In The Land of The Dragon
This is my first trip to China, and I know the first impressions may not be enough for a land that ancient, but this is what I have guys at the moment ...
So this is my last evening in Guangzhou, China. Tomorrow morning I leave for Singapore. And now I can safely say that I have finally come face to face with the dragon, and also to a certain extent - tamed it.
It so happens that for my first visit to China, I was in a town most famous for its seafood. Also since it's close to HK and due to the trade fair they have every year, there are a lot of Western style hotels like Mariotte and Sheraton. I stayed in Landmark Canton. Quite an old hotel, but rooms are nice. I was in the exec suite anyway, so especially nice. What was best is the office is in this same buidling complex. I even have a secret passage to reach there. We did not even leave the building during the day - only in the evenings for dinner.
The food was great, and my clients were especially hospitable. For every meal till Wed night they took us out to some fancy restaurants and ordered till the food was coming out of our ears. They would usually book these little private rooms with a round table in the center and about 8-10 people would sit with me. There would be soup, dimsums, some grilled stuff, multiple rounds of fish, seafood, meat, noodles, and fried rice - and the table kept getting filled. In the end there would be at least 2 to 3 types of desserts - mostly fried. My food palette has vastly increased thanks to them. Man, these guys eat!
Here are things that I have eaten just in this week apart from the usual pork, chicken, beef, prawns, crab and fish:
Duck, duck liver, parts of duck and pig that I did not know people could eat - like tongue, feet, knuckles (these I could not get myself to eat) ... pigeon, raw prawns, snails, five or six types of seafish that I have never eaten before, jellyfish, seaweed, bamboo (there was a preparation with the inside of bamboo and cradmeat that was simply delicious), fungi (like mushroom) etc. etc. - and oh, I did eat frog too! ... Tastes like chicken. Not too exciting once you ate it. (I could not get myself to eat Eel though. Looked like a snake!) ... They do have a famous dish in Cantonese cuisine - it's called something 'dragon and tiger' ... Yep, you guessed it - snake and cat! ... Thankfully this was not part of the menu at any time I was there!
I loved most of the food. The raw prawns were great. You eat them chilled on a bed of ice, with wasabi and soya sauce. Things were going great till Wed lunch, when I ventured further and tried some raw snails. I guess they were not so fresh. Everyone who ate them fell sick. I was sick on Wed night and the whole of Thu, but became better by Thu evening. So from then on, I put a hold on to these fancy 7-8 course meals. The rest of the meals were typically 4 to 5 courses (still), but at least they were cooked. I also put a hold on all raw food for the time being. So I am better now. Last night we went to a place close to the Landmark Canton -- called the Hongkong Tea House. It is known for its iced tea (milk tea - tastes like our chai made and then chilled). Pretty nice. It's a speciality of the place. Instead of putting ice in the tea and diluting its taste, they pour the tea in a little glass bottle - like a carafe used for wine - and keep the carafe in a bowl full of ice. Innovative!
The part of town where I stayed - near Haizhu square - is the older part, a bit like Kolkata, but neater. It's got a wholesale market closeby. The weather of the town is like Mumbai, but a bit fresher. Less pollution. Also less hot. But quite humid as it is rainy season now ... It drizzles almost every day. There is river right across the road - called the 'Pearl' river - hence this part of town is called PRD - Pearl river delta. The evenings are pleasant as it cools down quite a bit than the day. People come out to walk and cycle and skate on the sidewalks. There are evening cruises on the river. The big govt boats have large neon signs ... Everything has large neon signs. And multiple screens. When you see gaudily decorated skyscrapers, you know you are in China.
Today we went to a different part of town - more modern. It's called Tianhe. It has three large malls around one block, so it's good for shopping. Most malls across the world look the same from inside. Only, in this case, even the names of shops were in Chinese. Thankfully I was with an American who has stayed more than half his life in Asia, about 8 years in Taiwan, and so he can read and converse in Chinese. ... The malls have some global brands. But going around is tough. There are meter taxis - not too expensive - but hard to get during rush hour. We had to wait for an hour to catch a taxi to return. There are buses, but they have Chinese characters, so you can't figure out where they are going. You can't ask directions as no one understands you. They don't even smile. Just walk away.
