So now that we have been back in the States for a few weeks, I can definitely say Shanghai was my favorite part of the trip. I think it was partially because it reminded me of New York with its beautiful skyline, amazing restaurants and variety of markets.

We arrived Friday night and were so excited to be staying at the beautiful Westin on the Bund. We quickly settled in and filled ourselves up with some appetizers and drinks at hotel bar and headed out to explore the town. As we walked out of the hotel we saw some street vendors making some excellent stir fry. Then our first stop was the Waldorf-Astoria where we had some delicious martinis, heard some great jazz and met a lot of nice people. There are a lot of Americans and Europeans in Shanghai that are very friendly and willing to share their favorite things to do in the city. After the Waldorf, we headed over to the Hyatt, where there was an INCREDIBLE roof top bar with a view of the Bund and the skyline that was absolutely breathtaking. There was also a hot tub on the roof and lots of people were just dangling their feet in it. So that about wraps up night one. 

We started off our second day by meeting our friends Corrie and Jake who live in Shanghai at the Jing An Temple. It was really beautiful and gave us a great taste of the religious culture in China. After the temple, we had a great lunch in a restaurant tucked away behind a shoe store. After lunch the boys and girls split up. The boys got massages and went to the bar while the girls went to the pearl and jade market, where we got some great deals on some beautiful jewelry for some gifts (and of course a little something for ourselves). Then we ended day two with an unforgettable dinner at Mr. and Mrs. Bund. Mr. and Mrs. Bund is a top 100 restaurant in the world. At dinner, the highlight was definitely the foie gras. 

On our last day we explored a local market called Tianzafung where we found a great place for delicious organic food as well as a lot of unique stores - handmade furniture, silk scarves, tea sets, fans…Then after the market, we had such a treat, Corrie and Jake invited us over to their Shanghai apartment for a BBQ. Their neighborhood reminds me of SoHo with a lot of smaller older buildings and cute local stores, there was even a great fresh market across the street from them. We ended the night watching fireworks from a nearby wedding and getting a lot of great pirate DVDs for the flight home (which we didn’t watch).

So that just about sums it up. Hope you enjoyed coming with us on our journey across China.

We left Hong Kong Sunday night to head to Macau since Monday was a labor holiday here in China - same as our labor day. We took a speed boat to get to Macau which was very nice, similar to the inside of a plane. When we arrived it reminded me exactly of Vegas - all of the name brand hotels are grouped together (MGM, Venetian, etc.). We stayed right off the strip at a Westin resort which was very nice. Sunday evening they recommended we go to “Martin’s” which to our misunderstanding was actually Morton’s Steakhouse. Since the “beef” here isn’t high quality, Morton’s imports all of it, steaks were over $100 each (topping Lugers!), so we all opted to get hamburgers (and some french onion soup) which were very delicious. After Morton’s we went to gamble in the Venetian. It scarily looks exactly the same as the Vegas hotel, except no free drinks and no excitement - the Chinese are a quiet people. Also, noone knew how to play any games. We played Black Jack and people would surrender their hands and didn’t know the rules which makes for a weird vibe at the table, but good news is we broke even - a.k.a we WON!

Monday we spent the day relaxing at our hotel in Macau, sitting by the pool and we got awesome, cheap massages - much needed. Then before heading to Guangzhou we had our last good American meal.

The journey to Guangzhou from Macau was quite interesting, we had to go through customs twice and we were in a mob of people. This was the first time we really felt the immensity of the population here - it was hard to even walk together. Then we took a three hour car ride to Guangzhou and when we arrived it was pretty much what I expected it to be like - a mix of tall new buildings and old torn buildings that look like a ghetto. We arrived late Monday night and went straight to sleep.

Tuesday was our first day at the Canton Fair. It is the biggest expo I have ever seen - bigger than four football fields. It was EXTREMELY hot working at the fair but we met some interesting people. There were a lot of people there from the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and South America, but not a lot of Americans. Tuesday night we had a traditional Cantonese meal which included cucumber salad (delicious!), roasted peanuts (delicious) and pig ear (tried to eat it but couldn’t event take a bite) for appetizers. For the main course we had goose, chicken, shrimp and fried rice. The goose and chicken are served whole with all of the bones and we couldn’t really eat them, but the shrimp and fried rice were delicious. Then for dessert we had watermelon (very refreshing), pork rolls (these were AMAZING!) and a strange coconut cake that had the consistency of jello. All-in-all we tried to be adventurous and it was a very cool experience to see what the locals have as a special meal.

