The Pavilion Hotel

No. 4002, Huaqiang Road N.

Futian District

Shenzhen,

Tel. +86 755 8207 8888

Fax （86 755）8207 5555

http://www.pavilionhotel.com

 

The Pavilion Hotel is a stylish, attractive property located in the thriving Futian District of Shenzhen. Nearby attractions include many shopping centers, the Haufa Road “food street”. The hotel is 3 km from the Shenzhen Hi Tech Exhibition Center, 35 km from Shenzhen airport, and 6 km from the Lo Wu Railway Station (Hong Kong border).  The 33 storey mixed use building is part hotel and part office tower. The Chinese ownership and management touts a “green” policy citing that it is the first Chinese hotel to have the earned the 5A green standard.  The impressive lobby is gleaming marble and it gives way to an attractive atrium which houses the hotels pleasant Greenland Lounge which is a relaxing place to try traditional Chinese teas.

 

Guest rooms are attractively decorated in neutral beige tones. Standard rooms are a meager 29 m² but the deluxe and Superior rooms are a more comfortable 36 m². Individually controlled air-conditioners are standard, but heating is not. All rooms feature free hi-speed internet access, an ergonomically designed work space, separate shower stalls and the usual array of amenities one expects in an Asian four star hotel. The rooms on the hotels Pavilion Club level have a direct-to-floor glass lift and feature fax machines. Pavilion Club Floor Benefits include: express check-in/check-out services,  3-minute free IDD "Call Home "service, complimentary breakfast and afternoon tea, evening cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, complimentary fruit basket,  free pressing service, and use of boardroom for the first two hours.

 

The Grand Ballroom on the 3^rd level can handle 650 classroom and features a built-in Simultaneous Translation System. There are 8 additional well equipped function rooms on this level ranging from 27 m² to 76 m². The feature video conferencing systems and upscale audio visual facilities. All rooms are slightly wedge shaped because of the buildings architecture. On level 2 the hotel has a multi-function hall which is divisible by 3 and can accommodate up to 480 theatre style but only has a 3m ceiling height.

Those setting up business in China can take advantage of the hotel’s Business Center on the 3rd floor which contains 11 serviced offices with sizes ranging from 6m² to 17m². These can be rented from a minimum of 15days. Copy, typing, color and laser printing, IDD, fax, board-band internet access, binding, lamination, translation and interpretation, short-hand, office stationery for sales, courier, reading room, mobile battery recharging, name card printing, film developing, ticketing service. Guests may also use of the hotels conference facilities, meeting rooms, reading room and a rest area. Logistical support is provided by Guest Service Associates.

 

Food and beverage outlets tend to cater to the many Oriental guests with separate Japanese, Korean and Chinese restaurants. The Pavilion Café features continental cuisine in a European atmosphere and the Gold Rush Bar, has live music every evening in an American fashion. In short something for everyone.

 

Recreational facilities are good for an urban hotel. There is well-equipped Health Centre, outdoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi, tennis courts, sauna and steam baths as well as a massage centre. This hotel caters more to Chinese and other North Asian guests, but it is a very good option for business travelers to Shenzhen. 297 guest rooms/suites. Rates RMB 880 – 6800.

 

Landmark Hotel Shenzhen

3018 Nanhu Road

Shenzhen, 518001 PRC

Tel. +86 755 8217 2288

Fax: +86 755 8229 0473

www.szlandmark.com

 

Shenzhen’s all suite Landmark Hotel is located in the city’s old business district, Luo Hu. While the newer hotels in town are opening in the Futian district to the west of Luo Hu, this location still has its advantages which include good shopping (both luxury malls and for the ubiquitous Chinese knock offs), proximity to insurance and finance companies and an easy commute by rail to Hong Kong.

 

The Landmark is undergoing a $US 16 Million dollar renovation and it seems almost all of this so far has gone into upgrading the sleeping rooms which included doubling the size.  The hotel's facade isn't much to write home about and the smallish lobby lacks the granduer of its nieghbor the Shangri-la Shenzhen. It has a more intimate, subdued feel appropriate for its all business focus. The new guest rooms are some of the largest and best appointed in town. With a conservative traditional décor, the emphasis is on comfort and function. The smallest rooms, King Studios (80) are a very generous 48 m², Deluxe Studios (32) are 55 m², Executive Suites (32) are 79 m² and Grand Suites (32) are 82 m². All feature 42-inch plasma TVs, DVD players, intelligent air conditioning and double glazed windows, free broadband internet, oversized king beds that are very comfortable by Chinese (or anyone else’s) standards. The bathrooms are thoughtfully laid out with deep tubs and a separate marble shower stall with a special fold down seat and both rainforest and normal sprays.  Vanities with make up mirrors and hair dryers are conveniently placed just outside of the bathrooms which is a feature couples are sure to appreciate. Rooms have a trouser press in addition to iron and ironing boards. Special amenities are placed in the floors dedicated to female guests. The hotel has 5 floors on the Club level accessed by express elevators. The Club Lounge serves breakfast, daily snacks, evening hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. Club floors are serviced by the Landmark’s London trained butlers who act as a combination of personal secretary, valet and concierge. This service is especially appealing when language difficulties can make even the simplest items a challenge for business travelers in China.

 

The hotel has five (5) food and beverage outlets. The Café on the Third, is open from 7am to midnight serving both local and international fare. Prego, also on the 3^rd floor, offers Italian cuisine for dinner, while the Fortune Court serves Cantonese dim sum for both lunch and dinner. Room service is 24 hours. The Lobby Lounge serves drinks in a ho hum atmosphere but the Cigar and Wine bar next door will appeal to the gentlemen as the place to close the deal. Décor is not a highlight in the F&B outlets, but those who enjoy a traditional quasi-European atmosphere will be well satisfied.

