Sunday, January 20, 2013

A (boring ) tale of two cities

Shanghai and Guangzhou, China

28-30th March 2012

I'm just back Shanghai again, so this is perfect timing to reflect on this trip!( or rather, no excuse to put off blogging again!)

Think I was really excited to go back to shanghai again since my first time there in 2006, when a lack of strategic planning coupled with a similar deficiency in non- hungover hours meant i barely got to know the city.

Alas this trip was to be no different, since i was only there for less than one full day. So much for being excited!

Work aside, the only memorable thing about the trip was visiting a North Korean restaurant. The food was probably not very different from the usual korean varieties I have come to associate with Korean cuisine, with the notable exception being the inclusion of dog meat on the menu. Obviously I didn't try it. Come to think of it, not sure if it was included because dogs are eaten in North Korea or China!

Another interesting thing about the restaurant was that all the waitresses were from the North. Apparently they are all reasonably wealthy or from more influential families since its considered a privilege to be able to leave the country for work. Not sure how legit this is.

In any case, the work is a constant toil, as the hardworking girls have to multi task serving food and performing at the same time. They were literally jumping off the stage after their number to bring the next dish to you, only with time in between to change their costumes.

I also heard they do not get to go out, and are only permitted to go from hostel to work.

Not sure how true this is but it makes for good dinner conversation.

No pictures since I was dining with client and had to act professional!

Next in the whirlwind trip was a night flight to guangzhou. Never eating food on chinese plan ever again.

Only impressions of guangzhou was how clean and big every thing was.

Sorry not much else to say about the city since I only caught glimpse of the city from taxi window or room view.

The end.

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