What is surprising is that I was expecting China to be cheaper than India, but it turns out that the prices of food, clothes, local travel etc. are almost the same - esp. when you as a foreigner want to keep out of trouble by not trying cheaper options. In fact, prices are typically higher. Even then, the malls were flooded with people today and most restaurants had long queues. Maybe because it was Friday, but the place was swarming with people. Found an interesting place selling ornate items made of ivory (hopefully naturally dead one) that was absolutely mind-blowing.
About the language, Mandarin is the most commonly spoken. However, in Guangzhou, people speak Cantonese (GZ's historical name is Canton). The difference is like that between Hindi and Marathi I guess. The script is the same. Most people here understand Mandarin. But no one outside on the streets speaks English. Even shops and hotels do not have a lot of people speaking Eng. So the moment they see foreigners they run for cover ... Surprisingly, the managers at the office were better off than I had imagined. Most could understand me, and could also speak in slightly broken Eng. The client had hired a translator for my visit, but his Eng was not that good, and anyway he had no clue about the business. He was used to translate in legal cases - like divorces! ... So he got canned on Wed. I had a Chinese girl in my team and the American. So we were able to manage without him. Today we made presentation - slides written in Eng, but the Chinese girl spoke in Mandarin. I just kept nodding and smiling.
The English translation is usually literal and sometimes very funny. Especially the grammar. Like, instead of saying 'smoking is not allowed inside the taxi', the sign says 'no smoking is allowed'! ... One of the guys at the office wrote to me - 'take-overed' - rather than 'took over' - as if 'takeover' is the noun and the past tense '-ed' needs to be put at the end. Even the names of places and people are quite funny ... I saw a hotel named 'Good' International hotel. Hehe! ... Even some of the names of people are unusual. There was a guy in the office who was called 'Seven'. Another girl was called 'Fancy'. Most Chinese have their real name that cannot be pronounced. So they have English names too.
In terms of people, I guess they are the same everywhere. But with Chinese, you don't know what they are thinking. They seldom smile, and usually have deadpan expression on their face. But the hotel staff is paid to be nice to you, and the office guys were really helpful. So I was okay. Guangzhou is notorious for being unsafe on the streets though. So I did not venture out much. Anyway, there was no time until this evening.
One thing is interesting. There are a lot of ladies who work and have a good career in offices and corporates - more than in India. They pass the marriagable age, and do not get married. There is a significant group of these - so much that they have a name in Chinese - which literally means 'left over' women! ... There are about a third of ladies that are 'left over' - especially in big towns like GZ. Now somebody needs to do something about this - sounds like a great social cause to me :) ...
In terms of living conditions, streets are cleaner than most cities in India. But that's about it. There is no real big difference. Politicians regulate the big stuff - like trade and Internet, but for the rest, it's all local and similar to India.
Property prices are shooting through the roof. Inflation is spiraling. People from rurals areas are flocking to the cities and crowding them. There are just too many cars on the street. Employee turnover is high. Salaries are going up, but so are the expenses (although GZ is cheaper than Beijing or even Shanghai) ... People travel by subway trains as fuel is expensive. They pay about 40% of their salary in taxes back to the government. The govt tries to sell crappy stuff at high prices in state-run shops (called 'Friendship shops'!) ... The people in the government have huge involvement in businesses through their immediate kins. This - in fact - is this week's big news. The prime minimster and other premiers of state have their sons, daughters, in-laws as heads of huge multi-millon RMB organizations.
It's all the same. In the Indian media, China is depicted as the land run with an iron fist, where everything is efficient and like clockwork. Sorry to disappoint you guys. It's all the same. Banks open at 9:00, but the ladies at the counter arrive at 9:15 and spend the next 20 mins setting up their shop for the day! ... We could hire them in our state run Indian banks! ... The immigration windows have mile long queues even on Saturday afternoons. People at the counters take a painfully long time to process things. Part of this may be due to the language, but mostly it is just poor process.
All in all, I am actually quite pleasantly surprised to find that China is not as inaccessible as I thought it would be! ... It is said that once you understand something, you don't fear it anymore. I suppose we should send more Indians here, so that all these worries about China will vanish in thin air.
In the end, I guess the only real advantage that India has here, in a race to being a world super-power (which, by the way, again appears to be a figment of journalist's imagination) between the dragon and the elephant - is that the elephant, with all its faults, warts and all (including the bloody brawls in the Indian Army, the corruption, the politics, the general apathy of educated lot about their country and other blah blah) - is still a real animal --- while the dragon appears to be simply a mythical being !!!