 

Meeting space is located on levels 1 and 3. The Atrium ballroom 860 m² on level 1 can handle up to 540 theatre style. The impressive 21 m ceiling height allows natural light to filter in from above. The room is not all on one level which will challenge some set-ups. The Grand Ballroom, 500 m², on level 3, similarly is challenged by massive pillars that restrict the room’s usage. An Auditorium, 90 m², has tiered theatre seating for 80 and is a great option for training with ergonomic seating featuring a cup holder and tray tables.(not all seats have a view of the screen unfortunately). The boardroom features a fixed table for 16 plus fold down observer/secretary chairs behind.  7 flexible breakout and conference rooms complete the facilities. A business center is on this floor as well.

 

Recreation facilities had not yet opened but are slated to offer an indoor/outdoor swimming pool, health club with minimal therapeutic treatments, hot and cold Jacuzzis, sauna and steam bath, mini driving range, children’s playground and a games room. Currently this hotel will not do much for the leisure traveler. Those on holiday or traveling with children will be better served near Shenzhen’s theme parks. However, the business traveler will find a comfortable oasis with all the amenities they need to get the job done. 235 rooms.

Reviewed April 2006

Dear Friends and Family:

 

2005 has been a heck of a ride.

 

We started the year in Anna Maria Island with the hope of making the move to the East coast of Florida for Mary Ann’s career. Anna Maria is paradise, but as it is a retirement community there really wasn’t much in the way of corporate or association clients in the area. In early December Mary Ann had gone to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on a business trip (that’s what she calls it anyway) and Steve went house hunting in Fort Lauderdale. He had clear instructions to find a house with at least 2500 sq ft that was in a new neighborhood and within a strict budget. These instructions were the result of our trying to buy a darling tiny home in downtown Lauderdale earlier that summer that had a historic designation. Our real estate agent and close friend Bettina wondered how we would possibly fit but we were convinced it had potential After hiring an architect (our good friend Kaizer Talib (Bettina’s husband) to lovingly add a second story while saving the historic façade we failed to get permission to renovate its 1000 sq ft into a marginally livable 1800 sq ft. We decided historic while quaint was not worth the bother and downtown was just too expensive.

 

Mary Ann gets a call in Mexico from Steve, “Honey I found the perfect house! It has 1400 sq ft is 30% more than we planned to spend and is downtown with a great waterfront location and an amazing garden.” Mary Ann: Hmmm… I thought we said 2500 sq ft and let’s try the burbs?” Steve: “Oh and I put a $25,000 non refundable deposit down…”

 

Did I mention Steve had left his job in November, and while in negotiations with several oil companies was basically unemployed? Never mind, we like challenges…

Come January 31^st we signed the deed and moved into our very cute, very small house. At least we partially did. Half of our belongings ended up in storage (again!) Montana (dog) and Ichiban (cat) had no trouble adjusting to tropical South Florida. The house’s courtyard became our de facto living room and gardening our newest passion.

 

Life went along pretty smoothly as we met our neighbors and got re-acquainted with Fort Lauderdale after an absence of 7 years. Mary Ann geared up for her job with HelmsBriscoe. There were trips to Atlanta, New Orleans and many to Orlando and Tallahassee. The only troubling moment came when our God Daughter Sabrina (daughter of Kaizer and Bettina) was diagnosed with juvenal rheumatoid arthritis. She is now responding to medication and not in any pain so this, while scary, is not as bad as we all originally feared.

 

Come April things started to get weird again. Steve was spending way to much time with the Atlas looking in the Asian section. Phone calls were going back and forth to friends in the oil field who had personal experience in places we couldn’t pronounce. Suddenly Steve runs off to Kuala Lumpur for a job interview with Baker Hughes, a former competitor of his. We did not know if we were going to end up in Houston, Mumbai or Shekou (where the heck is Shekou, we thought?). As it turns out Shekou is in China around 45 minutes by ferry from Hong Kong. It is also our new home.

 

Steve accepted a job offer with Baker Drilling Fluids looking after their China operations which include Japan and other Northeast Asian countries. He moved over in early June.  Mary Ann had a quick look see to find a house (I thought we just did that...) before returning to Florida to once again start packing.

 

Before leaving the USA, Mary Ann had her first trip to Las Vegas on business and had a chance to visit her sister Phyllis and her family in Denver before heading around the world with a cat and a dog. Ichiban our white Persian who is on her 5^th continent was not pleased with this plan. Montana, our two year old puppy is happy just to be included. If you ever think about moving around the world with pets… don’t think. It is just too painful to contemplate.

 

China was never a place any of us had considered living. Okay we like Chinese food and seeing the Great Wall might be interesting, but live there? Turns out this is one of the best locations we have had in our many overseas postings. Shekou is a pleasant town that caters for expatriates. It is just outside Shenzhen which is an enormous brand new city. Shenzhen is the symbol of China’s new wealth and progress. It is clean, well run and has absolutely no history. No one is from Shenzhen; it is populated by young Chinese folks who are seeking their fortune in the relatively liberal political and economic freedom endorsed by the government. “To be rich is Glorious”, with those words, Deng Xiaoping ignited China's boom. It isn’t paradise. There are beggars and we don’t have free press but we do have Starbucks, MacDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns plus a host of various ethnic restaurants that cater to the small but diverse expatriate community.

 

And who said the Chinese don’t have a sense of humor. The focal point in Shekou is an old French cruise ship called the Ming Wah. This boat was a favorite of the Chinese politicians in the 1980s. They used for some decidedly un-communistic purposes. When it could no longer be sailed they left it in Shekou and filled in all the land around it. It is now a fancy hotel with diverse entertainment surrounding it. We can see the boat from our balcony and enjoy fireworks in the skies above 2 or 3 times a week.

Our latest home is in a huge compound near the South China Sea. We can see Hong Kong’s New Territories from our bedroom. We have a large (thank goodness!) townhouse with a small front and back yard for the critters. The compound is very nice with many lovely gardens tucked away. Just in front of our house there is a koi pond and small park. We enjoy watching the older residents doing their tai chi every morning and listening to an odd assortment of piped in music in the hours around dusk.

