okay.. the long awaited entry for the china trip.. well.. nothing much exciting happened.. hrmm.. maybe the thing about one of the uncles having a mild heart attack/liver infection and having to stay in Shenzhen was pretty exciting (more on that later) but okay..the trip was pretty good.. enjoyed myself trmemdously.. muahaha
here's a summary of the places we went to in the 10 days in China:
Guangzhou
Zhaoqing
Zhuhai
Shenzhen
Shantou
Nan Ao
Chaozhou
Xiamen
had 3 tour guides for the whole trip.. day 1 to 4 by a fatty (let's call him "xiao peng"), day 5 to 6 by a skinny (xiao chen), day 7 to 8 by xiao peng again,
and day 9 to 10 by a cutie called calvin (coz he likes calvin klein.. dot dot dot) hated the xiao peng coz he only spoke teochew (as favoured by the elderlies in the group) and he refused to speak mandarin to us younger people.. wonder why.. so for most of the trip, i had to use my rusty and limited teochew to understand what he was saying..
the second tour guide xiao chen was good.. spoke english, mandarin and teochew.. (explanation to the elderlies in teochew, to the younger people in mandarin and he even understood and spoke english!! how many of them can do that fluently anyway? btw, he's a uni grad) missed him sorely when he left and xiao peng came back.. (that money grabber.. bleahz.. never liked him for the whole trip)
the last tour guide when we arrived in xiamen was amusing... he spoke so quickly.. like a machine gun going off.. on and on and on until he takes a deep breath and then.. off he goes again! on and on and on and on and on.. my brother was so afraid he would forget to take a breath.. heheh it helped that he was cute and young (muahaha.. eye candy material).. this one was called xiao lee, and he had a christian name.. calvin.. why? coz he likes calvin klein (like duh right??) haha.. that moment when we found out the origin of his name was a *rolls eyes* moment.. my dad, my sis, my brother and i.. cant forget tt... =)
dont really understand why pple in china like to call themselves xiao-something.. like the 3 tour guides, xiao peng, xiao chen and xiao lee.. -.-"
is it something to do with tradition? (like deng xiao ping?? oops, shouldn't make fun of dead pple.. not to mention respected dead pple.. =P)
okay... i admit it. the last 2 days were the best coz there was a great looking eye candy.. haha. but he was such a flirt too.. you should have seen him in action with the air stewardesses, the waitresses and the other tour guides.. *shudders* he's a professional sia.. haha.
shopping was WONDERFUL!!!! heheehhee... note that the exchange rate was about S$1 to RMB$5, so the stuff there are like damn cheap!! i bought lots of stuff.. a dress for only RMB$30 (which makes it S$6.. muahaha) a pair of sandals for RMB$20 (S$4) a few tops at RMB$20-30 each (S$4-5 each!!) and best of all.. CDs (genuine, copyrighted CDs) for RMB$20 each.. that makes it about S$4 for each licensed CD!! lalalala... it was really a great shopping trip...
pple, if you're wondering what i bought for you.. heheh.. i'm not telling... a little hint though... most of the stuff's personalized, and quite unique.. no t-shirts and stuff though... =)
the best shopping done so far in the 10 days was in shantou.. where in the world is shantou anyway? it's this place near teochew where my ancestors came from.. and my grandfather loves going there to buy the dried scallops and herbs.. (he buys it by the kg!) the shopping there was so good... we spent about 5 hours shopping there after dinner...
imagine this scenario:
1 long street, with shops on both sides of the street, selling everything from clothes to shoes to medical supplies to jewellry.. few cars on the road.. not many people too. start shopping at about 730pm, walking along one side of the street only. at 10pm, still on the same side of the street but still haven't seen the end of the street yet.. decided to turn back down the other side to get back to the hotel, but kept being distracted by the shops selling oh so many stuff.. at 11pm, was met by a worried/angry looking grandfather who came looking for us.. hehe.. got a shelling for wandering along for so lang and so late.. in the end,, end up walking briskly back to the hotel, passing so many shops that sold pretty things, but too scared to go in for fear of the wrath of grandfather.. *grinz*
tt place is my recommendation man... cheap stuff, friendly (but not pushy) salesgirls.. unlike in guangzhou and zhuhai.. the salesgirls were so pushy it was irritating!! shantou pple are nice... and polite at the same time. ;P (it helps that they speak teochew there, and i can understand them, unlike cantonese in guangzhou, which i did NOT understand at all...) their teochew is very melodious too.. sounds so sing song-y and so cool to listen to.. man i was happy to be there...
some shopping tips for shopping in China:
- NEVER, i repeat NEVER EVER accept the first quoted price.. coz you can get a half price discount if you persist with your bargaining..
- Be thick skinned. they don't care
- Always bargain for about half of what they quoted. as they try to increase the price, start decreasing the price even further. (you have to be thick skinned about it!!)
- If they seem unwilling to lower the price, just walk out of the shop. Chances are, they'll grab hold of you before you step out of the shop, and sell it to you at your desired price =)
- Try not to shop at shopping centres if you want good bargains. you wont be able to bargain in shopping centres, and their prices are much higher. BUT,
it is always good to buy CDs in shopping centres, as they are usually original CDs there. outside, no guarantees.
