To Be Rich Is Glorious

Night food of Zhuhai

Urbanski — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:05:20 +0000

Usually when you go out to the club after several hours of partying you become hungry. In most countries in the world you are doomed to go with an empty belly, or visit McDonald’s at best. Not in China.

Usually when the clock strikes 10 PM tents are being raised at various streets and tables being prepared with different snack foods. These foods include calamari on stick (Squid), Pork/lamb meat on stick, Fishballs, cabbage in soy sauce, fried dumpling on stick and much more. These nightly food stands are usually open between 10 PM and 2 AM.

Each foodstuff comes with a price of either 1 or 2 kuai so its inexpensive. Beer to that (usually a local brand or Tsingtao) comes at a price of 4-5 kuai.

The places where the food is served are very simple with plastic chairs and plastic tables in the open air. Still, it has a nice atmosphere due to the fact that Chinese people hang around there, not only “tourists”.

You can also eat snack foods at the bars but its usually a lot more expensive. For example a portion of French Fries in MTC club would go for 20 kuai which is the equivalent of Ten lambsticks at a nightmarket stand.

McDonald’s in China is open 24/7 and offer food for the hungry after a bar night. The price is usually 20 kuai for a Big Mac set.

Personally I prefer the Nightmarket food.

Night Life in China part 2

Urbanski — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:50:32 +0000

Most cities in China have a so called Bar Street or Jiu Ba Jie. Its where all the clubs are placed and the center of the nightlife. In Zhuhai you can choose between many bars along the street which is 1 kilometer or so. (more…)

Beach life in Zhuhai

Urbanski — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:32:28 +0000

Zhuhai as you know is a coastal city. Almost every coastal city has a place where you can relax and listen to the waves or take a bath from the hustle and bustle of the streets.

(more…)

Massage in Zhuhai

Urbanski — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:16:54 +0000

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

Urbanski — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:23:01 +0000

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

Urbanski — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:22:31 +0000

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

Urbanski — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:37:32 +0000

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

Urbanski — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 09:39:14 +0000

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.

New Writer for TBRiG

Carl Pei — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:47:11 +0000

My friend Simon is here for a few months, and since I don’t really have the time to update this site, he will share his experiences of China here.

So let’s welcome Simon to China and TBRiG! I hope he will produce some quality content in these coming months.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep updating my personal blog and comment on this one.

First Time in China

Urbanski — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:08:18 +0000

I am Simon and friend of Carl. I arrived at Zhuhai January 24th and was shocked by the cold weather and rain. Southern China is supposed to be warm this time of the year but it was pretty awkward to wear a winter jacket in a sub tropical city!

Some weeks ago the temperature was about 20 degrees Celsius, but I guess I brought the cold weather back from Sweden…