Steve is very happy with his new job. It has been challenging, but also rewarding. We have both traveled quite a bit since moving over to the other side of the world. Both of us have gone to Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, Steve has traveled to Chengdu and Kuala Lumpur while Mary Ann has gone off to Thailand and plans to visit the Philippines next month. She continues with HelmsBriscoe as their first associate in mainland China.

 

Mary Ann has also started blogging. You can read all about our various travels and experiences in her website. “May you live in interesting times, (an ancient Chinese curse.)” http://spaces.msn.com/members/macmarsh/  

 

Mary Ann’s Mom, Ruth, continues to ably manage the family property in Florida. Her siblings are prospering although not without some teenage trials and tribulations. Phyllis and Blaine are considering abandoning Denver for idyllic Antigua, Gautemala they may or may not give their kids the new address. Nancy is trying to stay out of the emergency ward after several minor but painful accidents. She also had a chance to visit Africa and had her first experience with miscommunications and coruption in a charity project for Kenyan orphans. Steve’s sister Candy and her husband Dick celebrated a renewal of their marriage vows in Austria, their second home. Jock, Steve’s brother has been kept very busy with his job in environmental clean up post hurricanes. His wife, Cheryl is working in the local high school but has a great group of girl friends she travels abroad with. We lost Steve’s Great Aunt Mamie this year. At 92 she had had a full life but she will be missed by the family. Steve’s parents, Marjorie and Curtis, are keeping very busy looking after their rural property produce oil from some old wells. The high price of gas is one thing our family has no reason to complain about.

 

Sadly many of our friends in New Orleans have been touched by the dreadful hurricane season. Thank goodness they are all okay. We hope they will have their homes, jobs and lives back to normal soon.

 

The only thing left to add is to anounce the newest additions to our family. Their names are Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel. We are not sure of their sex so they may be traumatized when we find out what sex our goldfish really are.

 

We have a guest room ready and are hoping we will have visitors soon. You have an open invitation but don’t wait too long, we have no idea how long we will remain.

 

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you all!

 

Off to the Circus

One of the best things about where we live in China is our proximity to Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou and of course Shenzhen.  In the space of less than two hours we can travel to entirely different countries if not centuries.

Steve, my darling husband, (most of the time anyway) decided to take me shopping in Hong Kong for the Christmas holidays. Shekou has some Christmas spirit, but for the most part the Chinese don’t have a keen sensitivity for this holiday. They recognize the commercial opportunity and know they should put up decorations in the shops, but the tinsel and garland are likely to be purple or blue. The baby Jesus may have some siblings and he may be riding in the sleigh but what the heck…  

Anyway, back to our trip to Hong Kong. We stayed at the JW Marriott in the Central Section of Hong Kong. This was a treat. The hotel is lovely and they were kind enough to put us on the Executive Floor. The rooms are small compared to a US hotel but one can certainly understand space being at a premium in crowded Hong Kong.

The highlight of our weekend was seeing Cirque de Soliel. They held the performance in a special tent that travels the world with the troupe. The show was amazing. I grew up loving the circus as a child. Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey's summer home is in Sarasota Florida and I have had many opportunities to see the show and hear circus lore. Cirque du Soliel is something entirely different. Instead of animals and skits geared towards children they have performances that are thematic and very artistic. We saw a show called "Quidam" The surreal plot followed the life and death of child who is beset by a headless character and emotionally autistic parents. It was a bit on the dark side, but also occasionally hysterical. The cast has around 40 characters that continual reappear and add to the story. Some are simply amazing acrobats. I loved a group of 4young Chinese female acrobats who performed with ropes and spinning tops. They were very young and very talented. They are on loan from a Chinese circus school for one year. Some are as young as 13 and they have there parents or chaperones who travel with them.

I spoke to two of the ushers about the logistical side of the circus. They travel constantly. The show will spend 1 month in Hong Kong, 6 weeks each in several Australian cities. Basically they travel for almost all the year. I think the only time off they get is when the physical circus (tents equipment etc.) is being shipped from port to port. There are 180 people who are with the circus. Only 30 percent of these are performers. The rest are support staff. This includes chefs (4), seamstresses, security, roadies, musicians, and a myriad of technical experts that handle to rigging and lights. The majority of the crew was being put up at the Le Meridien Hotel so it isn't exactly roughing it.  Hmm. maybe they could use a resident travel agent?

Friday night we took a trip down memory lane for my Steve. He had lived in Hong Kong when he was a child. Steve had happy memories of going to the floating restaurants in Aberdeen. Aberdeen had been an exotic fishing village back in the 1950s when Steve had list visited. Little is left of the past. Only the garishly lit floating monster restaurant (very appropriately named Jumbo) survives. The fishing junks have been replaced by mega yachts belonging to Hong Kong's elites. I don't think the experience lived up to Steve's expectations. The waterfront is now crowded with luxury condos and essentially charmless.

Choosing dinner was a challenge. The menu was Cantonese seafood and had little on it with which we were accustomed. I looked over at the table next to us. 4 young Asian gentlemen were clearly enjoying their meal.  I took a chance a struck up a conversation hoping they would speak a few words of English and be able to tell us what was tasty. I more than a little surprised when they broke into a clearly North American English and explained they were just as clueless as us. Turns out they were Korean Canadians who were in Hong Kong representing a health supplement company that sold the equivalent of organic Viagra and other vigor supplements for Asian men.  

