Okay, so, imma totally flood my blog with photos of my China trip for some time to come.

Food! Shopping! Camwhoring! Dodgy English translations!

Aren’t you so very excited!

When we met at Changi Airport on that first morning, Minou and I found that we had worn rather matching outfits. Yay!

A China hairstylist thought we were sisters, hah.

Settling down in the plane:

We took Jetstar. I really hate how budget airlines do not serve food. I mean, they do, but you have to pay for them, like $15 for a box of chicken rice.

That’s still fine because it’s still cheaper than paying for a full-price flight. The problem is that they run out of food even before they’re done serving everyone.

I was really hungry and was willing to pay to the skies for a hot meal but all they could offer me was peanuts. We got peanuts, potato chips and soft drinks at 5-star hotel bar prices.

After 3 hrs 15 mins, we landed at Macau International Airport.

The plan was to walk across the border to Zhuhai because it’s cheaper to fly to Macau than to China. So I got to visit Macau for the first time! Yay!

It was almost 7 pm and rather foggy so it looked more like dawn than dusk. It was also surprisingly warm, wasting our effort in bundling up. (We were there on Jan 28, supposedly the tail end of winter.)

We were waiting for Unker Kell to find food in the airport when I caught the Goonfather in this funny photo. Haha.

From the airport, we took a cab to the border of Macau and Zhuhai, where we had to pass through immigrations again.

Um, that was all the time we had in Macau. LOL.

It wasn’t a terribly long walk. Certainly a lot shorter than the Singapore-Malaysia causeway. Before too long, we had reached Zhuhai!

The moment you get out of immigrations, you can see hotels and malls, a welcoming sight! It was very foggy and the air was nice and cool, like a mild aircon.

We walked to the nearest hotel (Jin Ye) and checked in. It cost us S$23 per person for twin-sharing rooms. Super cheap!

I’ve already shared some photos of the hotel and Zhuhai sights, so click here if you haven’t seen them.

I know I said Zhuhai’s a scary place, but I kinda liked it because you can find nice food and good shopping there. I won’t mind going back again!

But I won’t stay in this scary hotel anymore. It was okay, really, just very old-fashioned and smells a bit musty, which makes me think of old Chinese ghost movies, therefore very bad when I’m showering alone in the dim bathroom.

We found a much nicer hotel nearby on our way home, about double the cost but still cheap. Will talk about that in a future post.

On this trip, we discovered that the people in China are really scared of cold. Everyone is bundled up in jackets and coats, while four of us tourists were ambling about in short-sleeve tees.

Which is rather surprising because I’m usually the first person to complain about cold, anywhere.

There were times in China when I was literally sweating in my t-shirts but all the Chinese were still all bundled up in wool and fur!! Crazy Chinese!

Okay, there’s something in Zhuhai I must recommend you. It’s called Peeing Beef Balls (撒尿牛肉丸), popularised by Stephen Chow in one of his silly slapstick movies.

The idea is that the beef balls are so juicy that when you bite into them, the juice will spray out like pee.

Not a very appetising thought, but the balls are delicious!!

They’re sold by a friendly hawker at a street stall.

They didn’t spray when we ate them but it could be because they were hot and we were nibbling on them very carefully.

The Goonfather said the first time, Unker Kell bit into the ball and it sprayed onto his crotch! Hahaha.

Inside each ball is some gooey stuff which is very tasty!!!

The only fault lies in the soup, which is not soup but oil. That’s really icky but the guys were slurping it up. Gross!!

You can order noodles with the balls, so imagine eat noodles in oil, yuck.

Nomming balls.

You can find the beef ball stall on 莲花路 (Lian Hua Lu – “Lotus Flower Road”)

On the same street, you can find a whole row of mini outdoor pubs which men will love because each pub features cute chinese girls who will call out flattering words to men, sometimes even jumping out to drag them to their pubs.

The Goonfather complained about the girls not calling out to him this time round cos Minou and I were there. -__-

The city also has very grand-looking spas with girls in costumes waiting to welcome you.

In fact, this isn’t just in Zhuhai. It seems like the whole of China has such services.

We walked to a place called something 酒吧街 (Jiu Ba Jie – “Bar Street”) which is a long street lined up with clubs and bars. We went there in search of dinner because the bars are also restaurants, although they’re rather pricey.

The coolest thing about these bars is that the staff are all dressed in very elaborate costumes, like Victorian gowns and such.

Costumes seem to be a huge feature in China. In the spa we visited the next day, the receptionists are dressed in, like, Cinderella ball gowns.

We chose a place called Seven for our dinner, which consisted of a variety of finger foods (because the finger foods are GOOD.)

These cucumber sticks come with a very potent wasabi and soy sauce mix. Even the tiniest drop will send wasabi steam shooting up your nose and eyes. But it tastes so good!

And I don’t even like cucumber in the first place!

Duck jaw – very crispy and tasty!

Yummy satay! I can’t remember what meat. All the good food has muddled my brain!

Roasted duck breast.

Corn on the cob. Crunchy and sweet.

Chicken wing tip. Tasty marinade, but tip is not crispy.

I accidentally took a camwhore shot while my camera was zoomed in!

Always gives me a scare when that happens, to see my face so big.

Proper one:

Funny translation on the menu:

Presenteed A Wine If Dressed In Pajamas!!!

LOL.

We had gone a day too early, or we would have seen pajama-clad cuties. On our itinerary was to travel to Humen the next day, but the Goonfather had half a mind to stay behind for this pajama party. Haha.

It got colder after dinner, so I had to put my fur hoodie back on. Walking back to our hotel, we stopped by a pedler selling sweet potatoes and got some steaming hot ones!

Erm… but it wasn’t nice at all. Too mushy. =(

Then it was back to the hotel!

Last camwhoring at the hotel while waiting for Minou to finish using the bathroom and for the Goonfather to finish borrowing my netbook. I had nothing else better to do!

Now, stay tuned for Day 2!