Day 1

Just a quick update on my first day.

I  took what you might call the 'red-eye' flight from Sydney to Guangzhou, departing on Monday night at 9.45pm and arriving at 5.25am on Tuesday morning. It was a smooth flight with dinner followed by sleeping and then breakfast. Luckily I am pretty good at sleeping on planes and trains so it all went by fairly quickly. 

Upon arrival it was all fairly easy with signs in English, plus if in doubt I just followed the crowd. After getting to the front of the queue I realised, along with another 8 foreigners that we didn't have the right form, so we had to go out of the line and get the form, fill it out and then get back in the line. The process was still seamless but this did add another 20 minutes to the process. 

When I got to the baggage carousel there wasn't much luggage left but I was stoked to see that all 5 of my checked bags were there waiting for me. I cleared customs, which involved taking your baggage off your cart and putting it on a conveyor belt which was monitored and then putting it back on your trolley at the other end. It was a free for all as there were plenty of people and nobody to manage the line, and only one machine. We got through in the end and the man checking the screen was too busy with the person in front of me that they didn't appear to even see what was in my bags. 

I left there and walked out to find the lovely ULC staff waiting for me with a sign with my name. Super easy and a nice relief. We packed the car and then drove out to Nansha, about 90 minutes drive from Guangzhou. It was about 6.30am by this time and it was around 27 degrees and humid, but not oppressive.

The staff checked me in to the hotel room and got me settled before leaving me for an hour or so to rest, sort myself out and shower. Then it was go time with so much to do, and plenty of time, given it was 9.30am. 

In the car I was chauffeured to the main part of town to get a local SIM card, but the telecommunications system was down so it didn't happen. I did however, have to get my photo taken for my visa, and boy will that photo be a laugh in future years! 

Lunch was next after a nice nap in the hotel, with local staff and the other new staff that had arrived. I had no idea what I was eating so consumed a prawn dumpling, which confirmed that I still do not like prawns, but that was probably nothing compared to the chicken feet I also ate. Let me tell you, chicken feet are hard to eat with chopsticks so I might give them a miss next time! On the flip side, we did eat what i have termed 'turnip slab', 'pancake with veggies' and steamed rice with chicken, and all were delicious!

The afternoon involved apartment hunting, in-between heavy downpours of rain, just to make it even more humid! Rex, from ULC, should have his own edition of House Hunters International because he is responsible for taking the new international staff around and checking out potential apartments. There were some good potentially apartments but the plan is to check out a few more tomorrow. 

I ventured out to the supermarket, which is like Coles and Kmart combined, and is right next to Pizza Hut and KFC, and just down the road from the hotel. I don't know how it works and I had no idea what I was looking at most of the time but it was good to check out what was around. 

Another nap was taken and then the other new staff and myself ventured out for dinner. Arguable the highlight of the day, given that we had no idea how or what to order. The poor restaurant staff tried their best. In the end we managed to get some tofu, rice with chicken or pork, bok choy and broccolini and some other dish which I think was translated to chilli boar. We were served dessert which we think was silken tofu in ginger water but we're not really sure about that either. There was way too much food, it was pretty tasty and in total for the 3 of us it cost 125RMB which equates to about $25AUD. Not bad for a huge feed for 3 people!

Following dinner we took a stroll down the main strip, checking out the shops and dodging the motor scooters and ebikes on the footpaths. It was still a balmy 29 degrees when we finished our stroll at about 9.15pm. 

No doubt a good sleep awaits so that I am re-energised for another big day of adventure tomorrow.