After supper I took Steve to see the escalators back in Central. If you have not seen this engineering marvel I recommend it highly. Hong Kong has almost no flat area on which to build. Consequently people live in high rises that are perched in the hills above the coastline. While it is a very affluent city, few Honkys own a car. There really is no need. Most everyone uses the phenomenal public transportation. Part of this highly refined urban transport system is called the escalators. Here you begin at sea level and follow a network of hi speed escalators up to the cliffs of Hong Kong. You can get off at every street to explore the crowded markets and in the case of SoHo, half way up the escalator,  the neighborhood of trendy restaurants and boutiques.  Hong Kong is a fascinating city. In part it like any world city anywhere. There is no shortage of luxury shops, glamorous hotels, and amazing skyscrapers and in general an urban chic that is on par with Paris or New York. But there is another side to Hong Kong which is much more intriguing. You never know what you will come across around the corner. Should the opportunity present itself to visit Hong Kong I would urge you to take a day or so and ignore any set itinerary. Wander and follow your nose instead. You will be rewarded for your time handsomely.

Saturday morning we jumped on a double-decker bus and ventured to Stanley on the other side of Hong Kong Island. The ride was memorable and the scenery was wonderful. This is an idyllic and at times very scary ride along the cliffs.

Stanley is famous for its market. This was a bit of a disappointment. It was filled with cheap souvenirs and had little to tempt us. I liked the area and the ride over. Hong Kong has lovely beaches. 

Shopping in fancy malls at Christmas time is not fun. They are filled with overpriced stuff that the retailers present with the equivalent of psychological terrorism.  Hong Kong is famous for its shopping but I really don't get it. The merchandise is exactly the same as in any mall anywhere.  I guess because I live in Shenzhen, the motherload of fakes, faux and phoney. Purses that cost $500-$1000 in Hong Kong are sold in Shenzhen for $20-. Of course they are not real, but who can tell the difference? A twenty dollar purse will hold your belongings just as well as one that cost $500. My European girlfriends shudder when they hear me speak such heresy. For them, there are other shops which also sell fakes, but these fakes are of such a high caliber that you would have to work for Gucci to tell the difference.  

Steve enjoyed the Hong Kong malls. He was delighted to find his size at Marks and Spencer's and Brooks Brothers.

 

This week we finally received our shipment of household effect from the United States. Eureka! Finally we can settle in with our own stuff and claim a small part of China as our home. Even arriving a month late, the arrival of family photos, stockpiles of Bisquick, and our furniture (that was custom made in Indonesia and has now spent almost as much time in transit as it has in our home) we are really happy to have our stuff.

 

I think I have mentioned how often Steve and I have moved previously in this blog. Forgive me if the number varies from one entry to another. I think this is move #14 in 12 years. It is hard to keep track. You would think with so many moves under our collective belts we would travel light and not cart around much. This would be a sensible person’s response to a nonsensical situation. I, on the other hand am totally schizophrenic regarding nesting and moving.

 

On one side, I am so thrilled with the prospect of new people, places, cultures and food. We (my sweet darling husband, Steve and I) really have enjoyed every move we have made. We have, thanks to Steve's erratic career, friends all over the world. It is an exciting life and I would not trade it for anything.  Having said that, I must admit I am truly a homebody and crave the comforts of familar things. I am (according to those who know me well, and yet still seem to like me), a Martha Stewart wannabe. I love cooking, decorating, collecting, entertaining and just about all skills that are dedicated to home keeping. To have my Grandmother's crystal in my dining room and every cookbook I have collected in 25 year's of expatriate living just makes me happy.  I have a Southerner's sensibility of precious things that have tremendous sentimental value having been in the home of my family or my husband's . How does a person reconcile all this moving with a deep rooted desire to have one's home featured in Southern Living?? A conundrum indeed...

 

Well it ain't easy... This last move has been a test. When Steve got a new job with a good company for an assignment in China we were pretty excited. It seemed this would just be one more, in a very long line of moves. Steve understood the company was mandating we must bring all our sh...( oops!), I meant stuff to our new assignment. As it turns out this was not quite true, but never mind.  Okay, I can do this. After all most of our sh... sorry, stuff was custom made in Asia only a couple years ago in Indonesia. If it made it half way around the world to Florida, surely it can make it back to China. We were heartened because the moving company assigned to us in Florida to pack up our thing had actually been involved in two prior moves.

 

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

 

Our moving company showed up a few hours late on the pre appointed day in Mid July in our house in Fort Lauderdale. Did I mention we had only lived in Fort Lauderdale for 5 months? And, the house we bought was only 1300 sq ft? And, half of our sh...stuff was in a storage unit? Okay. Let’s bring all the stuff from storage into the courtyard in the house. So what if we can't see straight. The idea is I can go through my 40 sq ft of belongings and decide what will go into the 20 ft container. This was easier said than done.

 

The moving company sent a very nice crew of packers to assist in the move. Not a one of them spoke a word of English. No problem, I have moved in and out of Latin America and while my Spanish is not great for formal situations, I can certainly communicate the essentials of fragile, ciudate! Estos vasos era de mi abuela!!! (Fragile, Watch out! Those glasses belonged to my grandmother!) As hard as the movers tried to accommodate me, they could not manage to keep with the schedule their managers had set for them and me. The move that began on Thursday morning was only half done at the end of Saturday night. Two days behind schedule. The moving company management spoke much less Spanish than I do (in fact the moving coordinator assigned to my move did not speak a word of Spanish so I translated between his workers and myself). I was not happy when I was told they could not finish the move on time and even less pleased when I realized they had no intention of working on Sunday. My bed and all my essentials were already packed but I could not leave my house until Tuesday morning. URGHH!!

 

Okay, breathe in and breathe out. I can go to a hotel for a couple days. And what do we do while we wait for the movers? We do what every red blooded expat spouse does when faced with an unplanned moment. Shop!

 

This shopping expedition took me to Sawgrass Mall just outside Fort Lauderdale. I buy a matching set of luggage, 3 pairs of shoes (all made in China and destined to go home soon), and a few other precious items that surely are not available in China (not!). Did I mention I had already spent almost $500 at Sam's Club buying every item that has not been readily available in previous expatriate assignments? Yes we need 8 cans of Rotel! Bring on the Bisquick! No I have never bought Velveeta when I actually lived in the USA, but while overseas I need to have 4 huge blocks in my pantry or the sky will fall. Same story for Pam, Wax paper, American aluminum foil, cake mixes, kitty litter, okay you should have the idea by now. Is it any surprise that my 20 foot container was not large enough for the essentials I thought I had to bring to China?

