The China Story begins
Trip Start
Jan 18, 2007
1
13
17
Trip End
Jul 01, 2008
Hong Kong,
China
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Yesterday was an absolute nightmare. I was dropped off at the airport by Dad and Brettos, I got on the plane and things were going just swimmingly. The fact I was sat in amongst a gaggle of Northern Jews was a little annoying as we set off but nothing I couldn't deal with.
So we took off the Jews were reading the in flight manual and complaining about the prices, no surprise there then. Glad to see stereotypes are there for a reason. I got bored of their moaning soon enough and decided to put my head phones in and listen to some offensive angry music to calm myself down a bit. This worked until the person in front reclined her chair.
The flight got well under way and the entertainment system was turned on. Woo I thought I had already planned my movies for the trip.
Oh no Harry no movies for you or anyone else on the plane, the entertainment system is down. The only songs we got were fucking James Blunt. I wanted to die and this seemed the slowest most painful way of killing me. I won't lie when I said I was a bit nervous about the year ahead when this was how it started. The food wasn't much better either, after being told I'd have to wait for my chicken, when it arrived it was cold. Then the second time it arrived, it was cold. By the third time they had run out of Chicken and I settled for the other meal that had been offered to me 45 minutes earlier. Sweet and Sour fish. When I asked what fish it was the stewardess was unable to answer. I was filled with joyous expectation. It was disgusting. Worse than any other plane food I'd ever had. So little word of advice, don't ever fly Oasis Hong Kong.
When we touched down in HK I jumped on a bus that took me to fairly close to my hostel. Which is in with about 30 others in a huge shopping complex filled with people trying to sell you a room. I never knew there were so many Indians in HK. There are.
I got to my hostel. Empty. No one to serve me take my bags help me or even let me into my room. After an hour of waiting I was told the hostel didn't exist. I moved. I paid less and went to a different hostel. The room had almost enough space for me and my bags. I had to leave my ego in the bathroom but otherwise it was cool.
After checking in I went out for a stroll. I was immediately accosted by a number of watch sellers. The next corner I was practically dragged into a tailors telling me he could make me a suit in a day for £118. What really blew his chance at a sale was the fact he said he wasn't like the Chinese he was reliable like an Englishman. Well I though who the fuck would trust that. I wouldn't rely on an Englishman to make me cheese on toast let alone a suit for a lanky streak of piss like me. No thanks I said and walked out being chased by about 4 desperate Indians.
I made my way hastily down the street and bought some nice cheap noodles and duck and made my way back to my hostel.
I had a nice early night only to wake up at 02:00 due to fucking jet lag and not get back to sleep until 07:00 which was a bit late because I had to be at the visa office by 09:00.
I made it and the day all went pretty smoothly. I was on the Ferry to Zhongshan by 16:00 and on my way to China and a new life ahead. I was very excited. So what did I do the whole ferry ride over? I slept. Straight to sleep. It was great. No looking out the windows at the huge skyline of Hong Kong nope just sleep.
I was met at the port by my new boss Gary and a number of other teachers from a couple of the schools Bond (my new employers) supply teachers for.
They took me to a nice restaurant where I enjoyed the Delights of 90% collagen Chickens feet and Chilli frog amongst other dishes. I was then taken to my new apartment straight after the meal and told to have a good rest. So I did. I woke up in the middle of the night again, but never mind that'll pass.
The next day Gary took me into the office to introduce me to my new co-workers. All of whom were really friendly. I then went out for lunch with Gary and Dom my Aussie boss. We ate dog soup. It was a little tough but pretty tasty. I went home a piggy backed off someone else's wireless by standing on a chair and holding my laptop in my hand so I could chat to Sarah on MSN until my connection dropped and I went to bed.
Thursday was probably my most productive day by far, I was hooked up to the internet, i bought a phone and I was taken to my school to meet my director of studies and have a look around my new school. It's fucking massive. I also had my first lesson in Mandarin, which is a stupidly difficult language. I feel its going to take me a fair old while before I can really get the hang of it. I met my fellow western teachers in that class 4 chicks from Utah. We all know what Utah is don't we?! It's Mormon land. I made a comment about it being the Earths capital of Moronism (I said Mormonism) Just before I cracked a joke about it being almost as ridiculous as Scientology I made sure I checked if any of them were Mormons. They were. All of them. All Ugly all Mormons, all American. What a great mixture. I'll be honest though they are nice enough girls. I certainly wouldn't shag any of them though, even pissed and with a borrowed cock.
Friday came and went. I had already noticed I was getting a lot of attention from the locals due to the lack of westerners in the town but it didn't shine through nearly as much as at about 14:00 when I was walking to catch the bus and a girl on her bike was looking at me, no staring at me and paying no attention to the road ahead. She slammed straight into the back of a car and fell off. I stifled my laughter ad helped her up. As soon as she sheepishly road off into the distance I fell about laughing. Boy was that an unnecessary ego boost. I was later invited over to my bosses place for dinner with the Mormons it was a nice dinner. I then to a taxi home. Now the taxis here are a little original and I'm glad I wasn't wearing white shorts. They go fast, really fast. I'm talking up to 80km/ph. Ohh wow I hear you say 50 Mph. Yeah that's nothing. I agree that's nothing, when you're in a car. When your perched on the back of a motor bike with no leathers, no helmet and there are hundreds of buses cars and god knows what else hurtling past 50 mph id reeeeeeally fast. The road quality here isn't the best in the world either. That said it is a fucking good ride for less than 50p for a 20 minute journey. I stayed up chatting on line to various friends then hit the hay, far too late.
Saturday and I was ready to get my timetable from my director of studies. He came round at 11am obviously I was just about to get in the shower which left me in a state of undress perhaps not appropriate for meeting another one of my bosses. He came in and told me my time table. Two of my lessons being 2 hours later. I got to planning straight away. Just before I left I met another teacher from the school, Bob his name. He was a nice guy with really good English.
I arrived at school ready for class, the students were attentive but a little shy. That is apart from 3 of the girls who took great delight in asking if I had a girlfriend to which my response was yes, they also enjoyed telling me how handsome I was. After the lesson went on for a while we were discussing things we liked doing. Someone mentioned shopping so I said I also enjoyed shopping. I was then invited to go shopping with one of the girls. I kindly declined. Nothing like the attention of a group of kids to make you feel good about your self hey.
Anyway i'm off to cook myself some authentic Chinese food then go to the office as I have a lesson to teach tonight.
