticed that the staff look very professional and they were very polite. The Renaissance Shanghai hotel is definitely a 5 star hotel- it's very clean, very grand, very professional.
We said our goodbyes to the tour guide and he helped us load our luggage in the van. He should, since we gave him an extra $50USD.
Once we got to the Shanghai airport we checked in and waited for around and hour or two before boarding. People in Shanghai definitely look quite wealthy and there are quite a few Caucasians. The flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou was around 2 -3 hours, I believe, on Air China; they also provided a mini lunch. Once you get off the plane at Guangzhou, you can feel the immense heat. It's like the heat wave we had in Vancouver a couple years back. It was so HOT. As I got out of the plane, the air was so stuffy, it was hard to breathe. The weird thing about this airport is that once you get of the plane, you have to take a bus to the entrance. Odd. Everybody was huddled together like sardines.
Once we picked up our luggage, we had to look for my uncle who will guide us to our place in Kaiping - we're staying with him. My mother who lived there before, no longer have any idea how to return home, it had been some odd 30 years since. By that point, I needed to go to the washroom so badly and I didn't know where to go and who to ask. Everybody spoke Mandarin. I walked 2 minutes across the baggage claim area and found a young looking security guy, he looks around 20 years old, and asked him where's the washroom and he stared at me with a blank face. So I said "toilet, toilet," to which he pointed in front of him. I felt kind of embarrassed since it was right in front of me, but nevertheless I did thank him. And THANK GOD, it was the sitting kind. This reminds of me of the time in Guangzhou airport when I was heading off to Beijing, I had to go to the toilet, but it was a squatting kind so I got out of the line and this girl around my age gave me attitude saying "fine, if you're not going to go than I will." So much attitude just cause I got out of the line so you can go. MANNERS. PUNCH HER IN THE FACE. nah. just kidding. curses.
Once we called our uncle he told us to go to a specific gate number for the bus cause he already bought the bus tickets and it's time stamped so there's no refund if you missed it. You have to buy the tickets at the airport and it cost 75 RMB each ($14 CND). We were running back and forth lugging the luggage around and trying to avoid potential bag snatchers and people. Once we got to the bus stop, we had to line up. We lined up, but when the bus came, people just budge in front of you! Sometimes I cannot fathom what they are thinking. Shame on you. To get to Kaiping we had to take a bus for ~ 1.5-2 hours, before arriving at Taishan, then we get off at another bus stop in the middle of nowhere to wait for the transfer bus to Kaiping. Only a highway in front of a rundown building, which is actually a waiting area for the bus.
This is the first bus we took - comfy bus
At the transfer point, once our vehicle got here, it was a disaster. First it was a "VAN," I guess, not really a van but a bus van. It was SO small for the amount of people that have to get on with their luggage. There were like 13 people and not enough seats. So people's luggage were on top of each other and two people sat in the trunk area on top of their luggage and another person sat on the walkway. And the guy who was managing the van was like "It's like we are trying to sneak in from Hong Kong." (in reference to illegal immigrants)- in Cantonese. LOL. We were in that van for around 30 minutes or so. The appearance of the van was a wreck. The windows were taped, the colors were coming off, it was utterly dirty, and the seats were ripped apart and yellow. The driver only stops at certain stops, so you have to let him know which stop you want to get off at or they would drive by it. Once we got off, our uncle called our aunt to come over to our stop. Our aunt came and took our luggage on her scooter to the apartment, and then we just walked over to our place. I would say it was around a 10-15 minutes walk. I've noticed all the billboards and signs was in Chinese, no English.
Our stop was here. And we waited for our aunt.
The building that we stayed in.
I was a bit afraid to go up. I did not expect the building to look so run down. By the way, there is no elevators so you have to walk up the stairs. The place we are staying at is on the fourth floor, just one floor from the top. It was such a pain walking up and down every single day, multiples times a day. I commend my grandmother for walking up those long and dangerous stairs. Back in the day, people were envious if you lived here because it was a new building and beside it were just old buildings, now it's the reverse. Once I entered the home, hot air blew in my face. It was like a sauna in there. They only turned on the fan on the ceiling. But, luckily, my uncle installed air conditioning in our bedroom - I was trapped the bedroom for the while. The home is quite spacious. There's a big living room, 3 bedrooms, a storage, 1 kitchen, 1 dining room, 2 washrooms and a balcony. Well, it makes sense since there's only 2 homes on each floor.
Once it gotten a bit dark we went out for dinner, and down those stairs we go. The dinner place was very close to our place. Maybe a 10-15 minutes walk?
The restaurant we ate at on our first day in Kaiping.
The restaurant smells like smoke. People were smoking inside. Apparently, there's no law to forbid smoking in public places. Good thing we didn't sit in the common area, we sat in a private room. To be able to sit in the private room you need to order a certain amount or a certain amount of dishes. I believe it needs to be 200-300 RMB? Well, to be honest, the food just mediocre, not to my taste. I like food with lots of sauce.
Right after eating dinner, instead of heading home, my mom, sister, aunt and I went to walk around the streets of Kaiping. Even though it's night time, it was still quite lively at 8PM, I mean, people open their shops on the streets during this time.
We bumped into a Mcdonalds stand just a block or two around our building, so we bought some ice cream! It was so cheap! There was a promo so if you buy one ice cream for 4RMB then you get the other for half price. So, that's 6RMB for two ice cream which is like $1.10 CND no tax. I got matcha flavor ice cream, so yummy! Have to indulge in this flavor before I head back to Vancouver. OOOOOH, and there's "NO TAX" in CHINA and NO TIPS too! SO HAPPY!
Mcdonald's matcha flavour ice cream.
So after some shopping by my mother, she takes forever, we headed home at last.
First of all, showering, it was creepy. You had to shower near a squatting toilet. So scary. But good thing we also have a modern toilet in the house. I only used the modern toilet.
At night we had to cover our beds with nets so you don't get bitten by the mosquitoes. You have to be careful not to have any mosquitoes inside your net first, else they would be sucking your blood all night long. The mosquitoes in Asia, I find, seem to be quite poisonous and stronger than the ones in Canada. I mean, every time there's a bite from a mosquitoe, my skin becomes inflamed and grows at least 1cm to 3 cm in circumference, but this RARELY happens in Vancouver. We had to turn on the air conditioning all night long, else we would not be able to sleep due to the heat and it is also to keep mosquitoes away. It was nice of my uncle to install air conditioning JUST because we are visiting, and he also bought new toothbrushes, cups, pillows, mattress, a new bed frame, etc. Man, we were only going to be there for less than 1 month and he wasted all those money buying all those new things. We appreciate it, but feel sorry because it's such a hassle for him.
And so, after this long day we went to bed, for tomorrow will be another long day.
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