More later
- Shreekant
Guangzhou, China
18th May 2012
So this is my last evening in Guangzhou, China. Tomorrow morning I leave for Singapore. And now I can safely say that I have finally come face to face with the dragon, and also to a certain extent - tamed it.
It so happens that for my first visit to China, I was in a town most famous for its seafood. Also since it's close to HK and due to the trade fair they have every year, there are a lot of Western style hotels like Mariotte and Sheraton. I stayed in Landmark Canton. Quite an old hotel, but rooms are nice. I was in the exec suite anyway, so especially nice. What was best is the office is in this same buidling complex. I even have a secret passage to reach there. We did not even leave the building during the day - only in the evenings for dinner.
The food was great, and my clients were especially hospitable. For every meal till Wed night they took us out to some fancy restaurants and ordered till the food was coming out of our ears. They would usually book these little private rooms with a round table in the center and about 8-10 people would sit with me. There would be soup, dimsums, some grilled stuff, multiple rounds of fish, seafood, meat, noodles, and fried rice - and the table kept getting filled. In the end there would be at least 2 to 3 types of desserts - mostly fried. My food palette has vastly increased thanks to them. Man, these guys eat!
Here are things that I have eaten just in this week apart from the usual pork, chicken, beef, prawns, crab and fish:
Duck, duck liver, parts of duck and pig that I did not know people could eat - like tongue, feet, knuckles (these I could not get myself to eat) ... pigeon, raw prawns, snails, five or six types of seafish that I have never eaten before, jellyfish, seaweed, bamboo (there was a preparation with the inside of bamboo and cradmeat that was simply delicious), fungi (like mushroom) etc. etc. - and oh, I did eat frog too! ... Tastes like chicken. Not too exciting once you ate it. (I could not get myself to eat Eel though. Looked like a snake!) ... They do have a famous dish in Cantonese cuisine - it's called something 'dragon and tiger' ... Yep, you guessed it - snake and cat! ... Thankfully this was not part of the menu at any time I was there!
I loved most of the food. The raw prawns were great. You eat them chilled on a bed of ice, with wasabi and soya sauce. Things were going great till Wed lunch, when I ventured further and tried some raw snails. I guess they were not so fresh. Everyone who ate them fell sick. I was sick on Wed night and the whole of Thu, but became better by Thu evening. So from then on, I put a hold on to these fancy 7-8 course meals. The rest of the meals were typically 4 to 5 courses (still), but at least they were cooked. I also put a hold on all raw food for the time being. So I am better now. Last night we went to a place close to the Landmark Canton -- called the Hongkong Tea House. It is known for its iced tea (milk tea - tastes like our chai made and then chilled). Pretty nice. It's a speciality of the place. Instead of putting ice in the tea and diluting its taste, they pour the tea in a little glass bottle - like a carafe used for wine - and keep the carafe in a bowl full of ice. Innovative!
The part of town where I stayed - near Haizhu square - is the older part, a bit like Kolkata, but neater. It's got a wholesale market closeby. The weather of the town is like Mumbai, but a bit fresher. Less pollution. Also less hot. But quite humid as it is rainy season now ... It drizzles almost every day. There is river right across the road - called the 'Pearl' river - hence this part of town is called PRD - Pearl river delta. The evenings are pleasant as it cools down quite a bit than the day. People come out to walk and cycle and skate on the sidewalks. There are evening cruises on the river. The big govt boats have large neon signs ... Everything has large neon signs. And multiple screens. When you see gaudily decorated skyscrapers, you know you are in China.
Today we went to a different part of town - more modern. It's called Tianhe. It has three large malls around one block, so it's good for shopping. Most malls across the world look the same from inside. Only, in this case, even the names of shops were in Chinese. Thankfully I was with an American who has stayed more than half his life in Asia, about 8 years in Taiwan, and so he can read and converse in Chinese. ... The malls have some global brands. But going around is tough. There are meter taxis - not too expensive - but hard to get during rush hour. We had to wait for an hour to catch a taxi to return. There are buses, but they have Chinese characters, so you can't figure out where they are going. You can't ask directions as no one understands you. They don't even smile. Just walk away.
What is surprising is that I was expecting China to be cheaper than India, but it turns out that the prices of food, clothes, local travel etc. are almost the same - esp. when you as a foreigner want to keep out of trouble by not trying cheaper options. In fact, prices are typically higher. Even then, the malls were flooded with people today and most restaurants had long queues. Maybe because it was Friday, but the place was swarming with people. Found an interesting place selling ornate items made of ivory (hopefully naturally dead one) that was absolutely mind-blowing.