 

Back to moving day(s). The movers had been in a panic to get me out of Florida as soon as possible. Monday morning, bright and early, a new crew of Spanish speaking teenagers are at my door eager to load our sh.., stuff into the container. 5 of the 6 have almost no experience in packing. They are trying hard, but I can't supervise 6 guys in 6 rooms. The end result is some stuff that never should have made it into the shipment is now in China and all my crates of Grandma's crystal and china are still in a storage unit in Miami. The last hour of packing was, in retrospect, funny. They kept trying to close the container and I kept finding things in the house that were "essential" to make into the shipment. One would think a 20 foot container was a finite space, but I am living proof that is has elastic sides.

 

Fast forward 45 days later to the port of Shekou in China. The moving company assigned to import our goods informs us the ship has arrived and we should soon be reunited with out sh... stuff. Now we just need to fill out a few forms and present a couple documents and all will be fine.  You must by now realize this is delusional, pure fantasy right?

 

My sweet darling husband had been told by me back in May it was critical that he renew his passport before setting off to China. He arrived in China before me and has been very busy with work so the passport issue slipped through the cracks.  I had been searching the web for any kind of useful information on life in China and had read the horror stories about Chinese bureaucracy and red (what else) tape. In order to import ones belongings into China one must have a valid visa for at least one year. Visa(s) automatically expire when your passport does. Ergo if your passport expires in 9 months, your visa does and you can not import personal goods into China. This is not a negotiable issue. Yeah, right... The company my husband works for does not officially sanction the paying of bribes (excuse me, I meant expediting fees). I am not sure just how all of this was worked out, but we switched moving companies (not an easy thing to do when dealing with international weigh bills. Our goods sailed back and forth from Shekou to Hong Kong for a month while the paperwork was straightened out. We were told we should expect the shipment to be delivered to our home some time in the last week in September.

 

Uh oh... there is a very big weeklong holiday the first week of October. All of China comes to a standstill while the National day/week celebrations take place. If our shipment didn't get released from the port by Friday, it would be delayed for another week and then I was going to be out of the country in Thailand for the next week which would have meant my sweet darling husband would have had to have supervised the unpacking. The prospect of Steve arranging the furniture or hanging pictures without feminine guidance put me into a panic.  I apologize profusely to the ladies in the moving company who had to listen to my frantic calls on Friday morning, afternoon and evening. It seemed all the paperwork on our end was finally okay, but a glitch in the computer system at the port had trucks backed up for hours. At 7:00 pm on Friday evening a small army of small Chinese men arrived and stated unloading our shipment. This was actually quite amusing to watch, or it would have been amusing had I been watching someone else’s shipment.

 

Everything had been repacked somewhere since I had last seen our sh...stuff in Fort Lauderdale. The container was still filled to the max, but not in the same order it had gone in.  Boxes of pantry items had been opened and the contents stashed in the most unlikely places. Fortunately the gallon of olive oil had not broken but not everything was as lucky. The container was too big to come into our compound. All of the boxes had to be taken out and transferred to two smaller delivery trucks that were allowed inside the gates. By 11pm we had all of our belongings inside our home but what a mess!

 

My maid, Sunny and another friend's maid had waited all day to help me unpack. I sent them home around 9pm and they came back the next morning to finish opening all of the boxes. There were 171 boxes in total. By Saturday afternoon there were only 6 left in my office. These contained books and files that would have to wait until shelves were installed.

 

There were many damaged items, but most all are repairable. The moving companies did the best they could under the circumstances and I am grateful to have our home in order. We are a very long way from the USA, but even my cat has found all her favorite places to curl up on the newly arrived furniture. It is good to be home.

 

 

This weekend I traveled to Beijing to meet my husband and attend a Shrimp Boil for the Society of Petroleum Engineers.  There is something comforting and bizarre all at the same time about the juxtoposition of SPE Shrimp Boil and Beijing. Suffice to say where ever there is oil, there are cowboy boots, big belt buckles and some guys who can cook up a mean pot of crawfish and shrimp. Still Beijing and Cowboy boots aren't what one would immediately imagine in Peoples Republic of China.

 

Traveling inside mainland China is surprisingly just like traveling anywhere else in the world. The airports of Shenzhen (China's fourth largest) and Beijing (by far the biggest) are not much different from Charles de Gaulle and DFW. The flights were an hour late coming and going, the food was bad and the seats were too small. I might as well have been traveling from Miami to Chicago! Just kidding, the flight was really pretty comfortable.

 

I was seated next to a Western man who was typing away on his laptop in Chinese characters.After an hour or so of casually looking over his shoulder,  curiosity got the better of me and I struck up a conversation to find out how long it had taken him to learn Chinese well enough to read and write it. It turns out John was from Iowa and had lived in China 20 years ago for one year teaching English in a remote province. This youthful experience had left him with good memories so when a Chinese software engineering firm was recruiting; John convinced his wife and family to take a chance on a year in China.

 

After two weeks in their new country and only four days in the new apartment, John set off for Shenzhen on business for his employer. John is absolutely loving being back in China. He commented enthusiastically on the amazing progress since his last time living here. Curious I asked John how his wife was settling in. An uncomfortable moment followed.

