Good day. So it's time for another blog post. Been meaning to do this one for awhile, but timing, laziness, and Game of Thrones have caused a bit of a delay. So let's go!
What do we do at the trade fair?
In case you are not aware, Iliada and I are at the Canton trade fair in Guangzhou with various people from our company (we have a rotating lineup of people from the company over the next couple of weeks, but Iliada and I will stay until the end). Iliada and I are split up. We go talk to different booths for different types of products...the halls each have different categories of stuff being sold. If something looks good, the booth is big, yada yada, we go and start talking to them. Everyone, for the most part, does speak English (some better than others) about a few basic questions. If they answer them the way we want to, the others will jump in and begin negotiating, or else we keep going. Time goes by pretty quick, and before we know it it's lunch time. The lunch choices are a bit interesting, but we have found something that seems to work quite well for all of us. We do not want McDonalds every day. So many people at this fair from around the world...from the middle east, from India, from Russia, from America...such a vast amount of people there. We notice that in Guangzhou no one really stares at us that intently as they do in Tianjin, as I guess they are used to foreginers. And it's hot here. So take off all your clothes...I am getting so hot I wanna take my clothes off. Yes...I quoted a Nelly song from like 10 years ago. I'm getting old.
Anyways....here are some things that we have been doing.
Sunday and Monday: Quite sick for the first few days here! Just a bad throat and cough, and a snarfly nose. Gettting used to the work, and enjoying supper with the others from the company afterwards. We do this more or less every night, and it's awesome. Plus we don't get to pay at all, so it's even better.
Tuesday We went for supper with other people from the company that were Iliada's roomates for a brief time in Tianjin. Afterwards, we went to the tv tower area, which was very cool and lots to see and do. It used to be the largest TV tower in the world, but Tokyo decided to make a bigger one. Just seems like a penis meausring contest or someting.
Wednesday: Hot pot. This time though, unlike the one in Beijing, it wasn't mediocre. I guess this is what happens when you go with Chinese people and let them pick out the ingredients.
Thursday: First of our four days off! We work four days on, and then four days off. Guangzhou loves to rain, so of course it was raining on the day that we had off. We went to this street that was full of wedding stuff...they had a mall that was more or less full of wedding dresses. As the rain was not letting up, we decided to go to the Guangzhou museum by the TV tower and take a look at some history about Guangzhou amongst other things. It was nice to be inside away from the rain, and eventually it went away! We made our way to Shamian island, where they have this french/british area that was very cool.
Notice about Guangzhou...it's a very interesting city with multiple personalities. One minute you are in this one busy area, and the next you can be in a peaceful area full of nature or something completely different. We went around some more and maqde our way through some very interesting Chinese alleyways. We then went to a different (sigh) shopping distrcit, but to eat and then to check out a lake nearby afterwards. We enjoyed a nice Italian supper and then made our way to the lake, after a bit of confusion and navigation. It was a very cool lake, to say the least. The name escapes me right now. Good day!
Friday: More rain, so we hung around for awhile waiting for it to go away. We went to beijing road to quickly eat, and then went to this really really really awesome park that felt like it could have been a lush forest in the middle of nowhere...not in the middle of one of the biggest cities in China. Yuexiu Park is what it is called. While it rained quite hard, the trees did shelter us somewhat, and the rain added a cool atmosphere and feel to the place that made it seem even more authentic. Afterwards, we went to this super duper duper awesome place nearby our hotel for supper cheap meals that was filling beyond belief. I love noodles.
Saturday: Went to Shenzen, to visit one of Iliada's friends, Pedro, who did an AIESEC intership with Iliada the year before. He was busy with work so we went around the city a bit. While Shenzhen, one of the few Special Economic Zones in China and the wealthiest city in China, just doesn't have really much to do. We went to a port...which was pretty lame but yet pretty funny at the same time. I guess we saw the funny aspects about spending our valuable time there. Later on, we went to this area to eat, and then met up with Pedro, who took us on a night in Shenzen.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday: Getting lazy here, and this is obviously way too long at this point. Went to Shanghai to take care of my work visa issues once and for all....it's a long story that involves sadness, frustration, laughter, redemption, 7-11 hot dogs, rekindled connections, and a clown named Binky. Perhaps you will hear it one day. Anyways, was just in Shanghai briefly, before spending a day of waiting around for trains and planes....I seem to have great luck with planes that decide to take off 2 hours later than they should. Anyways, got back for work today (Tuesday). A couple of more days and then I will have another four days off.
And that's the way the cookie crumbles.
TLDR: Omnomnom noodles.