- Always check out other shops before buying something, coz there will be the same thing selling cheaper at the next shop you come across. =)
okay, i think i'm done for now.. have not uploaded and scanned the pictures so please be patient... will be done probably by tonight or tmr.. i promise!!
here's a summary of the places we went to in the 10 days in China:
Guangzhou
Zhaoqing
Zhuhai
Shenzhen
Shantou
Nan Ao
Chaozhou
Xiamen
had 3 tour guides for the whole trip.. day 1 to 4 by a fatty (let's call him "xiao peng"), day 5 to 6 by a skinny (xiao chen), day 7 to 8 by xiao peng again,
and day 9 to 10 by a cutie called calvin (coz he likes calvin klein.. dot dot dot) hated the xiao peng coz he only spoke teochew (as favoured by the elderlies in the group) and he refused to speak mandarin to us younger people.. wonder why.. so for most of the trip, i had to use my rusty and limited teochew to understand what he was saying..
the second tour guide xiao chen was good.. spoke english, mandarin and teochew.. (explanation to the elderlies in teochew, to the younger people in mandarin and he even understood and spoke english!! how many of them can do that fluently anyway? btw, he's a uni grad) missed him sorely when he left and xiao peng came back.. (that money grabber.. bleahz.. never liked him for the whole trip)
the last tour guide when we arrived in xiamen was amusing... he spoke so quickly.. like a machine gun going off.. on and on and on until he takes a deep breath and then.. off he goes again! on and on and on and on and on.. my brother was so afraid he would forget to take a breath.. heheh it helped that he was cute and young (muahaha.. eye candy material).. this one was called xiao lee, and he had a christian name.. calvin.. why? coz he likes calvin klein (like duh right??) haha.. that moment when we found out the origin of his name was a *rolls eyes* moment.. my dad, my sis, my brother and i.. cant forget tt... =)
dont really understand why pple in china like to call themselves xiao-something.. like the 3 tour guides, xiao peng, xiao chen and xiao lee.. -.-"
is it something to do with tradition? (like deng xiao ping?? oops, shouldn't make fun of dead pple.. not to mention respected dead pple.. =P)
okay... i admit it. the last 2 days were the best coz there was a great looking eye candy.. haha. but he was such a flirt too.. you should have seen him in action with the air stewardesses, the waitresses and the other tour guides.. *shudders* he's a professional sia.. haha.
shopping was WONDERFUL!!!! heheehhee... note that the exchange rate was about S$1 to RMB$5, so the stuff there are like damn cheap!! i bought lots of stuff.. a dress for only RMB$30 (which makes it S$6.. muahaha) a pair of sandals for RMB$20 (S$4) a few tops at RMB$20-30 each (S$4-5 each!!) and best of all.. CDs (genuine, copyrighted CDs) for RMB$20 each.. that makes it about S$4 for each licensed CD!! lalalala... it was really a great shopping trip...
pple, if you're wondering what i bought for you.. heheh.. i'm not telling... a little hint though... most of the stuff's personalized, and quite unique.. no t-shirts and stuff though... =)
the best shopping done so far in the 10 days was in shantou.. where in the world is shantou anyway? it's this place near teochew where my ancestors came from.. and my grandfather loves going there to buy the dried scallops and herbs.. (he buys it by the kg!) the shopping there was so good... we spent about 5 hours shopping there after dinner...
imagine this scenario:
1 long street, with shops on both sides of the street, selling everything from clothes to shoes to medical supplies to jewellry.. few cars on the road.. not many people too. start shopping at about 730pm, walking along one side of the street only. at 10pm, still on the same side of the street but still haven't seen the end of the street yet.. decided to turn back down the other side to get back to the hotel, but kept being distracted by the shops selling oh so many stuff.. at 11pm, was met by a worried/angry looking grandfather who came looking for us.. hehe.. got a shelling for wandering along for so lang and so late.. in the end,, end up walking briskly back to the hotel, passing so many shops that sold pretty things, but too scared to go in for fear of the wrath of grandfather.. *grinz*
tt place is my recommendation man... cheap stuff, friendly (but not pushy) salesgirls.. unlike in guangzhou and zhuhai.. the salesgirls were so pushy it was irritating!! shantou pple are nice... and polite at the same time. ;P (it helps that they speak teochew there, and i can understand them, unlike cantonese in guangzhou, which i did NOT understand at all...) their teochew is very melodious too.. sounds so sing song-y and so cool to listen to.. man i was happy to be there...
some shopping tips for shopping in China:
- NEVER, i repeat NEVER EVER accept the first quoted price.. coz you can get a half price discount if you persist with your bargaining..
- Be thick skinned. they don't care
- Always bargain for about half of what they quoted. as they try to increase the price, start decreasing the price even further. (you have to be thick skinned about it!!)
- If they seem unwilling to lower the price, just walk out of the shop. Chances are, they'll grab hold of you before you step out of the shop, and sell it to you at your desired price =)
- Try not to shop at shopping centres if you want good bargains. you wont be able to bargain in shopping centres, and their prices are much higher. BUT,
it is always good to buy CDs in shopping centres, as they are usually original CDs there. outside, no guarantees.
- Always check out other shops before buying something, coz there will be the same thing selling cheaper at the next shop you come across. =)
okay, i think i'm done for now.. have not uploaded and scanned the pictures so please be patient... will be done probably by tonight or tmr.. i promise!!