 

Let me preface my remarks by saying I am a seasoned expat having made a similar transition in every continent. I have moved 14 times in the last 12 years and can handle a lot of change.  But I live in an expat bubble protected and coddled by the resources of an American oil company and welcoming expat community. And still China is a challenge that occasionally defeats me on my best days. In the beginning so many things are seemingly impossible to get organized because of the enormous challenge of the language. Remember, its not only that one can not speak to anyone (except the few well educated professionals who have taken the trouble to learn our tongue) you can not read anything either. How do you get the appliances to work? Most are very high tech with tiny little symbols in Chinese and an operations manual without a word of English. How do you get the internet, telephone, gas, cell phones, TV service etc. signed up? How do you get money? Only a few of China's ATMs will take a foreign debit or credit card. Every purchase is an adventure in testing your math skills and dividing by 8.2 or is that multiplying? Best of luck if you can figure out what you are buying. For John's wife Karen add to this the challenge of two small children and none of your personal belongings except what came in the suitcases.  John admitted he was having a better time than his poor wife. Gee John, You think so???

 

John had no sooner left her alone and essentially friendless in their new Beijing apartment when a very heavy glass shelf shattered on the head of their 4 year old daughter. Childproofing ones home is not a Chinese concept. My imagination pictured Karen negotiating a screaming, bleeding toddler in a country all alone without a word of the local language. According to John, Karen ran into the street and just screamed taxi and hospital in English hoping for the best. Fortunately one of her new neighbors saw her plight and rushed her to the English speaking clinic for emergency treatment.  John, if he is a smart man, will be spending the weekend taking Karen to a nice English speaking hotel with a spa and children's program. I think she has earned it!

 

First impressions: Beijing is a great city but it is huge and the Chinese redefine huge. The tree lined boulevards are vast; the public squares grand, the history and culture phenomenal. It is a modern city but also the dynastic home of the many empires. It is impressive to say the least. It is also very brown and polluted. China's development has been fast, incredibly fast, but it has come at the sacrifice to the environment. As a Chinese friend explained to me, the issues of the environment while important can wait until China has succeeded in feeding and housing its 1.6 billion people. So for now, and for the foreseeable future China has brown air

 

They, the Chinese, are eager to take their place at the table of 21st century prosperity but they have very different methods and perspectives. While new development or big public projects in the USA might call for an environmental impact study and a referendum of the interested parties and a great deal of debate and discussion, this is not the way in China. Here the only party that counts is the Communist Party. When they make a decision to redirect a River or build a metro system that will displace hundreds of thousands of people it will be done before you can say Chan's your uncle.

 

Sightseeing: My husband Steve, Ray, one of his colleagues from Scotland but currently calling Dubai home and I set off for Tiananmen Square on Saturday morning. Without much of a plan we hopped out of the company car and set off to see the sights. At 8:30am the square was already packed with tourists. Hordes of them followed around their respective tour guides all sporting flags to distinguish the different groups. Mostly they appeared to be Chinese who were enjoying a patriotic sojourn in their nation's capitol. While Beijing is an international city, it is still very Chinese and signs in English were few and far between. Eager touts approached us selling souvenir guide books and watches with Mao's face. Mao's waving hand marked the seconds. Maomemorablia is very big.

 

We eventually figured out that the line formed in front of a huge building in the center of the square. This was the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall.  The line was enormous with several thousand people being shuffled quickly through. Sadly, we did not join the queue. We missed out on seeing Mao's body in his crystal coffin. He is brought up through a hydraulic lift from his refrigerated resting place in the basement of the Mausoleum every day. China has a strange relationship with Mao. He is revered publicly as demi God in Godless China and privately one suspects the Chinese are very happy the days of Mao, the Great Helmsman are in the past. Millions died under his regime and the scars of the Cultural Revolution are hidden but not gone. One is careful in discussing such things with strangers. You never know, especially here in Beijing, who will take offense or possibly be vulnerable to government chastisement for speaking indiscreetly.

 

Ray, Steve and I succumbed to the touts and purchased a map and a few overpriced picture books and went off in search of the Forbidden City or Ancient Palace Museum as it is now known. It must have been the confused look on our faces that brought Mr. Chen, a professional free lance guide to offer his services. After a brief discussion and test of his English (very good) we decided we would get a lot more from the Forbidden City with the aid of an expert. Mr. Chen was very entertaining. He gave us a two hour history tour of the Palaces with particular emphasis on the Imperial Concubine Quarters. (For some reason Steve and Ray were keen on learning more about this part of the palace grounds). The Forbidden City is like everything else in Beijing very large and very impressive. It is made of wood and has consequently burned down several times in the last centuries. The Emperors of China had some pretty cool digs. Photos are attached but unfortunately the pollution has obscured the view. The Forbidden City covers around 200 acres and it has been home to 24 emperors and two dynasties who ruled for more than 500 years. In the time of the Shang and Ming dynasties no building in China were allowed to be higher than the Palace Walls. The Palace(s) towered over the walls and the surrounding area. Still, today, the Forbidden City is has a wow factor of ten point 0! The wonderful tile work, carvings, mythical creatures and impressive architecture lead you back in time. If we were alive during the dynastic times we never would have had the chance to see inside the palace grounds. This was the province of the court and its high officials. I mentioned this to Steve and Ray as they were letting their imagination get away with them in the Royal Concubine quarters. To have really had the privilege of getting inside they would have to have been eunuchs.... We moved along at that point, but not until we had the honor of using one of China's official four star toilets. It is the little things one appreciates most...

 

A glimpse on the dark side: Yesterday, Ray, Steve and I had taken a taxi to a recommended restaurant for some authentic Peking duck. We ended up in a huge tourist trap with so so food and many foreign customers. Still, the Great Wall of China chardonnay wine was drinkable and we must have consumed our fair share because Ray discovered after we returned to the hotel that his $700 (USD) combination cell phone/pda/camera was missing. First we assumed Ray had left it in the restaurant and we headed back their after leaving the Forbidden City. No luck.

 

Steve called Ray's phone number as was greeted by a very Chinese "Wei?" So we knew someone had Ray's phone. The concierge at the hotel was called upon to assist in reclaiming the missing phone. After several calls the person who had the phone offered to return it to Ray for a mere $200 (USD). This seemed to be too much to pay for extortion so Ray gave up and chalked it up to experience. We learned two things from this. 1 - If you get drunk in China leave your phone at the hotel. 2 - $700 is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a phone/camera/pda etc.

