Impression of China

To be honest, I have never thought of working in China before. All I knew about China was just only a red flag with five yellow stars. Apart from the flag, when I thought of China, the following words will pops out from my mine: Dirty, rude, squat toilet, pollution etc...
(to be continue...time to go out..hehe)

A new hobby in China - MASSAGE!!

If someone ask me what do you do in China during your free time. Apart from traveling / sightseeing , I will say GO FOR MASSAGES!

Reasons!? It's because MASSAGE IN CHINA ARE NICE AND CHEAP! =)

Fire Cupping after the foot massages

There are many massaging places in China.

variety of movies are available for you to choose. You can enjoy the movies while having the massage.

40RMB massage includes the following:

- feet into the a bucket of hot water before the massages begins.

- some snacks and tea are provided.

- selection of movies/TV programs are available

- almost an hour of massage including the foot and the body

- Fire cupping for the feet.

So cheap and feels like heaven.  Apart from massages, the massaging places also provides some other services such as fire cupping for the back. I have never done fire cupping before I came to China.  According to the local Chinese, fire cupping is good for the body. I was curious in fire cupping, I end up trying it with my friend. I thought it would be so hurt however it was not as hurt as I thought =

As usual, one of my workmates had a bad back pain therefore we decided to go to massage after work. While I was having the massage, I was wondering..oh dear, I'm leaving China soon. I will no longer enjoy the nice and cheap massage especially in Australia. I wonder how am I going to survive without the massages..=S 

Hong Kong & 古惑仔 (Young and dangerous)

Ever since I came to Hangzhou - Fuyang (杭州富陽市) for work, the local Chinese often like to talk/ ask about Hong Kong to start off the conversation, especially when I first met them.

No matter what kind of people I was chatting with (including the taxi driver, the housekeepers, the bell boys etc.), the similar topics always cane across. I felt like I kept on repeating myself all the time. surprisingly, I found some common things in those conversations. Somehow I found it interesting and yet speechless.  This is how the conservation usually goes.

FY=Fuyanese   M=Myself

FY: 你是哪裡的？你應該不是我們這裡的。 

FY: Where do you come from? I don't think you are the local people here like us.

M: 我是從香港來的，但是我在澳大利亞上學。

M: I came from Hong Kong, however I did my studies in Australia.

FY: 香港來的，香港也就是我們中國的麻。怪不的你的口音跟我們大陸的不一樣。我还以為你是從外國（韓國／日本 etc)來的。不過你的中文还好。因為我聽香港的中文 。。。。。。。。［有客人曾經跟我說最怕聽香港人的中文］

FY: From Hong Kong... Hong Kong is part of China. No wonder your accent is different from the rest of the Chinese in China. I thought you are Japanese or Korean. Your mandarin is not bad, because I heard the people from HK who speaks Mandarin..........

[one of the guests told me that he scares of listening the hong kong people speaking in Mandarin]

The Movie - 古惑仔 (Young and Dangerous) 

FY: 哪你們香港是不是有很多古惑仔？ 我看看電視，甚麼銅鑼灣。。地方治安很亂。 

［还有人跟我說他的親人以前去香港，很亂！有黑社會。还是中國好，富陽好。］

FY: Are there many gangsters staying in HK? I saw it from the television , places like Causeway Bay is a mess. It is not a safe place.

[Some one told me that her relative went to HK before and said HK is a mess. China, Fuyang is a better place to stay]

M: 香港！？古惑仔！？治安很亂！？沒有阿。 我覺得香港很好。很安全阿， 还有很方便！ 你。。是不是看太多電視啦！？

M: Hong Kong? Gangsters? Not a safe place? No! Hong Kong is a really safe and convenient city. I guess you probably watched too much television

When the local said to me where do I come from and HK is part of China, I often feel speechless. It is not because I disagree the fact that HK is not part of China. It's because they asked me "where do you come from?", therefore I should give them a more specific answer consider I am already in China. -_-'. I thought they want to know which part of China do I come from. However, I still think there is a difference between Hong Kong and China. the culture is different.

 well, at least I should be glad that at least some of the Chinese understand my mandarin (with strong HK accent). haha.  

One thing I was surprised the fact that why would they thought HK is not a safe place. I thought when people talk about HK, they should think HK is a shopping paradise instead of a lot of gangsters in HK. Surprised the fact that some of the local think HK is a dangerous place. Perhaps it's because they've never been to HK plus the media influence. 

Funny how while the local chinese does not think HK is a safe place, before I came to work in China I did not think China was a safe place as well. haha. However, my 7 month studying and working in China changed my perception about China. Not everyone places in China are dangerous and of course, not all the places are safe as well. The way the local chinese look at HK is probably similar as some of the HK people look at China.

it's almost the end of the journey....No regret!