Slideshow doesn't want to upload for something. So this photo gallery will have to do.
What do we do at the trade fair?
In case you are not aware, Iliada and I are at the Canton trade fair in Guangzhou with various people from our company (we have a rotating lineup of people from the company over the next couple of weeks, but Iliada and I will stay until the end). Iliada and I are split up. We go talk to different booths for different types of products...the halls each have different categories of stuff being sold. If something looks good, the booth is big, yada yada, we go and start talking to them. Everyone, for the most part, does speak English (some better than others) about a few basic questions. If they answer them the way we want to, the others will jump in and begin negotiating, or else we keep going. Time goes by pretty quick, and before we know it it's lunch time. The lunch choices are a bit interesting, but we have found something that seems to work quite well for all of us. We do not want McDonalds every day. So many people at this fair from around the world...from the middle east, from India, from Russia, from America...such a vast amount of people there. We notice that in Guangzhou no one really stares at us that intently as they do in Tianjin, as I guess they are used to foreginers. And it's hot here. So take off all your clothes...I am getting so hot I wanna take my clothes off. Yes...I quoted a Nelly song from like 10 years ago. I'm getting old.
Anyways....here are some things that we have been doing.
Sunday and Monday: Quite sick for the first few days here! Just a bad throat and cough, and a snarfly nose. Gettting used to the work, and enjoying supper with the others from the company afterwards. We do this more or less every night, and it's awesome. Plus we don't get to pay at all, so it's even better.
Tuesday We went for supper with other people from the company that were Iliada's roomates for a brief time in Tianjin. Afterwards, we went to the tv tower area, which was very cool and lots to see and do. It used to be the largest TV tower in the world, but Tokyo decided to make a bigger one. Just seems like a penis meausring contest or someting.
Wednesday: Hot pot. This time though, unlike the one in Beijing, it wasn't mediocre. I guess this is what happens when you go with Chinese people and let them pick out the ingredients.
Thursday: First of our four days off! We work four days on, and then four days off. Guangzhou loves to rain, so of course it was raining on the day that we had off. We went to this street that was full of wedding stuff...they had a mall that was more or less full of wedding dresses. As the rain was not letting up, we decided to go to the Guangzhou museum by the TV tower and take a look at some history about Guangzhou amongst other things. It was nice to be inside away from the rain, and eventually it went away! We made our way to Shamian island, where they have this french/british area that was very cool.
Notice about Guangzhou...it's a very interesting city with multiple personalities. One minute you are in this one busy area, and the next you can be in a peaceful area full of nature or something completely different. We went around some more and maqde our way through some very interesting Chinese alleyways. We then went to a different (sigh) shopping distrcit, but to eat and then to check out a lake nearby afterwards. We enjoyed a nice Italian supper and then made our way to the lake, after a bit of confusion and navigation. It was a very cool lake, to say the least. The name escapes me right now. Good day!
Friday: More rain, so we hung around for awhile waiting for it to go away. We went to beijing road to quickly eat, and then went to this really really really awesome park that felt like it could have been a lush forest in the middle of nowhere...not in the middle of one of the biggest cities in China. Yuexiu Park is what it is called. While it rained quite hard, the trees did shelter us somewhat, and the rain added a cool atmosphere and feel to the place that made it seem even more authentic. Afterwards, we went to this super duper duper awesome place nearby our hotel for supper cheap meals that was filling beyond belief. I love noodles.
Saturday: Went to Shenzen, to visit one of Iliada's friends, Pedro, who did an AIESEC intership with Iliada the year before. He was busy with work so we went around the city a bit. While Shenzhen, one of the few Special Economic Zones in China and the wealthiest city in China, just doesn't have really much to do. We went to a port...which was pretty lame but yet pretty funny at the same time. I guess we saw the funny aspects about spending our valuable time there. Later on, we went to this area to eat, and then met up with Pedro, who took us on a night in Shenzen.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday: Getting lazy here, and this is obviously way too long at this point. Went to Shanghai to take care of my work visa issues once and for all....it's a long story that involves sadness, frustration, laughter, redemption, 7-11 hot dogs, rekindled connections, and a clown named Binky. Perhaps you will hear it one day. Anyways, was just in Shanghai briefly, before spending a day of waiting around for trains and planes....I seem to have great luck with planes that decide to take off 2 hours later than they should. Anyways, got back for work today (Tuesday). A couple of more days and then I will have another four days off.
And that's the way the cookie crumbles.
TLDR: Omnomnom noodles.
Slideshow doesn't want to upload for something. So this photo gallery will have to do.
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