 

The Great Wall - Armed with more guide books and careful instructions from the concierge we set off to see the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu. This is about 1.5 hours from Beijing and while not the closest to the city, Mutianyu boasted a spectacular cable car ride up to the top of the wall. It is a very strenuous one hour hike for those who are athletically inclined. Had we wished, we could have also taken advantage of the year round toboggan run on the way down. Just running the gauntlet of the tourist touts selling cheap Chinese souvenirs was adventurous enough particularly as the smog that blanketed the city was just as bad in the outlying areas. I really wish we could have seen a bit more of the country side, but what little we did see was very pretty. The Great Wall is 4000 km (2,480 miles) long and stretches from the East China Sea west to central Asia. It is actually several walls, not just one continuous. If all the pieces were laid end to end it would really be around 10,000 km long. Construction began in the 7th century BC. To say it is impressive is an understatement. It is the only man made structure that can be seen by the astronauts.

 

Ray, our Scottish friend, had great fun with the many tourist touts selling T-shirts, "my Grandma went to the Great Wall of China and all I got was a lousy T-shirt". He haggled the price down to around .50 cents. Ray has a Chinese Singaporean wife. You would think in 14 years of marriage he would be fluent in Chinese, but this is not the case. He does however have a good sense of humor and managed to entertain the sellers in the makeshift market and us without spending a dime. Must be the Scottish thing. My husband paid twice as much as normal for a couple local brews, but they were cold and after all the vendor did manage to haul it up to the top of the Great Wall of China.

 

We headed back to the hotel to change clothes for the Shrimp Boil, the official purpose of our visit to Beijing. We were staying at the Sheraton Great Wall of China Hotel. This was the first "five star" hotel to be built in China after the country liberalized. Unfortunately, the old girl is showing signs of age. While not a bad hotel, five star is not an apt description any longer. The staff was pleasant and the rooms, while very tired, at least had the famous "Sheraton Sweet Sleeper" mattresses. This alone made the trip to Beijing worth while. I don't know why the Chinese insist the rock hard beds are good for you, but this belief is strong every where in China including Hong Kong. The guy who gets the concession to sell the memory foam mattress pads to the Marriott or Shangri La group will be a rich man.

 

The Shrimp Boil was much as we would have expected. It was held in a private country club in a gated community that could just as easily been The Woodlands, just outside Houston. The only real difference was the country club was fancier and here the wives were Western but the girlfriends were all Chinese.

 

I met a cute couple at the party. He, Ivan, was Russian and worked for a logging company (they log the well activity, not cut down trees) and she, Annie, was Korean and a business manager in a high-tech company. They had met while both students in Harbin in the far northeast of China. Ivan did not speak Korean and Annie does not speak Russian. They get along with either English or Chinese as their common languages. They were newly married and living 300 miles apart because their jobs are not in the same cities. They try to get together every month or so when their schedules allow. I have found lots of couples who have met while both are far from home. Seems to work for them.

 

After eating our fill of crawfish and shrimp we headed back to the hotel leaving Ray networking with clients. He managed to get his flight back to Dubai the next day, but how... who knows.

 

Steve took advantage of having a Sunday morning off and slept in the next morning. I, on the other hand, was in need of some retail therapy...

 

The Panjiayuan Market was a 30 RMB ($7.50) taxi from my hotel. I head out with some trepidation as I didn't know my way around and would not be able to communicate if I had gotten lost. As it turns out my fears were groundless. The market was very large, but very orderly. Hundreds of vendors were selling an amazing array of "antiques" (you can have your antiques made to order here...). The prices are all negotiable and are typically grossly inflated. Still the bargaining is part of the fun. I was on a mission to find a Mao alarm clock for my nephew Travis. He is sixteen, an artist and has just discovered all the injustice in the world. So a Mao souvenir I hope will be a good choice for him.  It was a blast just wandering around the market and seeing all the beautiful Chinese scrolls, brass work and Oriental bric a brac. Had I had a bigger suitcase I could have down all my Christmas shopping easily. As it was I just checked out the prices and the quality so I will be better armed with information when I see similar things back in Shekou.

 

Beijing deserves much more time than we had to spend. I hope to come back soon!

 

 

The last few weeks have given me the opportunity to see a bit more of China. I have gone to Hong Kong for the dubious pleasure of having an emergency dental appointment, Guangzhou to renew a passport, Beijing for a Shrimp boil and Shenzhen for an American Chamber of Commerce forum on Intellectual Property piracy.

 

Bless Dr. Rosenquist and his zealous application of amalgam to my young teeth. It seems there is more metal in my molars than tooth material and after 40 odd years it finally tooth by tooth has to be replaced. The latest replacement came as the result of biting on a piece of pizza on a Sunday night in Shekou. Oh dear, this is not good, I thought. My predicament was I had not yet met a dentist in my new country. I had, however, seen Chinese dentists practicing in their storefront offices. This sight, while intriguing, did not inspire me to join the group of waiting patients who were chattering away while the current patient was being worked on in full view of the street and her fellow dental patients. So what to do?

 

Hong Kong! I could kill a few birds with a brief trip to the relatively more civilized confines of a former British Colony. Surely, an English speaking dentist would be available. The internet came to the rescue once again. I went online to www.geoexpat.com and sent out an SOS for a recommendation for a dentist. I was able to contact Dr. Lee via email and to view his web site which had perfect English and comforted me with reference to a California Dental degree. My Hong Kong business associates assured me that Dr. Lee's street address was in a posh part of town and it was unlikely he practiced in front of a plate glass window.