I was going through all the photos in my iphone. looking at the photos that i took from Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Da Tong, Hangzhou, Fuyang, Shanghai, Ja Xing..I am so glad with the decision that I made to China. Once again I really have to say "It's A Eye Opening Experience!" it's  something that I believe if you've never travelled, never lived in that place, you will never know.

I started to count how many places I have visited/ lived in and I realized for the past  2 years, I've been to a lot of places without realizing (Switzerland, Milan, Amsterdam and all the other cities where I've been to in China) . I guess I would never thought my 2 years "swiss journey" will end up a interesting and eye opening experience! 

I remember before I left Australia, I was a kinda reluctant to go to Switzerland. The reason I went it's because I hoped it will give me a better a career life and this is why I decided to go. I was happy and settled in Australia. A lot of people were envy the fact that i can go to swiss and thought i must feel so happy and excited about my trip. However, all the uncertainty for the future, leaving my comfort zone..leaving my friends and everything starting all over again gave me an uneasy feeling. Same situation happen again when I decided to come to China. I know deeply in my heart the fact that going to China will strengthen my language skills which will benefit my career, but China did not gave me a good impression base on the travel experiences in the past. I was reluctant to go to Beijing to learn Mandarin. Life is unpredictable. You will never know what will happen next. I thought I will go back to Australia after 1 month mandarin course but guess what!? I ended up found an 6 month internship in china! who would have thought I will end up working in China before I leave Australia. HAHA. again it was because i know it's good for my career this is why I chose to work for the 6 month management training in a resort in china. 

I thought my journey in China will not be as interesting and eye-opening as in Switzerland, but i was wrong! The 1 month staying in the Beijing language university makes me realized the importance of learning chinese as well as the china is becoming more recognized in the world!

My classmates in Mandarin Classes from different parts of the world: Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Chinese who grown up in Japan, Ukraine, Japanese who studies in Canada, Americans, Australian, American Born Chinese and me (Hong Kong who went to Australia & Swiss for studies).

Lots of people from different races, different background, different countries came all the way to china just to learn mandarin. For once, i am proud to be a chinese! =) However, I am shame to be a chinese as well because I am chinese and I still needed to learn chinese with a bunch of foreigners -_____-" sigh. If I did not came to Beijing, I would not travel Da Tong and Inner Mongolia. will never forget the horse riding experience in Inner Mongolia as well as the YUMMEST Lamb BBQ from a bunch a really friendly Chinese from beijing!

Horse riding n Inner Mongolia 

The most delicious barbecue lamb sticks I've ever had in my life SO FAR!! It's a must! If anyone are going to Inner Mongolia.

An interesting experience - Sleeping in the Mongolian Tent with 3 other friends =) 

Da Tong 

If I did not come to Beijing, I would not consider finding a internship in China. I would not end up coming to Hangzhou- Fuyang for work. During my day off i would not end up catching a fast train to Shanghai meeting my friend whom i knew in Swiss as well as catching the train to Jia Xing visiting the Xi Tang Ancient Town. It's a beautiful place! my 2 years of "studying' and "working' experience became a 2 years holidays for me to travel =) I've never though of catching trains traveling to different places until I went to Swiss and China. It's THAT CONVENIENT!

Fast train (高鐵) to everywhere in China 

I always thought plane is the only transportation travel for holiday perhaps because i lived in HK before and if I go to the neighbour countries, eg. Taiwan, japan etc travel by plane is needed. lol. 

Also I never expected I would end up staying in a multi-cultural environment in China. Apart from the beijing language and cultural university, I stayed in the manager dormitory where there's people from Philippines, Japan, India, Pakistani. some of my flat mates speaks mandarin as well =) I've also met the other management trainee from Swiss, Brunei and recently 1 more from Brazil. somehow, they made me realized there's a lot of opportunities opening for you around the world. Do not restricted yourself working in just one city/ one country. go explore the world, the culture, and the working opportunities. you may end up getting/ learning more than you expect!

Housemates / Workmates I've met during my management training in China.  There are people from Philippines, India, Japan, Pakistan, Switzerland, Brunei, Taiwan and me (Hong Kong/ Australia). Some of the foreign workmates speak Chinese as well ;)

I did not know how much I love travel and living in different countries until I went to swiss and china! I know I am not a friend of keep changing environment all the time. I  am not a really outgoing person however, after the uneasy period and once i am 'settle' in the place, i enjoyed my life. I LOVE the TRAVELING AND THE EXPLORING EXPERIENCE.