To Be Rich Is Glorious
China Travel, News and Lifestyle
Massage in Zhuhai
Mar 29th
When you are in China you cannot miss what is so typical of Asia, the ultimate massage experience.
Massage is an inexpensive way to have someone take care of your body. They offer two types of massage: One is a so called regular one when your back is rubbed and the other one is foot massage. Both cost the same though and last for one hour. Some male costumers even add a “Happy ending” at the end of the massage.
The best place in Zhuhai is near the XiangZhou bus station behind the Disco. It costs 20 RMB for one hour.
Enjoy
Macau – Las Vegas of Asia
Mar 6th
Going to Macau is not so difficult as you might think. You dont even have to take a boat to go there even though it is an island.
Macau lies just south of Zhuhai and is connected with the mainland by a bridge and on that bridge two checkpoints are placed. One in Zhuhai called Gongbei and the other one in Macau called Portas Do Cerco. Between those two there is Noman’s land where you can buy tax free alcohol which is very expensive in Zhuhai.
The Zhuhai checkpoint is extremely organized and is very clean and high tech. There is almost never a long queue so there is no worry of standing a long time (unless its the Chinese new year season when its crowded).
When one comes to Macau checkpoint everything is written in …. Portugese and Traditional Chinese. And one starts to wonder why is it so?
Well Macau was once Portugese and belonged to them for 300 years I think. The people in Macau however do not understand the language and everyone speaks Cantonese. I asked the taxi driver if he could get me to “Portas Do Cerco” on my way home and he didnt understand anything. The first thing that came to my mind is that this colony was certainly a failure….
Underneath Portas Do Cerco there is a Bus terminal and I advise you to take the bus because its a lot cheaper than taxi. A ride from Portas do Cerco to Largo Do Senado which is the main square will cost you 2.50 patacas (23 Eurocents). Macau is very different from rest of China and it has a European character. The buildings have a baroque Spanish/Portugese style especially in the “Old Town”. The streets are very small just like in France and Spain. People usually get through town using their Mopeds reminds you of Italy.
The Pedestrian areas lack for example fancy neon lights which is so typical for Asian Cities but instead have a more European setting with small signs and pitoresque small streets which are almost never straight and turn a lot.
The main attraction of Macau is of course what the place is most famous for. Its the Casinos. Here you can find the MGM Grand from Las Vegas as well as the Venetian. The biggest casino in Macau is Grand Lisboa which is shaped like a Giant Lotus flower.
Due to the fact that Gambling is prohibited in mainland China, lots of rich Chinese come here to search for their luck.
If you are in a search of perfumes, cosmetics and alcohol then Macau is the right place. Here you can find all the famous brands like Armani, Gucci etc for a lower price than back home. Everything is cheaper than in Europe, America and mainland China.
The place to go shopping for luxury items is New Yaohan a Japanese Department store which is not different from Printemps. New Yaohan is situated in south Macau just behind the Sea Terminal.
And before you go to Macau make always sure that you bring Patacas the local currency. Patacas can be exchanged at best rate at the Black market (thats where I changed my yuan to Patacas). Banks will give you a worser rate so I advise you to go to a black market instead but there is a risk that they will ripp you off though.
Hong Kong
Feb 21st
On Sunday the 17th of February Me and Carl arrived in Shenzhen in the morning. The weather was exceptionally warm and even though it was Winter and snow up in Beijing it felt like spring has arrived in here in Guangdong. From the bus station in Shenzhen its a short walk to the checkpoint which is above the train station. There we had expected that there would be a long queue on the lanes for checking passports but to our relief there was almost no queue.
The passport control went quickly and smoothly and soon we were in a new country HongKong. Even though Hong Kong is officially part of China you still need to bring your passport because the region is considered a special administrative region and it is more or less independent from China.
As I mentionned earlier the checkpoint lies besides the Shenzhen central station and on the other side of the border lies the Lo Wu train station which is the terminus for the KCR local trains in Hongkong.
Before we hopped on the train to Kowloon or Tsim Sha Tsui one needs a special octupus card which you use to pay for bus, train, metro and tramway fares. It is a card that is loaded with a certain amount of cash and a fare is deducted each time one travels. More >
Getting a flat in Zhuhai
Feb 5th
After staying in a hotel in the Xiang Zhou district it was time to get an apartment. I felt quite stressed out because I know that getting a flat is a time consuming process and you could be denied. I was also afraid that they would not let me have a flat if I just stayed for 4 months. Me and Carl decided to go to the agency which lend out flats to see if there was any. To my relief the agent showed me an empty flat in the same building were Carl was living! And the process of getting the apartment went quickly I just signed some papers and the flat was mine. The rent was pretty reasonable 1700 kuai per month but then I would live on the 13th floor with a two room apartment with kitchen and a bathroom.
I was amazed how serviceminded the people in Zhuhai are and that everything goes so smoothly and quickly.
Night life in China
Feb 3rd
When I arrived in Zhuhai I wanted to check out how the night life is. Well in Zhuhai there is one bar street which only contains clubs and bars. Outside the clubs there were some guards standing but no one checked my ID if I was over eighteen (which they do in Sweden). There was no problem getting in the Red bar which was the name of the first club.
The strange thing was that even though the club had music and a DJ mixing songs there was no dance floor to dance on. And if there were any dance floor it would probably be very small.
Overall the clubs have very nice interior and good atmosphere. But what amazed me was that people just sat there smoking cigarettes and just listening to the music. Almost no one dances here in China it seems. Very different from my home country Sweden where the dancefloor is packed with people…..
And ordering a drink without knowing Chinese is a cliffhanger.
If you do go to a club in China make sure to bring a card which says your address in chinese characters because otherwise you would probably spend the night at the police station trying to explain where you live.
