Thursday, August 02, 2007
so here's my account on my recent trip to ShenZhen:
my mum and i left for SZ via tigerairways on the 24th of july (tues). so the 3h30min flight was tolerable, although my nose felt irritated and the air felt a thin as cardboard. so we arrived in SZ at around 11plus, close to midnight. so pushing our trolley with our 2 huge luggages on it through the arrival gates, tanned looking china men and women started coming up to us, wanting to offer their 'services' to us. as in, they wanted to earn a fast buck by helping us with our luggage. and some of them were taxi drivers wanting to charge us an unearthly price for a trip into the city. the were super pesky, they'd walk beside us so closely and had their hands on our luggages. wroight, so my mum being the frequent traveller planned for us to board the airport transfer bus that costs only S$5 each person. so the bus journey took about 50mins and we alighted along the road. and immediately, taxi drivers started coming up to us. apparently they were in droves tailing closely behind the bus. thankfully our hotel was just less than 5mins away from where we alighted. and in their taxis, there's a metal grid and acrylic plate that separates the front and back seats. i guess more for the protection of the passengers la. we were at the hotel around close to 1am. and i was so thrilled because the moment i switched on the television, they were playing this taiwan drama with Zheng Yuan Chang in it. so that kinda made me happy. and there were quite a few nice channels with HongKong dramas and Korean dramas. then my mum and i fell asleep at around 3am.
we woke up the next morning at 11am. okay, maybe just me cos my mum was already dressed when i woke up. so then, we skipped breakfast and waited for my mum's friend to pick us from the hotel. this second day was strictly for business. so the guy who picked us up was called 'Xiao Ma' (little horse). he's 23 and married with a baby. ok so anyway, we went to his boss' office, and his boss being my mum's china agent, Alan. so after a conversation, we drove to this famous restaurant for lunch. my first china chinese meal. we had goooood soup and tasty vegs. it was then i made my first boo boo. they poured tea in my tea cup and i took a sip. then when i looked up and saw what Alan(pronounced Air-Len) was doing, i was like, shit. well, that cup of tea was meant to be used for rinsing your own utensils. WROIGHT.
so after lunch, we went to my mum's manufacturer's office. basically, my mum had ordered a batch of goods from this paper company that specializes in making post-it pads. but when the batch of goods arrived in s'pore, a big bulk of them were faulty goods; insufficient pieces of post-its and bad printing. so my mum wanted to 'tao hui gong dao', in other words, demand for compensation. this china boss (Ma Lao Ban) was trying to give excuses of how this order was different from what his company has been doing and how he's short of manpower..blahblah. cut the long story short, the security gaurds came up because Alan started talking loudly and 'banged' his table (pai zuo zi). so about 4 security guards came up, attempting to solve the problem, but to no avail. throughout the whole drama, my heart was racing. and halfway through the heated and intense argument, pabby called me! haha, hilarious. in the end, my mum buay tahan cos Ma Lao Ban refused to settle and compromise, so my mum stood up in fury, pointed her finger at Ma Lao Ban and started speaking accurate english to him. hilarious, i was trying to contain my laughter cos his face was a total blank. but yeah, that Ma Lao Ban is a really horrible guy, no integrity, no honesty, no business ethics at all. pantat.
after that, we visited another factory really far away ya and at those industrial districts, it really looks so different man....that's about it, day 2.
day 3 was spent shopping in Luo Wu Cheng. it's a biiiiiggg shopping centre with 5 levels of shopping. basically they've got lotsa imitation branded bags, clothing, shoes and ya, it's a girl's paradise. but because it's a touristy area, they're prices are quite steep. thankfully, my mum knew their pattern. the first 3 levels are usually more eggspensive compared to the last 2 levels. but then again, some of the designs of bags are exclusive to certain shops. ohoh, we did our mani and pedi there for just S$5. and the people there really are the best solicitors. they'll sit outside their shops and shout at you to come in, some would even pull you. all that, while calling you 'liang nu'. and my mum was the breast bargainer man. she really cut the price by 80%. and it's funny how they think we're taiwanese cos of the way we speak chinese. then when they hear us speak english they'll be enlightened and realise we're singaporean. so it's really great that we're bilingual ehh. but bargaining is really damn tiring. but my mum's the pro. so we'd actually spend about close to half an hour haggling to and fro. and then the shop keeper will look so irritated and upset, muttering something beneath their breaths. haha.
my mum wanted to get korean dramas so we went to this video shop. and she bought 20 serials. my goodness. but it's blardy cheap because they compress the whole entire drama into 2 dvds and we bargained for each dvd to cost just S$1!!!!
dinner was at a local restaurant near the video shop. the food's damn cheap and delicious, although very oily and salty, but seriously goooood. and have i mentioned cheap?!
oh it's summer time so it was very very very hot. unlike singapore, their humidity level is close to negative (in my opinion la.) so it was really damn uncomfortable and tormenting to be shopping outdoors. we went to Dong Men (East Door), which somewhat resembled Bugis Street to shop, but it was sooo horribly hot that we didn't stay long. omg, and in sz, they hardly use sitting toilet bowls. so most of the time you'd be squatting.
so i bought some stuff from sz and i'm intending to sell them off. handbags (big enough for laptops) and dresses. and yea, i've got the intention of setting up my own online shop, hopefully in due time, expanding into an actual retail shop, then opening franchises island-wide, then expanding regional, ultimately making a mark in the global market. support me okay, as i DREAM on.....(:
hippo+potato at 5:50 PM