About the language, Mandarin is the most commonly spoken. However, in Guangzhou, people speak Cantonese (GZ's historical name is Canton). The difference is like that between Hindi and Marathi I guess. The script is the same. Most people here understand Mandarin. But no one outside on the streets speaks English. Even shops and hotels do not have a lot of people speaking Eng. So the moment they see foreigners they run for cover ... Surprisingly, the managers at the office were better off than I had imagined. Most could understand me, and could also speak in slightly broken Eng. The client had hired a translator for my visit, but his Eng was not that good, and anyway he had no clue about the business. He was used to translate in legal cases - like divorces! ... So he got canned on Wed. I had a Chinese girl in my team and the American. So we were able to manage without him. Today we made presentation - slides written in Eng, but the Chinese girl spoke in Mandarin. I just kept nodding and smiling.
The English translation is usually literal and sometimes very funny. Especially the grammar. Like, instead of saying 'smoking is not allowed inside the taxi', the sign says 'no smoking is allowed'! ... One of the guys at the office wrote to me - 'take-overed' - rather than 'took over' - as if 'takeover' is the noun and the past tense '-ed' needs to be put at the end. Even the names of places and people are quite funny ... I saw a hotel named 'Good' International hotel. Hehe! ... Even some of the names of people are unusual. There was a guy in the office who was called 'Seven'. Another girl was called 'Fancy'. Most Chinese have their real name that cannot be pronounced. So they have English names too.
In terms of people, I guess they are the same everywhere. But with Chinese, you don't know what they are thinking. They seldom smile, and usually have deadpan expression on their face. But the hotel staff is paid to be nice to you, and the office guys were really helpful. So I was okay. Guangzhou is notorious for being unsafe on the streets though. So I did not venture out much. Anyway, there was no time until this evening.
One thing is interesting. There are a lot of ladies who work and have a good career in offices and corporates - more than in India. They pass the marriagable age, and do not get married. There is a significant group of these - so much that they have a name in Chinese - which literally means 'left over' women! ... There are about a third of ladies that are 'left over' - especially in big towns like GZ. Now somebody needs to do something about this - sounds like a great social cause to me :) ...
In terms of living conditions, streets are cleaner than most cities in India. But that's about it. There is no real big difference. Politicians regulate the big stuff - like trade and Internet, but for the rest, it's all local and similar to India.
Property prices are shooting through the roof. Inflation is spiraling. People from rurals areas are flocking to the cities and crowding them. There are just too many cars on the street. Employee turnover is high. Salaries are going up, but so are the expenses (although GZ is cheaper than Beijing or even Shanghai) ... People travel by subway trains as fuel is expensive. They pay about 40% of their salary in taxes back to the government. The govt tries to sell crappy stuff at high prices in state-run shops (called 'Friendship shops'!) ... The people in the government have huge involvement in businesses through their immediate kins. This - in fact - is this week's big news. The prime minimster and other premiers of state have their sons, daughters, in-laws as heads of huge multi-millon RMB organizations.
It's all the same. In the Indian media, China is depicted as the land run with an iron fist, where everything is efficient and like clockwork. Sorry to disappoint you guys. It's all the same. Banks open at 9:00, but the ladies at the counter arrive at 9:15 and spend the next 20 mins setting up their shop for the day! ... We could hire them in our state run Indian banks! ... The immigration windows have mile long queues even on Saturday afternoons. People at the counters take a painfully long time to process things. Part of this may be due to the language, but mostly it is just poor process.
All in all, I am actually quite pleasantly surprised to find that China is not as inaccessible as I thought it would be! ... It is said that once you understand something, you don't fear it anymore. I suppose we should send more Indians here, so that all these worries about China will vanish in thin air.
In the end, I guess the only real advantage that India has here, in a race to being a world super-power (which, by the way, again appears to be a figment of journalist's imagination) between the dragon and the elephant - is that the elephant, with all its faults, warts and all (including the bloody brawls in the Indian Army, the corruption, the politics, the general apathy of educated lot about their country and other blah blah) - is still a real animal --- while the dragon appears to be simply a mythical being !!!
More later
- Shreekant
Guangzhou, China
18th May 2012
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