 

Bright and early Tuesday morning I headed for the ferry for the short 50 minute ride to Kowloon, in Hong Kong. The day was hot, gray and smoggy but the trip was fine. Kowloon is the more commercial part of Hong Kong. Here Shekou expats shop for all the small things that are not available in Mainland China. My first item on the day’s agenda including a stop at the English bookstore for enough reading material to get me by until my next trip out of China. The Mainland Chinese are not big on English bookstores and most magazines and newspapers are not allowed in because of the censorship. After picking up a few books I jumped on another ferry, this one heading to Central on the Island of Hong Kong. My mission was to find a hair dresser. I am blond (or at least I try to keep up the pretense). Blonde hair dye is not available in Shekou or Shenzhen. Chinese are increasingly coloring their hair and perming it, but they do not go as far as actually coloring it blonde or as they would say, yellow.

 

In a search for a hairdresser I approached the first Western lady I saw on the streets of Central and just asked did she know if there was a hairdresser that could handle non-Asian hair nearby. A very nice lady from Norway said there was a very exclusive salon across the street, but I was put off by the potential $200 price quoted. I just kept wandering until I found a little hole in the wall salon. The stylist assigned to me spoke no English, but he pulled out the same color swatches my hairdresser back home used so I was a bit less nervous. Seeing a strange hairdresser is always risky, but in Asia where the Chinese hair has a completely different texture and color it is more daunting. Sam, my spikey haired, 20 something metrosexual assured me in his 7 words of English he did plenty yellow hair customers...

One hour later the pole cat stripe down the middle of my head had been banished and I had a much tidier look. Sam will be a regular stop on my Hong Kong escapes.

 

Next I stumbled across a pet store that sold Science Diet cat food. My 16 year old cat, Ichiban had been on a partial hunger strike ever since coming to China. He had been letting me know in no uncertain terms I need to find a source for "Fancy Feast" or else! The Chinese cat food available in the grocery was not to his liking. I can't really blame the poor cat; I have not always adapted to the Chinese food on offer as well.

 

So my last errand of the day approached. Visiting a dentist is not one of my favorite activities. I am a wimp when it comes to dental pain and come to think of it, the big hole in my molar didn't really hurt very much, maybe this could wait until a better time... I almost convinced myself to put off the appointment until I remembered the plate glass window displays of the dentists in Mainland China....

 

Dr. Lee turned out to be a very nice man. He was relatively young and single with a small very modern practice in a Hong Kong high rise. His family had moved from Hong Kong to San Francisco when he was 14 so he had gone to high school and university and most importantly dental college in the USA.  After a quick examination, "Wow, you have a lot of metal in your mouth!" he drilled out my old filling and made a temporary replacement until my crown would be ready.

 

Hong Kong is a strange place. While officially it is part of China now, it has a very Western and modern feel. The distinguishing habits of the Cantonese of Hong Kong are shopping and eating. Everywhere one looks you see either a restaurant or a high fashion mall. The love of fashion must be stronger than love affair with food judging how slender every one is.

 

This is not the China of the knock offs and fakes. If you see Prada or Gucci, it’s probably the real thing. Consequently it is no bargain to spend time in Hong Kong. The other thing that one notices is how new everything is and how crowded. Hong Kong is built on rugged island terrain where the residential part is up the side of some very steep hills and the commercial is all on new reclaimed land. Real Estate is so valuable that the developers routinely tear down a 20 year old building to put up a glass and steel tower twice the size of the one they just knocked down. Since there is so little buildable land they don't build out, they build up. At rush hour the people pour out of the office towers and head up the hill into their hi-rise apartments. The streets team with people moving in a practiced frenzy. Still the vitality is fun to see if somewhat exhausting.

 

Hong Kong is very hot and humid in the summer months. The concrete jungle on the Pearl River Delta is steamy but all in all it is an intriguing city with many pleasant places tucked away. When I return to collect my new tooth I plan to visit the other, quieter side of Hong Kong.

Gentle Readers:

 

This is my first attempt at a blog. Forgive me for any beginners mistakes which I am sure to be making. My motivation to create this blog stems from the somewhat unique travel experiences I have had both personally and professionally.

 

Recently my husband, Steve, our 14 year old persian cat, Ichiban and our 2 year old mutt, Montana and I have have moved to Shekou, Shenzhen, China. Moving to China is odd to begin with, but this is our 14th move in the 12 years we have been married. I think it is fair to say I am tired of packing, unpacking, decorating, saying hello and goodbye and learning languages. My china and crystal have been moved 5 times without ever having been uncrated. I will probably retire and find out I have been hauling around broken glass for the last ten years. On the otherhand, what a hoot! We are in China!

Our China adventure began when my husband left his job working in the desserts of Algieria. Steve is a petroleum engineer and he works for a "mud" company. Since I can't speak mud, I will just say that his company sells the "mud" chemicals that lubricate the drill bit that searches for oil. Oil is now over $65 a barrel and they are looking for it in some pretty interesting places.

 

We had just moved to Fort Lauderdale from Anna Maria Island, Florida 4 months before our China adventure began.  I wasn't crazy about moving again so soon but we couldn't resist the siren song of expat living. Being an expat spouse is a lot of fun. Expats usually live in fancy houses or apartments paid for by the  company. Spouses usually don't work professionally, although I am an exception to this. The cost of household staff is very low so it is not uncommon to have a maid, driver, cook, nanny, gardener etc. Since we have so much time on our hands and so few responsibilities we amuse our selves with shopping, ladies teas and lunches, mah jong, sports, bridge, spa visits, language lessons etc. All in all it isn't a bad gig.

 

That is not to say there aren't challenges...

If you have never seen a Chinese squat toilet count yourself lucky.

Try to catch a taxi in a place where you cannot read the signs, speak the language or understand the money.

China is rich, nouveau riche, like the Beverly Hillbillies rich. It seems like everybody just got a car last week, they are thinking about taking driving lessons sometime in the distant future. In the mean time they are having a blast and seem to have not captured the concept that hitting pedestrians is not a good idea.