Wednesday was by far my favorite day - I had the chance to see four factories. The first was a box factory and it was much cleaner than I expected. They made beautiful boxes for wine, jewelry, etc. and I was very impressed with the brands they worked with - Hugo Boss, Juicy Couture, Christian Dior, etc. What is so incredible is these items are mostly made by hand. I pictured the factories to be made up of a lot of machines that people operated, but it was exactly the opposite, a few machines and a lot of hand work by people. After the box factory we went to a silicone factory, a plastic factory and a bag factory. These three weren’t as clean as the box factory but not too bad, they were fairly clean. The worst part is that there is no air conditioning. The workers only have fans and have to sit in the same spot all day and do the exact same task over and over - they don’t switch what they do EVER. This experience made me really appreciate the kind of work I do.

Wednesday night we discovered a beautiful wine store in the midst of a lot of dirty restaurants, so we went in and they let us enjoy a bottle in the store, which was a very nice treat. Then we went to the only good American restaurant in town - I.N. Cafe - where we had delicious salads and pizza.

Thursday we were back at the fair and then Thursday night we had the chance to meet all of the employees in China from Adam’s company. We once again ate at the Italian restaurant. All of the employees were very nice, but they treated us like a higher class and would not sit with us at the big table, but rather at smaller tables downstairs. This was very strange. We kept asking them to sit with us but they didn’t feel like they could. So after we ate we just walked around to their tables to talk to them. Most of them are in their twenties and still live with their parents. 

Now it is Friday morning and we are in the BAMKO China office before we head to Shanghai. We are really looking forward to staying in a nice, clean hotel and having a few days to relax and enjoy ourselves.

The Port in Macau - SOOOO many people

The view of Guangzhou

Our Saving Grace in Guangzhou - the wine shop

Our Traditional Cantonese Meal

So right now we are at the last day of the trade show in Hong Kong and it has been a great time. We are told things will get worse before they get better, so we are trying to enjoy the clean water, food and bathrooms while we can. 

When we first arrived in Hong Kong we spent the first night on LKF(Lai Kwai Fong), a popular street. It was full of bars that were open to the street. At dinner there was a cool cover band. Then we had massive jello shots at a diner before we went out - a strange place to get jello shots, but they were yummy. Then we went to a few clubs and at the last one there was a panda DJ and a lot of foreigners. Hong Kong is very Western and is best described as a mix of Manhattan and Europe. All of the streets are windy but the city is full of beautiful sky scrapers. 

Day two we spent the morning at the trade show and then had a nice Italian lunch in Kowloon over looking the island. Hong Kong is actually made up of two parts - an island and mainland. We tried to walk around TST (Tsim Sha Tsui), a cool shopping area, but we got caught in the rain. Then we were adventurous and took the subway. The subway is very nice and clean and easy to use. Also, we met a nice Australian on the train. Then we needed to take a taxi home and we had to wait on a line for a long time. You can only wave down taxis in certain places and in others there are taxi stands, like at the airport in NY, where you have to wait on a line.

The second night we went to an Aqua restaurant, Hu Tong, where we had the tasting menu. It was VERY expensive and we were a little disappointed with the food, but it was more traditional Chinese food, so a good experience. The first course was a mix of seafood - scallops, noodles and clams. The second course was chicken - which tasted like sweet and sour chicken but much spicier. Then we had a huge prawn which was my favorite part of the meal. Our last course was a beef dish, but was VERY spicy. We ended with dessert which was a fried apple stick with ice cream that didn’t taste like ice cream. The view at dinner was sick, but the food made sick. 

Day three we went to Kings to get the boys custom made shirts. I convinced Adam to get 7, I think he almost had a heart attack because he had to spend money. Then we went on a hunt for FedEx and no locals knew what FedEx was. On this journey we saw chickens and ducks hanging from the windows. That’s what I envisioned China to be like.

And for the last night we had a great dinner at Oolaa - the only meal that didn’t upset our stomachs. Then we went out for a little at a bar called Wagyu. Adam and I decided to be old people and go back to the hotel before 12. This was a GREAT idea because I think we are the only two people not hungover today.

Looking forward to Macau tonight - the Vegas of China - we’re feeling lucky.

More to come from the “mainland.”

First night out in LKF.

View from Hu Tong