Today
I'm over in mainland China. I've been here quite a few times, it's
where our manufacturing is magically performed, and I think this is
my fourth time over in Hong Kong - Usually I'll go over to the
factory 2-3 times during a trip, but I always come back to Hong Kong
at the weekends. It's not that China isn't nice, I'm a big fan of all
cultures and can stay in nice places and right dives, but the hours
are brutal. The factory is open from 8am – 6pm with hour breaks for
lunch at 12pm and dinner at 6pm, but I then head back to whichever
hotel I'm staying at, which usually has a karaoke floor and a
“massage” floor (this one is no exception), and work well into
the early hours – It's currently 2am and I'm still going strong. I
need to be up in 5 hours. The most depressing thing is when our UK
office logs off and I'm still working. But, that's just the nature of
travelling with the time zone this way round – If I go to the US,
it's much better as I catch up when I wake up early and then they all
bugger off by around midday so I'm left to do as I please as long as
I'm caught up by the time they wake up again.
Pretty
tired this end, so I'll just give you the highlights of my day:
This
is the view in China...
This
is the view in Hong Kong...
This
is the food in China...
This
is the food in Hong Kong...
Below
is a bit of both – China on the left, Hong Kong on the right.
This
is the bridge border crossing. Whenever I cross this to go back it's
almost emotional. Again, this isn't because I have anything against
China particularly, but it's long hours with little sleep, the food
isn't the best, it's hot, smoky, dusty and bustly and it's rare that
you'll see the outside of your hotel room or the office as it's not
particularly safe for a girl to walk by herself (unlike Hong Kong
where it's extremely safe and crime is very low). After a few days of
being holed up, working constantly when you're not trying to get some
food down you or sleeping, it's a relief to get back to a city that
feels a little more like home.
My
limit is four consecutive days. Today is day 3 of this first shift
and I go back to Hong Kong tomorrow (Saturday). We leave at 7am. I
come back on Monday morning (after breakfast) and stay until
Wednesday morning because it's a National Holiday in China on
Wednesday – Thank goodness for Dragon Boat Festivals. :)
Unfortunately
I'm having to write this in bulk and plan to post in one go once I'm
back as the “Great Firewall of China” prevents me from getting on
to a lot of websites. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, BBC News and Google
are either all banned or part-censored (particularly the news). As a
frequent visitor, but with fairly short trips, you don't get a true
feel for the difference in a Communist environment to our own, but
these little things you notice and also, when talking to people who
live or work here, you realise some people's lack of knowledge of
world news. It's no North Korea and everyone seems very happy (one of
our team actually saying how a Communist government is needed because
there are so many people), but it's strange to think of anything
being censored coming from a part of the world where we have so much
access to everything. Anyway, let's not put the world to rights at
2.15am – I've still plenty of work to do.
See
you on the other side.
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