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Part 1 : Macau to Humen
3:48 PM
Part 1 : Macau to Humen

Woke up at 3.45 am to catch the 6.15am flight to Macau. I nearly yanked the blanket over my head and ignored my mum's wake-up call. Only the thoughts of shopping got me stumbling blearily out of bed.

Arrived at Macau airport and headed off in a taxi to Dongguan which is near Humen which is near Guangzhou. And in China, its a left-hand drive so it takes a bit of time to get used to it.

Anyway, the roads there can kill you. It can get bumpy at times, and the taxi driver went so fast till I didn't want to look at the speedometer anymore. The last time I checked, it was reaching 140 km/h and the driver showed no signs of slowing down. Nevermind, I told myself that ignorance is bliss and I shut my eyes and went back to dreamland.

Checked in at the Royal Palace Hotel in Dongguan and headed off to the wholesalers in Humen. This hotel is rated a 4-star, but the place and the service is nearly as good as a 5-star. And its rates are quite reasonable too. Probably because they're quite new and looking for business. Hehe. So its a win-win situation.


My dad stayed at that hotel for some exhibition thing earlier on that's why he booked the same hotel again. Also, he says when he goes group golfing in China, the fella in charge of accommodation will always look for new hotels because they're looking for business so the rates are good and everything is new. So if you're going to China, look for new hotels!
Worn-out after the journey and the shopping so we headed back to the hotel and ate in their Chinese restaurent. This is the huge lamp they had in the place. It kinda reminds me of Swensen's ice-cream parlour lights. I wouldn't mind a whole tub of sticky chewy chocolate from Swensen's right now...

In the Chinese restaurent where we ate...very golden and brown themed
This is what the hotel lobby looks like, all gleaming and shining
I rather thought the staircase here looks like the one on the hotel on the current 9.30 show on wah lai toi. What do you think?

I don't quite know what this is, except that its ornamental (I think). But it looked so nice that I couldn't resist snapping a picture of it.

My brother happily posing in the lobby with his newly-bought sword and my dad in the background. Incase you're wondering what's in his other hand, its a half-eaten apple.

At almost every city we went to, we bought a toy to keep him quiet and content while he followed us all around. His behaviour was pretty good, considering he had to walk around the whole day following us and stopping and waiting when we wanted to see something in the shop. How many kids, especially boys would be that good? Even grown-up guys aren't that patient and well-behaved!

While we were in the shop, he brandished his sword around fighting imaginary pirates and baddies. A shop assistant upon hearing him said he ought to be a director or scriptwriter cause he's so imaginative. Haha.

Went off to this wholesaler outlet in Humen. And its got 9 freaking floors, ok. The first 4 floors all sell clothes, and the rest of the floors are designers officers, tailors, boutiques and a restaurent that takes up the whole of the top floor. Its as big or even bigger than Sungai Wang in terms of size and the price there is pretty good, that's if you're at a wholesalers and not at a boutique. Inside the complex. I must say that Christmas in China is pretty commercialized. They have Christmas deco's all around, and Christmas offers and sales and bargains and whatnot.

Just outside the complex we were in, while waiting for the cabbie

Still waiting for the cabbie to come. Or maybe he was there but we didn't recognize his car and we forgot to check what was his number plate. Haha.

Oh, and I made a super-duper goof-up. The point of my family and I going off to China was to shop. And 2 weeks before the trip, it suddenly struck my mind that it is winter now in China so they're gonna sell winter clothes which means I probably can't buy anything much!

What the heck?! *groans and smacks forehead*

Lucky thing the temperature there is only 13-19 degrees Celcius. So I still managed to buy some things. Anyway, seeing that they're selling winter apparel, I might as well start shopping for next year when I go to UK. Scratch that, if I go to UK.

The weather here is bearable in the shopping complex, but when you're outside and the wind blows, its pretty cold. Especially if you're only wearing a top and a jacket. 2 miserable layers.
I thought that 13-19 degrees wouldn't be a problem so I decided to be a heroine and wear just a jacket. My mum was smarter and wore a woollen sweater under her jacket.

As I stepped out of the hotel, a blast of icy-cold wind hit me smack in the face.
Uh-oh. I'm so gonna freeze. =(

Quickly ran back into the lobby to hide.

In China, a zebra crossing doesn't give you the right to cross the road without looking eventhough its a red light and its technically your right to cross. After all, dead is dead, with or without a zebra crossing. The cars and buses or zoom fantastically about and they use the horn all the time. Right of way seems to be uncommon here. Right of might or right of speed would be a better term.

And unlike Malaysia, China is a left-hand drive which means you have to be careful about looking left before crossing. And crossing roads here is super scary. To be safe, cross only when the locals cross. Heck, if you see them running halfway across the road, then run along with them for your life. For extra precaution, make sure there are locals on your right and left before crossing. Hehe.

When shopping in China, bargain your way down or you're going to get conned like nobody's business. If they offer you 100yuan/renminbi(rmb), slash it down ridiculously low like 15/20 yuan so that they have to give you a counter-offer. And always remember to go super-super low, because prices can always go up but once you've stated a price, you CANNOT go lower than that. And when you walk away from a shop, do it slowly and gracefully so that the shopkeeper has ample price to call you back and accept your offer. And believe me, a lot of the times, they call back and accept your price. So stand your ground and don't get intimidated. Unless you're offering some damned stupidly low price.

Something else to keep in mind, if you really want that item, don't let it show on your face because they can read you like a book and will squeeze every yuan they can get out of you. And if you desperately want it, be prepared to pay the best price that you can offer because if you stalk off without buying it, to go back to that shop to buy that item will be such a tremendous loss of face and embarassment.

Oh, and 1 yuan is our Malaysian 50 cents. So just divide the prices by half when you shop in China.

Bargaining can be quite fun if you know how to do it correctly. Here in China, I discovered that they don't scold you if you dont buy the item after bargaining. So gather up your courage and start bargaining. Practice makes perfect and all that.

I'll tell you more sales stories later, ok.

Was supposed to leave for Shenzhen the next morning but seeing that we hadn't managed to cover that complex, we decided to finish up and leave for Shenzhen in the evening.

So we walked around more and shopped. And hurried back to our hotel to catch a cab at 6pm to Shenzhen which was about and hour and a half away.

The cab driver didn't quite know where the hotel was so we went round and round the streets looking for it and we ended up this hotel which was deserted for renovation.

Oops...wrong hotel.

The original cab driver from our Dongguan hotel gave up and transferred us to a local cabbie and we had to pay the new cabbie. And that's China service for you.

Checked into the hotel and dropped dead tired into bed.

The thing about China is, its full of conmen and baddies. So you have to be careful about hiring cabbies. Which is why its safer to pay a bit more and take a cab from the hotel than catch a cab on the street and risk getting kidnapped or driven to some faraway place and get robbed. And I'm serious about the last sentence. Its been known to happen in China. Which is why we try to take reputable cabs to move around the city.

Will blog about the other parts when I'm back. I've to go to Malacca tomorrow and spend Christmas there away from my computer and my presents under the tree. =(

Hopefully with nothing else better to do, I'll get some studying done.

I have to go and pack for Malacca.
Toodles-do.

And there's no need to give me a big welcome-back reception by spamming my c-box again. =p

Goodbye my beloved computer. I've just been reunited with you for 2 days and we must part again so swiftly. How cruel time is. *tear rolls down cheek*

Okay, I shall cut the melodramatics and say goodnight.

And, MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all because I won't be able to blog on Christmas unless I get my hands on an online computer.

Written on Sunday, December 24, 2006; 3:48 PM


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